If you ever have the urge to eat at an American Style Diner and you live in Sheffield then it is fair to say that there is a good choice to choose from. Over the years I have visited a few of these places, but I think that it is true to say that I am not generally a huge fan of such places, and therefore such establishments are the sort of venue that I only enjoy once in a while.
A few nights ago three of my friends and myself decided to visit Old Orleans. This place is somewhere that I had not visited previously, although it came with the recommendation of an American friend, who was amongst our party, so my hopes regarding its authenticity were rather high.
A BIT OF BACKGROUND STUFF
Old Orleans are a national chain of American Style Diners, which I understand are all set out on a similar theme. I have seen them in both Derby and Manchester, but there are currently 27 different Restaurants that are scattered across the UK.
The company is now part of the Spirit group of companies, which manage over 1200 bars and restaurants within the UK.
The Old Orleans Restaurants have their own identity within this corporate group. The principal
aim of the Old Orleans division is to attempt to recreate the atmosphere and the spirit of the New Orleans French Quarter. Old Orleans offers a wide selection of different American cuisine from the Deep South, including spicy Creole and Cajun dishes, which reflect the Spanish, French and African heritage of Louisiana.
GENERAL LAYOUT & FACILITIES
The first thing that you notice when you enter the restaurant is that it is decorated with lots of fancy wrought iron work. There are many typical artefacts from the American Deep South including mannequins of black slaves and other items that have reference to the Afro-American slave trade. For a brief moment I found some of these items on display to be slightly disturbing, especially considering that this is a place to eat in. In particular, some of the shackles and chains, and other restraining devises I thought looked a little bit odd in a restaurant. However as I sat down and looked around I did find the items on display to be of immense interest.
The floor area is quite large and spacious, and the general atmosphere of the place is relaxed and quite chilled out with background music playing the current chart hits of the moment.
As I mentioned earlier after a brief moment I was impressed with the décor of the place. The restaurant is set out on a single level with the tables and chairs spaced out across the floor space rather than crammed together, as is sometimes the case in such places. The majority of the tables seat four people but for larger parties they will happily push tables together to form larger groups, and indeed whilst we were there the whole back wall of the room was taken up by a party of about eighteen people.
On arrival you are greeted by a member of staff, who directs you to a table. As it was mid-week pre-booking a table was not necessary, but this is recommended at busy times.
There were four menu's on the table occupying the place of table mats, although these are removed once you have ordered your food to allow more eating space.
Within a few minutes of sitting down we were asked if we were ready to order any drinks. There is a bar area where you can buy drinks yourself, but the waiters are more than happy to serve the drinks at your table and add the cost of these to your bill.
The staff were very friendly and pleasant but be warned if you are celebrating a birthday and let them know they will happily humiliate you at your table by singing "Happy Birthday."
All major credit and debit cards are accepted as well as personal cheques with a cheque guarantee card.
The toilets were very clean and I noticed that there were both disabled toilets and baby changing facilities available.
THE FOOD AND DRINKS
Within our party we each ordered a pint of lager (as unsophisticated blokes always do). This worked at £2.35 each for a pint of Carling, which is about the same price that you would expect to pay in a local bar.
I ordered Garlic Mushrooms for starters along with two of my friends, whilst the others had Nachos and Louisiana Wings.
The Garlic Mushrooms were not what I was expecting. They came served as sliced Mushrooms, dripping in Garlic Butter, served on top of a Bread Roll, which itself was also heavily soaked in Garlic. Overall I found this to be very nice but a little heavy on the Garlic, and the size of the portion made me wonder if I would have any room for my main course.
The Nachos came in a large dish and could have quite easily been shared between two people. The Nachos were topped with melted cheese, sour cream, guacamole & tomato salsa, which were all served on a bed of lettuce, sprinkled with diced peppers. I have it on good authority that these were rather nice.
The Louisiana Wings were pretty much a meal on there own and consisted of chicken wings glazed with a hot & sour Louisiana sauce. Again these were said to very nice but rather messy to eat.
For the main cause I ordered Chicken and Mushroom. This came on a monstrous sized plate and consisted of a large succulent piece of chicken smothered in a mushroom and garlic sauce. It came with chips and a side salad. Again this was very nice but rather heavy on the Garlic, considering that I had already eaten a few cloves with my starter.
My friends each had Burgers of various kinds. Again these were all oversized and served with chips, a side salad, and a selection of sauces.
Overall the total bill for the four of us came to just under £55 including drinks.
GETTING THERE
Old Orleans in Sheffield is located about 3 miles east of the city centre on the MeadowhallRetail Park, within a leisure complex known as Centertainment.
It can be found at the side of the A6178, known as Attercliffe Road. The Centertainment Park is well sign-posted from junction 30 of the M1 Motorway, and also from the City Centre, providing that you follow the signs towards Attercliffe/Meadowhall from the centre.
The location is as below:
Old Orleans, Unit 10, Valley Entertainment, Centertainment Leisure Park, Broughton Lane, Sheffield, S9 2EP
Tel: 0114 244 6667 Fax: 0114 244 6452
CONCLUSION
We all enjoyed our meals and had a very enjoyable night out. I would recommend this venue to others and I would visit this place again given the opportunity.
As I mentioned at the beginning of this review I have been to other similar American Style Diners and this certainly rates alongside the better ones. One particular Diner I have visited is very over the top where the waiters sing at your table (even if it's not your birthday) and even jump on your chair and dance. I for one was glad that this didn't happen here.
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Sep 6th, 2006
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