Hi

I have just moved to Shrewsbury and want to know what is going on in this town at night.

I love the shops and everyone is very nice but a part from a lot of pubs where can you go to eat and have a good time.

Some of my favourite restaurants at the moment are:

Modern British/European - The Golden Cross, Renaissance, Cornhouse, Drapers Hall, Cromwells
Italian - Osteria Da Paolo, La Lanterna
Indian - Kasturi 2, Cafe Saffron, Tandoori Cottage (Monkmoor)
Thai - Royal Siam
Chinese - China Rose

There are dozens of nice eateries in the town centre, both independent and chains like Ask, Pizza Express etc

There are some nice bars which also do food including The Peach Tree (Modern Brit/European) and Bar Frank (Tapas etc) . As for night clubs, they are not great, get the train to Manchester.

I also advise you pop on the train to Manchester.. ;)

Thats cos your bias David. :P

Welcome to the forum Foxhunter and to Shrewsbury! :D

Not sure how old you are but I think there is something for every age group in the Town and you will get far more information from the residents on this forum I feel

Thankyou so much I might try some of the restaurants that Jonesy 55 has recomended

As for going to Manchester well I have moved away from the city so I know what that like I think I am going to like Shrewsbury.

Thankyou again for all you kind words :)

hi i have had many good nights out in shrewsbury and there are many good restaurants-but as a word of warning i would avoid ask-it was terrible when we were there and others have said the same. grazia is fairly new and nice italian. there are a lot of good curry houses, especially cafe saffron which is propbably our favourite now.
i think there are a number of good pubs but it depends what you are looking for from a night out. i dont think shrewsbury is ideal for hardened clubbers but if you like to just have a laugh and cheesy music then flares is good. bar med is good too as it is pretty much a pub with a dance floor too. and liquid and diva are good too. hope this helps :D

I'd just like to second La Lanterna!

Personally, I think the nightlife in Shrewsbury isn't a patch on what it used to be, even three years ago.

You used to have different pubs/clubs playing differing genre of music, but it has all morphed into the same cheesy pop, 80s cheese and indie all crammed into one night, wherever you go.

Best club in Shrewsbury by a mile is the Buttermarket.
Good pubs include The Exchange, Shrewsbury Hotel (Wetherspoons), Baileys's and I still have a soft spot for The Bedroom!


As for eating out, La Trattoria is one of the best!

i do agree with liquid that nights out used to be much better, but i also think things change with age!! nights out seem to be full of young kids that often seem a bit aggressive which can be off putting whereas when i used to go out regualry it was always great that people did the same kind of circuit(usually starting at the hole) and so you would see lots of people you knew. that always made it better too.

for eating out i agree that la lanterna and la trattoria are great to eat out.
i would avoid places like ask at all costs...
and im not sure about china rose as last time we went there the service wasnt good and they also add service charge on top you are expected to pay but dont actually have to

Yeah, but instead of aggressive, I finf them pretty snotty nowadays, they strut round town thinking they are it! B)

Not as bad as Chester (hated nights out there!), but I suppose if you go most weeks it's not too bad.

If you want a good Chinese, I'd recommend having a drive over to Wolverhampton and the Wing Wah all you can eat buffet Link To Website


It is situated at Fordhouses, about 1 mile from the A449 Stafford junction of the M54, so is about 40 minutes from Shrewsbury. It's a great evening out and brilliant food! :D

I hate service charges too, at least up here they are a rare exception. Whenever I go to London it seems to be the norm.

As for the China Rose, I've always found the service ok if not great (service rarely seems to be a strong point at Chinese's the world over in my experience) but Shrewsbury is poorly served for Chinese cuisine, there are lots of cheap and cheerful takeaways serving the usual tinned veg with gloopy sauce and MSG but there is very little choice of higher quality eat-in Chinese. Maybe Jack Chan's (or whatever it is now) is a better choice but I haven't been there for ages.

As for Ask, i've also had a very bad experience where our main courses took nearly 2 HOURS to arrive. We were a group of about 20 people but we'd pre-ordered so it shouldn't have been a problem.

That said i've been a few times for a pizza and they are quite tasty but Pizza Express is better in my opinion for that type of place, haven't been to Grazia yet but it wasn't brilliant when it was Caffe Uno.

i agree with everything you have said jones55
we were going to go to the jackie chans-or whatever it is now but went to dolce vita instead. kinda wish we had gone as not been there and would like to know if it is any good. i think for a decent chinese around shrewsbury you have to go out to pontesbury as the chinese there is pretty good.
not keen on the fast food chinese such as dragon king as it seems a good idea but you end up with the waitresses hanging over you and taking all your plates before you finish if not careful!

What did you think to La Dolce Vita? I've only been once and the food was reasonably good but the restaurant itself was a bit dated, I didn't think it was as good as some of the other Italians in town. I hardly ever hear people say they've been there, it doesn't seem to be that popular.

Another one I've never been to is the mysterious Giuseppe's on Frankwell island, I don't know anyone else who has either. Looking at the menu it seems pretty expensive so I've never been brave enough to try it on a whim in case it's a disappointment.

yes i think we thought the same about the dolce vita. it was ok but not sure i would go back. it was small but service was good and friendly however we didnt think there was a massive choice on the menu and possibly a bit more expensive than some others.
i have never been to Giuseppe's but my husband used to do their books and said it was very expensive especcially the wine-which is why he has never taken me!!
my favourite italian was la lanterne as i loved the seafood pasta but i also like la trattoria on fish street and grazia was pretty good as plenty of choice and quite modern-i thought it was better than cafe uno anyway. but i did get annoyed with a big table of girls behind us making lots of noise-but cant really blame the restaurant for that.
one place i had heard that was very good but we were very dissapointed with was traitors gate.
we went there when i was pregnant and it was supposed to be none smoking but again there were 2 big tables of girls-i think hen dos and both tables were smoking lots which i didnt like as it specifies it is non smoking .
the food was very good but service was awful, and it wasnt even that busy. we had the desert menu but noone took our order so eventually found someone to get us the bill, which was ended up asking 3 times for and then noone came to take it so we had to take the money to reception-we were tempted to walk out and see if they noticed!
very dissapointed :(

Hello foxhunter.
Moved from Manchester to Shrewsbury eh, I did the same myself in November. I too was looking for places to eat, but the town council, county council and tourist information are doing such a half hearted job of promoting local food...

for example, the Shrewsbury tourism website still has a photo of est est est on its home page! and despite opening with "You won't starve in Shrewsbury. We have so many fine eateries and drinkeries you won't know where to begin. How can one town produce so many quality food and drink establishments?", they go on to list precicely 7 town centre restaurants and 3 pubs. I'm embarrassed for them!

So, I decided to do it myself with the eatshrewsbury.co.uk website. It is a work in progress - plenty more need adding to the map and I have only just started on the reviews, but it is a healthy start and should be fairly comprehensive when I am done.

I don't have the local knowledge of the people on this forum yet so my advice isn't as qualified, but I found Traitors Gate to be rather good, La Lanterna (as already mentioned), the Ramna Balti house is very good in my opinion if you fancy a curry. The Armoury is great during the day but haven't been at night. Grazia also looks good.

I think the town has a healthy food scene, though it could be so much better if it got its act together and followed Ludlow's example.

Regards

My favourte for curry is Cafe Saffron with their fresh ingredients and enthusiastic, crazy staff.
The Golden Cross has beautiful food and Teresa is a star.
Cromwells is very pleasurable in my opinion, especially eating in the relaxing bar.
Lunch sitting around the New York-style counter in The Pantry is a good place to meet new faces.
Pizza Express is my favourite for a relaxed wind-down on a Friday night - I know they have them everywhere, but the Polish lady supervisor is a treat!

I'm getting hungry now..

have to agree with you organic333. we went to cafe saffron on saturday night and had a very good curry. the ones that run it are originally people that worked at the curry house up mardol which used to be very good but we always try to go to cafe saffron if we want a curry :D