1573 Bar and Grill

This month I’ve been out and about to see what ‘1573 Bar and Grill’ in Leicester city centre has to offer. Located in the grade II listed Old Grammar School at the Highcross, 1573 is a relatively new restaurant which specialises in steak and seafood.

 

Going out for dinner always fills me with delight, but as I walked towards the restaurant on this dark, autumn evening, I felt an extra little flutter of excitement stir inside me.   There is a lovely buzz around the Highcross where the restaurants cluster together. The twinkling silver lights that hang above the streets, and the decorated orange autumnal trees, look so pretty and add a little romance about the place.

 

1573 is situated in a opening at the end of one of the streets leading away from the centre.  Like the area, it too, has real charm and appeal.  The building is solid and handsome, but the warm glow from the windows also makes it soft and inviting.  This theme continues inside. 1573 has been sympathetically refurbished. It makes the most of its natural attributes combining the old with the new with some success. The exposed sandstone walls, and elegant glass stairway helps to create an authentic but contemporary dining space.

 

Staff welcomed us in as we came through the door, and we were shown to our table. Unfortunately, this was the table situated nearest to the door.  However, with no other tables available and the upstairs diners submerge in almost complete darkness from the extremely low level lighting, we stayed put and settled in. Several staff then came in quick succession to take our drinks order.  Just as we were about to place our food order, it became apparent that we had in fact been given the wrong menu.  This was hastily replaced, and we started the ordering process again.

 

After examining the menu, I found myself in familiar territory for a ‘fussy foodie’ trying to decide on what to have for my dinner.  Choosing was proving to be a tricky business.  I was in the mood for the Grilled Curry Marinated Scottish Salmon (£14.95) but I felt compelled to sample what I imaged to be their signature dish - the naturally raised, 21-28 day aged Scottish or Irish Beef Steak. Unable to make up my mind, I sought some advice from a waitress. Unfortunately, she was unable to assist because she “hadn’t tried the dish” herself.  Strange, but I persevered and asked instead for a description of what the dish looked like and what it comprised of. “Fish with a red sauce on it,” was the reply. It was not quite the answer I was looking for. No further forward, I played it safe and ordered the steak.

 

As it turns out, I may have been better off with the salmon. The steak was rather disappointing. The 8oz Ribeye (£14.95), described as ‘juicy, tender, with more marbling and intense flavour’ was not quite any of those things.  The beef itself didn’t really taste of anything except the ‘char’ from the char grill.  The mushroom was bland, the chips were average and the salad came ‘naked’ with no dressing. Flavour did find its way onto the plate in the form of a parmesan and herb crust served on the top of the grilled tomato. The tastiest part of the dish however, was the ‘surf’ on top of the ‘turf’.  The three skewered Cajun king prawns brought some much needed spice and flare to what had been a fairly ordinary steak and chips.  Oh, but this addition will cost you an extra £3.95.

 

The starters we had eaten earlier in the evening were a similar story...nice but fairly uneventful. I had ordered the King Prawns cooked in Garlic, White Wine and Parsley (£5.95). This comprised of four large juicy prawns, served on a slice of toast, with a garnish of salad. Tasty, but I think at nearly £6 they could have been more generous with the portion size.   As with the main, there was a high point to this dish...two of the cutest tomatoes I have ever seen!  Both were about the size of a garden pea….very sweet in every way, shape and form.

 

The desserts are priced at much more than I am willing to pay (£5.25) so our food journey at 1573 ended there.  All in all, it was a bit of a mixed bag. There were some highlights to each course, but also some low lights, (or no lights at all in the case of the diners seated upstairs!)  But what really disappointed, was the level of service we received. As well as the aforementioned mix up with the menus, and the staff’s lack of food knowledge, the drinks were slow to arrive and the waitress didn’t take our food order properly.  This meant that we ended up with two medium rare steaks, instead of one medium rare and one medium.  Additionally, no one person seemed to be responsible for our table all night. As a result we were inundated with staff at the start of the evening, but then completely forgotten about at the end. There was a delay clearing our table, and no one came to issue our bill or take payment.

 

So, despite the charms of the restaurant itself, the service was poor, the food average and so overall, it did not represent good value for money. I had had a steak at the Narborough Arms a few weeks before, which was a third of the price and equally as satisfying.  This was because it was the steak itself, not the accompaniments that was the star of the show. With a score of 13 out of 20, ‘1573 Bar and Grill’ is somewhere I may visit again (if a friend really wanted to go), but is not a restaurant I would either choose or recommend.

 

Restaurant                          4/5

Food                                      3/5
Service                                 3/5
Value for money              3/5
 
Total                                      13/20