Where? The other place?… you know… (The Other Place)

Member Name: Belfastgirl

Product:	The Other Place
Date:	22/05/01 (421 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Usually good food

Disadvantages: Loud Music, Depends on which one you go to

Yes, "The Other Place" in Belfast, is somewhere that can cause a lot of confusion when you are trying to arrange to meet somewhere for Lunch, imagine the conversation,

"Where so you want to go to Lunch?"
"mmm I don’t know"
"What about the other place?"
*look of confusion*
"What other place?"
"No, ‘The Other Place’, the restaurant"
"oh yes! Why not!"

Yes, I have had conversations like this, and they are quite amusing as long as you are not starving with Hunger!

So where is "The Other Place"? Well, there’s actually 3 restaurants as part of this chain. That can make it even more confusing.

All the restaurants are situated in the University Area of Belfast, Stranmillis Road, Lisburn Road and Botanic Avenue (the most popular). Each is basically the same, but there are a few differences in each place. I can only speak from experience of the Stranmillis Road and Botanic Avenue Restaurants.

The basic Restaurant is designed to look quite Rustic, rough red bricked walls, walls covered in old style items (Old fashioned radios, Old pictures, washboards, jugs etc.). In all the restaurants there are booths (seats 4 people) and tables (for 2 or 4), with both smoking and non smoking sections.

In the past, I have found the staff to be very helpful and friendly, but as with a lot of places in Belfast, recently, I have found that the newer staff (frequently what my brother calls Cladagh Queens - i.e. a female who tends wear a lot of the Cladagh jewellery) they have taken on are not so friendly or as concerned with customer care. The service you get in there largely depends on who is working there on that particular day, and who throws , I mean, hands a menu to you.

The menu is quite varied, with a number of steak dishes, pasta dishes, some Mexican food, right down to plain old burger and c
hips. Breakfast times offers are Ulster Fries, bottomless cups of coffee (this also depends on who is working that day as to whether the "bottomless" part is true), and scones. A wide variety of reasonably price sandwiches are available throughout the day.

Recently, they have started to serve alcohol, but this is still quite limited. They do have a "bring your own bottle" policy, which appeals to a lot of students.

Out of the two I have visited, I prefer the one on Botanic Avenue. It has a better atmosphere, and is very student orientated, more so than the one on Stranmillis Road, which in my experience is more family orientated. Not that family orientated is bad, it’s just when you have spent the day working with children, who are quite frequently crying, you don’t want to spend your night out listening to the same, regardless of how much I adore children.

If you do not like music loud, you may want to reconsider eating here. Because it is largely student orientated, the music can tend to be played quite loudly, but if it gets too loud you can ask them to turn it down a wee bit.

The staff are generally better on Botanic Ave. in my experience, and it’s close to a lot of other student hang outs such as The Empire, and relatively close to the cinema.

So what about the food?

Well, in all the times I have visited there, I have enjoyed my meal - on the very odd occasion when I have left something on my plate, it’s been because I was full, not because there has been too much. All my friends are impressed by it, and they all have got very different tastes in food, so I think I’m safe in saying that it caters for most tastes. The menu changes from time to time, and there are Chef’s special meals, which are posted on the large blackboard that lines the wall, that surprisingly looks in the right place!

At the moment, The Other Place is a great place
to eat, but as with all restaurants, things can change, and if they do, I will certainly update this op :).

Summary: