Le Chalet is an oddity, but it has the potential to become a new favourite, provided they iron out…read morea few kinks. It's very new, and to some extent it ticks all my boxes - nice and light, fairly spacious, white / turquoise / silver decor, elegant but homely, loose leaf teas (including green tea with jasmine pearls, a favourite when out and about)... Oddly, given how new the place is, it feels somehow a bit tired. The beautiful, opulent crystal chandelier is dangling drunkenly askew, with its fitting on the ceiling not quite - well - fitting. The ceiling itself is a bit coarse, too, a bit of a plasterboard magnificence, and in general reflects a sense of just Not Quite Ready. In short, the detail didn't deliver on the promise of the general aesthetic. When visiting here with two old schoolfriends, we were but one of two tables downstairs that were not part of a large afternoon tea party - the place was not busy - but we seemed to be waiting an age for service, even just drinks. The reason, given swiftly on our arrival, was that there were no menus available. It seems odd to me that there should be so many empty seats and yet still insufficient menus to go around. And the menus, once they did arrive, were battered in slightly torn plastic folders. We had been there for nearly an hour by the time our food arrived. It was all very strange. Side note: they could also do with specifying that their pink lemonade is the Fentiman's Rose Lemonade that I do so dearly love (roses being my Thing etc etc) instead of just "pink lemonade", because what to me was a delightful surprise might be less so to the less florally inclined customer. HOWEVER... that's all of the criticism done with. The food - light bites, largely - was excellent. I had a quiche lorraine, expecting the usual slice of cold quiche, but what arrived was a beautiful, hot, delicate quiche for one, siting in perfect pastry, served atop a lovely fresh salad that itself wore a fine dressing. It made for a perfect light lunch and at less than £6 you could do far worse. A macaron for just 85p is definitely stealing the show as well. They had a range of flavours - strawberry, chocolate, lemon, pistachio - and initially the wrong flavour was brought to me - but they were very nice macarons and for that price you can't go wrong. It was £2.50 for a pot of tea, which is also pretty decent, especially given the sheer capacity of those beautiful glass pots. They appeared only half full but did a good three full cups, and the waitress arrived shortly after we'd finished to offer hot water refills. With some great-looking cakes on display and a nice two-slate-tier afternoon tea for £12.50, it'll definitely be worth another visit, and I'm sure they'll iron out their odd little kinks with a bit of time. I'm looking forward to another trip here at some point.

I can't believe that no one has left a review for Le Chalet!…read moreIt's a lovely French cafe/tea/bakery room with friendly and helpful staff. As well as the menu, there are gateaux, cakes, biscuits, light as air macaroons and all sorts of sweet delights to choose from. There are over a dozen types of tea, all served in beautiful glass pots. Prices are really good value; 85p for a macaroon, then between 12 and 2, a main course and a hot drink costs £5.50. The galette is fantastic and the omelette looks lovely. If you need a comparison think Valerie's but hand made rather than mass produced.

This is the quintessential place for high tea. The teas are delicious; the sandwiches are…read moresucculent; and the scones so buttery. The cream tea is especially fantastic. The service is attentive and the decor/ambience is absolutely spot on. If you visit York, you simply must go.

We came for afternoon tea in the tea room. This was my first experience of afternoon tea and it was…read morea good one. Our server was very nice and had suggestions for us whenever we asked. I was not too into tea but enjoyed both that I tasted. The sandwiches are good (I enjoyed the ham one) and we were able to request more sandwiches if needed. My favorite was the cranberry scone with jam and butter. The desserts were ok but went well with some Christmas coffee. The pianist was also very good and probably under appreciated.

Oh my word it was greasy spoon dishes albeit at greasy spoon prices…read more We had only come away from the contracted - out, Coronation St (95 minute tour - £35 a head) that opened at ITV's studio site near the Lowry just in March 2022. We remembered this MPW place fondly though this was pre covid. The reputation brought us back. The restaurant was closed at 2:30pm on a Saturday afternoon except for pre booked afternoon tea, so we were invited to order from the downstairs pub menu, which we did, after all we were told the food was from the same kitchen and, after all, it's MPW so it'll be ok, right? There was little on this menu that I wanted. I'm not a big fan of beef burgers and the meat - based pasta dishes didn't excite - very few fish options - just deep fried cod or farmed salmon. So I tried a brown bread, cod fish finger sandwich. This was a first ever for me as I thought I'd be served a small portion of quality food. I think my wife thought I'd lost my senses. Nope, I was wrong too. It was greasy spoon muck. I'd be astonished if the (3) lukewarm battered fish fingers - that were deep fried and tasted quite greasy - are not bought in pre - frozen from a supermarket. I had rocket on the plate with awful coleslaw (seemed a vegan liquid) and tartare sauce from a jar - if I'm wrong about coming from a jar it sure tasted like it. After tasting I set both aside as they were grim. Most of the sliced, factory - made bread, that wasn't toasted, was also left on the plate. I ordered a side portion of beer battered French fried onions (£3.95 for 8). Again, they were warm, not hot. Had they been served hot they would likely have been really tasty, but here too they were poor and greasy. They did come with a very good béchamel style sauce, so more by accident than design I at least had a sauce to add to the greasy, lukewarm, fish fingers. My wife ordered up a club sandwich with French fries. She says it was fine. Code for not very good - 3 star. Again the fries are factory made so even MPW staff can't even be arsed anymore. I do realise and repeat that we paid greasy spoon cafe prices but I did expect it to be so much better. I'd be happy to pay more for quality. Finally according to the menu, my dish was meant to come with salted crisps but they were left off. I didn't say a thing as I'd enough grease already before me. The bill that included one Coke Zero was £30.05. I rarely ever feel sick as I've a cast iron constitution but as I write this late evening same day review I'm feeling queasy. We won't rush back.

I'm sorry to say Marco's New York Italian MediaCityUK really has gone down-hill in terms of quality…read morebased on my past two experiences in the past year, it seems every dish I've ordered just hasn't been right. Not only is it awkward entering the restauraunt which involves going through a corridor with many doors through conference rooms of the Holiday Inn, but it can also be hard to find a staff member as I was waiting in an unstaffed restauraunt for over five-minutes without a table. I found my gluten-free pizza to be doughy, while my Christmas Dinner was just a mess with hard vegetables and chewy meat, meanwhile, the bread of my burger was also doughy with the meat dry and overcooked. A real shame to see this place go down-hill especially as it falls behind MPW standards. 1*

What an absolute treat, what an utter delight, what a fantastic edition to the greatness that is…read moreHeadingley town. One thing I have longed to see in Headingley was a decent butcher. We've so many fantastic independent little shops and cafés, it seems only right that such essentials as cheap quality meats grace our presence. I understand the convenience of such stolid forces, the likes of Sainsbury's, but I for one have been crying out for a cheaper, more local option for some time. Together, with R. K. Harris and Artisan Baker, the triumvirate of local produce has arrived. And what a force for good these three powerhouses are. I can now purchase my three main food groups (meat, veg and bread) independently, cheaply and within a few minutes of each other - how's that for convenience? And you can't top the banter neither. The last time I visited Headingley Farm Butchers I was delighted to purchase enough casserole beef to feed four, for a mere £3.50. Their chicken breasts are large enough to satisfy the mighty Thor, albeit non-free-range, though when I discussed this the friendly banterous butcher informed me that they are well kept. (Of course, he would be able to say anything but I'm inclined to trust an independent over a supermarket, right?) And once again, I believe I purchased two gargantuan breasticles for about £3 ish. Boom! Go here for meat. That is all.

Ordered a large number of ham hocks about a month ago, for a dinner party I was hosting. I ordered…read morethem way in advance to make sure they had them, I also left them my phone number in case there were any problems. They didn't order them, and they also didn't call me to tell me that there would be a problem. The most I got from them was an apathetic apology, apparently the rewards you get for attempting to support local business instead of going to a supermarket.