I first heard about Gio's when the gent himself contacted me about his new restaurant venture in…read moreWalsall. As well as running a restaurant in a little community centre, he also runs a number of classes in the Community on healthy eating to help educate children and parents about sourcing ingredients and the benefits of eating good food. When he invited me down to have a look at the place and have a chat about it, I couldn't help but say yes! First thing to note is that (depending on which way you get down there), it can be a little difficult to find. Hidden on a housing estate, Gio's deli is situated on the corner of a cul-de-sac within a community centre. It took us a little while to get there by car, but that's mainly due to the traffic on the motorway. On a good day (traffic wise) I reckon you could get there by car within around 25 minutes. You can catch public transport to Walsall, but a cab from the centre would be recommended if you plan on visiting. Gio's ethos is about providing good, Italian food without the snobbiness or high price tag. His prices are extremely fair! Last night me and Dan went down for dinner and a three course meal (including a coffee) was the less-than-princely sum of £13.50. Main dishes start from £3.50 and there are a number of options for smaller plates (if you don't have a huge appetite). It's also BYOB - so feel free to take down a bottle of wine or some good beers to accompany your Italian feast! It really is a lovely little restaurant. It feels like you're stepping into Gio's living room as the space is warm, welcoming and you are surrounded by knickknacks and trinkets (I particularly liked the collection of teapots). We were welcomed as soon as we stepped in the door and were served by Gio's daughter, Gabriella, who is the front of house while the man himself cooks all of the food. As I am one for a big dinner (I know, shock right?), we opted for the 3 course and cracked open our wine. The first course was a selection of Antipasto including cured meats, the most amazing focaccia I have ever eaten and a piece of frittata. We were also bought over olive oil, balsamic vinegar and an infused chilli oil to drizzle over our food. It was all 100% spot on. No complaints whatsoever! It's also worth nothing that there are quite a few vegetarian options on the menu - so have at it veggies! Between courses, Gio came over and we had a lovely chat about the area, his time in Italy (he has Italian roots and is keen to create genuinely authentic food) and the aims of the restaurant and the classes. He bakes and makes everything fresh, so no store bought boring pasta here - it's all freshly made. Our main course was a selection of 4 pastas. We had a veggie lasagne, a meat lasagne, a dish with thick "noodle" style pasta and veg and gnocchi. I'm not normally a fan of gnocchi, but this was lighter than I was expecting (as was the lasagne which is made with crepes rather than pasta sheets). Again, this was all amazing - but I was STUFFED afterwards! We had to have a break after this as we had dessert coming! The dessert ended up being fantastic too - like a creme caramel made with egg custard. I just about managed to finish everything, but I was struggling to keep my eyes open after the meal with the delicious mix of the warm surroundings, good food and homely atmosphere. I loved our visit to Gio's. Racking up a bill of just £27.50, there is really NOTHING to complain about. We were even given a bag of focaccia to take away, so we could warm it up and enjoy it at home! I can't think of a more pleasant way to spend a Monday evening than enjoying some great food with great company and a great place. Gio.... My only issue is that you are too far away to pop in often, but believe you me - we'll be back!

Absolutely fabulous food . Staff are helpful and there's a really feel of being in Italy …read more Surroundings are cute and miss matched its a lovely cheap quality place to eat

Went there on Easter. Buffet was fresh, hot and gosh dang tasty…read more The restaurant and restrooms were spotless. Only negative was the beer choice on draught. So I'll never go there if I felt like a good beer. But when I'm hungry...

A lovely pub and a pub I would visit again. Staff are friendly and the service they offer is…read moreexcellent. I have not had any food at the Malt Shovel but from what my friends have told me, the carvery is very nice. The beer garden is pretty spacious. It is a lovely place to be when it is a warm day and you have got a pint. Toilets are not too bad in terms on cleanliness. I found that a lot of old people do visit the Malt Shovel particularly during the afternoon. The Malt Shovel is a great place to be when it comes to live sports being shown at the pub and there are plenty of screens around the pub. I will be going back to the Malt Shovel and next time out I am going to try the food on offer at the pub. Should be interesting.

An awesome gem in Walsall. Probably the better of all the indian BBQ pubs in Walsall area…read more They serve a selection of good draught beers with some good whiskys also. The food is very good, the portions are small but the prices are cheap so that makes up for it. The taste of the mix grill and curries is very authentic. They have 2 bars, a small beer garden and a dining area also.

So this is the 4th 'indian barbecue' pub I have been to. So far this is the biggest one, from the…read morefront it is deceiving as you walk through to a big, light dining area. We we on a Sunday early evening so it was busy but we managed to get a table for the six of us ok. I would recommend booking if there were any more then six of you though. So as for the food, we ordered enough for 4 of us to be absolutely stuffed for just over £30. This was for the large mixed grill, chips, two curries and 4 naans. All very tasty. The keema curry was a bit too spicy (all four of us agreed) which was a shame as it took away the enjoyment of the other tasty food a little. Overall very flavoursome and fresh though! I'm giving four stars as the dining area was quite loud and chaotic and there wasn't waiter service. I would give back though!

This restaurant's always full, which is a good sign and well deserved - I opted for the buffet and…read moreit was gorgeous! It's a bit different to many other establishments in Walsall as they serve authentic south Indian cuisine (you won't find your typical tikka massalas etc here) but it's a great opportunity to try something new - you won't be disappointed!

Go twice a week, always great food and brilliant staff especially HANNAH, who always looks after us…read moreevery time we go to carvery 10/10 faultless

I've been here a couple times before and it is a good place. The staff are all nice, and liked to…read morehave a joke with us! My sister had booked a table as it was a party of seven. Best to book as its a busy place though it is Friday night! You can get refillable soft drinks which I found they have those different flavour Pepsi (not as many flavours like Five Guys machine) so I tried strawberry Pepsi which made me pull a face! Well I've tried it now! Lol The ice cream machine was broken so we decided not to have dessert. We used a voucher code by showing my phone to the waiter. He did take the phone with him to enter the code so you may want to print off the voucher if you don't like people handling your phone without you being present. It's a long code so I'm guessing they don't like to write it down. We got 20% off the bill which was good!

The food is fantastic, service is fantastic. Very welcoming people…read more I was visiting from London, highly recommended.

I pop in semi regularly when I am visiting walsall. They have become very popular it seems which…read moreis wonderful. They always make every effort and like to know how your food is. On one of my last visits I made them very happy by taking Natalie Bennett in (who was at the time still the leader of the Green Party).

Arbor Lights is very civilised with a lovely warm atmosphere, friendly staff, not to mention comfy…read moresofas! Although one of Walsall's pricier places to eat, it's well worth it. They serve delicious meals in the restaurant area and light snacks in the bar. The food's always outstanding and they offer a seasonal menu with ingredients sourced locally. Arbor Lights really is a cut above the rest! It's ideal for romantic meals, a drink after work or just meeting up with friends. Near the town centre with plenty of parking nearby

Ate here last week and the food was unexpectedly sublime. My cod mornay was incredible (was the…read morefish of the day) and my partner's steak was similarly brilliant and cooked perfectly. Our starters were dazzling in their presentation (oriental pork belly, goat's cheese hash) and a ludicrous brownie (home made) to finish. Good selection of craft ales and the music was great too (REM, Stones, etc). Seriously recommended.

The Seagull is my best kept secret and guilty pleasure. Nestled deep in a Walsall council estate it…read moreisn't exactly classy but what it lacks in style it more than makes up for in taste. The chips come battered and they're bright orange. I don't think I need to say more.

I've been to a couple TGI Fridays before, in Aberdeen and Sheffield and I didn't enjoy it that…read moremuch, but now Walsall has the restaurant so I wanted to try it out. The other weekend we went in about 5pm and could not get a table unless we wanted to wait 1.45 hours so we left. Next day I phoned up to book a table for a week's time, to be told all bookings were filled but some tables are free for walk ins, but there may still be a long wait. So we planned it, to arrive on opening at 12pm (we actually arrived at 11.30am n had a walk round the shops lol). We got our table and used a birthday offer email for smoothies and ordered a main each. I had the jack Daniels chilli hot dog and my boyfriend had the chicken strips. The chicken was nice, I really liked the sauce. My hot dog was best one I have tried, compared to Marco Pierre White etc the bun was soft and fresh. Only thing was it was all served in a trough like container so it was hard to slice the hot dog up and very messy to pick up and eat. But I managed it. You do have to pay for parking outside TGI but the restaurant is good. I would come again.. I played the match n win game on their app and won a bottomless Coke drink which expires in October so it's worth downloading the app. Download the TGI Fridays UK App, use my code LingYi78, scan barcode on your receipt and you'll get a free appetiser!

Where do start? Second visit here after it opened a couple of months ago. Well the first visit was…read moreplagued with long waits and not being able to get hold of our server. Was hoping for a better experience. Well it's a wet and windy bank holiday Monday. First of all we drive round the pay & display car park to no avail so we had to park over the road. After trying to decide where to eat we chose TGIs we were informed there would be a 30 to 40 minute wait. We went and sat at the bar to have a drink to wait. About half an hour later our buzzer went off and we were shown to our table. This was a high booth right outside the toilet door by the pass. Not a problem unless you are vertically challenged like me. I felt like Alice in Wonderland because my feet were swinging and came no where near the rail for your feet. We had already been looking at the menu while at the bar. It took 10 minutes for our server to come over to take our order. A Let's Play Ball hot dog with no pickle or ketchup and a crispy duck fajita with a Coke Zero no ice. My partner had his drink of Coke Zero he had at the bar. Another 10 minutes wait for the coke which came with ice, I reminded our server that I had asked for no ice. She took it away and returned with a drink sans ice. We watch food pile up on the pass before it went out some on there for more than 10 minutes. About 25 minutes after we ordered our food came out. My tortillas came out then I had to wait for my duck. Our food had not say for long. Mine was ok just really really messy. Not first date food. My partner didn't like the topping on his hot dog the bit in to one of the fries. He pulled a face and went yuck. I knew they were seasoned. He can't have salt due to medical reasons and hasn't for about 9 months. I then tried one and they were disgustingly salty. I called our server over. Explaining that no where on the menu does it say the fries are seasoned just crispy. That we normally would ask for no seasonal on if stated on the menu. She tried to offer us more fries but my partner didn't want them. I asked to speak to the manager. A manager, Nigel came over. I explained again and he tried to offer us more fries but my partner refused. I just said they were over seasoned and it should be stated. We were asked a couple more times by a couple of people if everything was OK. We replied yes so we didn't have to explain again. My partner ate half of his hot dog and none of the fries. I ate most of my fajitas. We then waited for our server to clear our table and get the bill. I nipped to the toilet to wash my hands because they were sticky from my fajitas. I returned and no one came. About 10 minutes had passed. Some then dropped something in the kitchen and a shard of ceramic about the size of a thumb nail came frying over the pass and hit my partner on his arm. I shouted 'that just hit him on the arm' and a manager was summoned. We then started discuss what happened again. He then said he would sort something out and went off to get our bill. After I explained we had been waiting for the bill and table to be cleared for 10 minutes. I said the service and experience had not been good and half off the food had not been enough. After my partners arm had started bleeding. He then wanted it to go in the accident book. He then just came out with a folded piece of paper the said we didn't have to pay anything. We told him we would not return. They even took food off the pass that could have had shards of ceramic in from the drop. If you want the TGI experience avoid Walsall and go to Hagley Road or Sutton Coldfield much better all round. Just to add I have been home for two hours and the food is still repeating on me. I think it is the greasiness of the duck.

I found Pizza House when I was desperately looking for vegan food in the area. The restaurant had a…read morelarge variety of vegetarian food and when I expressed that I was vegan they kindly let me know that they could make almost every vegetarian item on the menu vegan for me. The quality of my food and it's ingredients was great. Everything was fresh and tasted like they were organic. I had a big meal and unlike my expectations I felt very light (due to the ingredients being fresh). Will definitely eat here again.