Ok, I'm slightly obsessed with Tripadvisor. I don't particularly want to waste time going to restaurants/hotels that aren't very good so why wouldn't I listen to what other people have said about places? Having said that I always try to "read between the lines" of reviews and work out how much in common I have with the reviewer. I'm also prepared to give new places a try (and then enjoy seeing establishments that I've loved move up the rankings on Tripadvisor-most recently this has happened with Adam's and The Pickled Piglet).
So I've been intrigued about Restaurant VMF (Villa Midlands Food) getting such good Tripadvisor reviews and reaching number one of restaurants in Birmingham (although more recently being pushed into second place by a certain newish restaurant on Bennett's Hill-I've not been enough times to remember the name). Restaurant VMF also seems to get booked up which I guess is a good sign (although it is only open on Friday/Saturday evenings and Sunday lunch). Another interesting aspect is that it's a training restaurant which largely uses NVQ students both in the kitchen and front of house. It also has its own allotment and tries to use other locally sourced produce.
Apart from being a bit difficult to work out the best place to park first impressions are good-the entrance is via the Trinity Road Stand Directors suite, which I guess does suggest it's somewhere special and as a Villa fan it's nice to see how the other half live. The restaurant itself is in the corner of the Trinity Road Stand next to The Holte End. It's a very nice room with large glass windows overlooking the pitch (for better views you can go out onto the balcony). So I'm sure the setting is one of the reasons people rate the restaurant so highly (we overheard quite a few conversations that suggested a lot of the other clientele were Villa fans).
The service was ok, everyone was trying hard but there were a few little things that could have been slicker-they are things you're probably more likely to notice if you've eaten at Adam's only a few days before (eg unused wine glasses remaining on an already slightly crowded table for quite a while after drinks have been served). The food was all decent-I had smoked salmon to start, then lamb three ways with a good selection of vegetables and creme brûlée for desert. It was all well cooked but nothing spectacular. We were expecting the meal to be good value, but when the bill came it was pretty obvious things had been missed off the bill. This led to a bit of a discussion between members of my family as to what we should do (I won't say who was/wasn't in favour of highlighting the mistake) but ultimately the missing items were mentioned and added.
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