Graze, Derby

OMG, the seafood risotto cakes are amazing and then the lamb with couscous...

Go here if you get the chance. Lovely atmosphere, great service and delicious food.

Graze gastro was recommended to me by a friend so I rang and booked a table for four for a birthday meal and I'm glad I did! We were delighted with the ambience and the decor. The seats were incredibly comfortable and the restaurant was nicely laid out. The service was friendly and lively but still very professional and we weren't disappointed with our meals: the food was incredible and the portion sizes were just right. I will certainly be eating there again.

A beautiful restaurant in size but no in decor, i would employ a different designer next time.

food was bland and boring, and service was awful, other than that everything was good to average.

food was rushed out at lightning pace and my main course of chicken wellington was dry and bland.

Graze is a very well presented restaurant, priced for everyday and not just special occasions.

Graze has changed it's concept a couple of times since it opened. This latest one, in my opinion, is the best yet. It is probably the best value food in Derby. Forget the 2 for 1 deals this is excellent, expertly cooked food at a great price.

I had Mushroom tartlet with 'crispy egg ' followed by beautifully pink lamb with diced aubergine and aubergine caviar. My partners meal was equally good. Without wine the bill came to under £20 for the two of us. However we did have an excellent bottle of Tempranillo and the bill was still under £38.

We didn't have room for pudding but there was an excellent choice.

When walking down Derby's restaurant quarter you can't fail to miss Graze. With its almost black interior and polished surfaces it exudes a classy atmosphere yet is down to earth and quite relaxing. The decor isn't what I'd normally expect from a restaurant and I admit it took me a while to appreciate this difference but by the end of the night it had really made an impression on me.With ten members of the Derby based Ladies Night Out Club present we were seated at one long table, served our first drink of the night and then left to peruse the menu. Being a set choice menu I wasn't expecting a wide variety of options however I and a couple of the other ladies were pleasantly surprised by the six or seven choices that were available for each course.Most of the ladies opted for a starter dish and I decided to order the brie and mushroom tartlet with a b arnaise sauce and crispy free range egg. Unlike a pastry tart it wasn't too flaky but a little moist and succulent with the soft and savoury brie cheese delightfully combining with the mushroom's delicate flavour. I'm still a little unsure as to why it was served with a free range egg but nonetheless we all enjoyed our beautifully presented and tasty starters.For the main course I choose the caramelised pumpkin risotto with wilted spinach, ricotta and parmesan shavings. My risotto had a lovely rich and creamy flavour, although a little runny for my liking, whilst the spinach and ricotta complemented the meal perfectly.One of the ladies opposite me chose the Derbyshire steak and ale pie with coarse grain mustard mash and graze gravy. On arriving the pie was huge whilst the mustard mash was lovely and creamy. Afterwards she mentioned that although it was delicious it definitely needed the gravy to help moisten the large amount of pastry.Almost everyone agreed that their main courses were superb however a common comment was that some of the dishes did have slight quirks to them and thought that the chef was trying to be too imaginative.Finally to dessert and like the previous two courses the menu offered a wide selection of sumptuous sweets to tempt us however after a filling starter and main course I decided instead to have a cup of coffee. I'll admit, the Bakewell Tart did look quite inviting and I was caught in two minds whether to order one but maybe next time I'll skip the starter to leave a little more room for a pudding!Only two problems with the night come to mind. One was the level of noise within the restaurant due to a large party of diners sitting just behind our table; obviously this can happen at any restaurant and can't be helped, and second, I personally believe that the waiter that served us was not as attentive as he could have been and seemed to find the amount of people to serve overwhelming.The restaurant manager however did apologise for having to the wait for food and so offered us a free bottle of wine which went some way to amending this issue.Overall Graze is definitely a place that I will be returning to. The menu offers a wide choice, is reasonably priced with good sized portions whilst offering a relaxing up-market feel and atmosphere. As a bonus they also use locally grown produce and all of their food is freshly prepared to order.All of the ladies agreed that they would have no qualms about recommending Graze restaurant to their friends and would eat there again.

Although this is a lovely restaurant I do feel that compared to other restaurants available in the city, the prices are not really justified.

However, with this said, I would be happy to go again with a large group of friends.

I ate at Graze this week and was blown away. Its kinda classy yet relaxed. Our meals where terrific, and I noticed from the previous persons comments that I also had a similar choice and I must say their comments certainly don't reflect my own experience. The Turkey was delicate yet bursting with flavour and the flakey pastry was the best I've ever had. I just want to say thanks to the whole team at Graze. It was definitely a night to remember. And cheap at half the price. I will definitely be going again. Please don't change a thing!

Happy Crimblas and Thanks again.

Well we booked as a group party of 10 people for a little works doo, we had the Festive menu.

The quantities are ideal, infact larger than i had expected.

The taste of food is superb and it is nice to know they use local produce.

The range of foods on offer is great too, a great drinks list too.

Infact every one in the party was overwhelmed with the experience of this restaurant, and we will be back, infact myself and my partner are coming back next month to sample another fine meal.

I booked a 'Festive Dinner' with some friends and was really looking forward to the meal. I chose the restaurant on the basis of the reviews and also the fact that it still had availability quite close to the date I wanted. We all chose the fishcakes to start which were quite nice but nothing special and I think the presentation was quite poor (a few lettuce leaves with the chilli jam drizzled across the plate). The main meals ordered were mostly turkey with stuffing. A better description would have been stuffing rolled with turkey breast as there was about 2 inch diameter of stuffing wrapped with about 1 cm thickness of turkey. I had the mushroom tartlet for my main meal and envisaged a melt in the mouth shortcrust pastry base with a creamy mushroom filling. The reality was a thin rectangle of overcooked flaky pastry with mushrooms on top. The rest of my friends were looking on with horror but to be fair it was edible but nowhere near worth the money paid. We also got small portions of carrot and swede mash, roast potatoes, red cabbage and potatoes in cream sauce. The veg was nice but there wouldn't have been enough if we had taken our male partners with us who have bigger appetites. Our other gripe was that we had finished our meal 50 minutes after walking through the door-so it wasn't the relaxed experience promised (felt a bit like a production line). We would ordinarily have stayed chatting with a bottle of wine but we all just wanted to get out of there. We tried originally to reserve a table at Restaurant Pierre (further up the road) but that was fully booked and I can honestly say that Graze doesn't come close to offering the level of ambience and especially quality of food which Pierre offers. I don't think this is Derby's premier dining experience and won't be returning in a hurry.