Strada

I really like Strada and according to all these other reviews so does everyone else! Strada, for those of you who have never seen or been to one is a chain of Italian restaurants located around the UK. Most big cities have one.
Now some of the more traditionalist ones amongst you will be exclaiming "What? Italian chain restaurant? That's just not right." Italian restaurants have mostly been coupled with the image of being rustic and traditional. But it must be said that Strada does pass with flying colours. Their food is fresh, well cooked and authentic. They general style of the restaurants is elegant, quiet and very date-friendly and the general staff and service there is excellent. Do be warned about two things though: Firstly Strada, despite being a chain restaurant, is rather pricy (about £15 a head minimum) and secondly, their menu is quite innovative so don't expect your usual pepperoni pizza and spaghetti carbonara on it. If you want a simple Italian dish and not to pay too much don't go to Strada. But if you want something fresh, new and to eat it somewhere elegant then by all means go to Strada. I like Strada and I hope you do too.

Chiquito: A Good Mexican Chain Restaurant

I really like Chiquito. I've been there five times and I've eaten there thrice (twice the place was so full we couldn't get a seat!!) and every single time has been absolutely amazing. For those of you that have never been or seen one, Chiquito is a chain of Mexican Restaurants found all over the UK. Most big cities should have one.
The first time I ate there I decided to try out all their appetizers so a friend and I ordered their nachos and their chicken wings. The Nachos were just perfect with the cheese evenly melted out in all places, generous amounts of salsa and guacamole and top quality beef sprinkled on top. The chicken wings were also pretty good, nice tangy BBQ sauce and well sized.
The second time I went I just went for drinks and dessert. I got the rum filled profiteroles and again Chiquito did not disappoint. The Profiteroles were freshly made and had a very generous dose of rum in them. I left a bit tipsy.
The Third time I went I got the chimichanga and this was easily the best chimichanga I had ever had, the outside was crispy and fried to perfection and the inside was moist yet well cooked.
The service at Chiquito is really good and the staff are really friendly. The atmosphere is also amazing as it is very authentically mexican.

A must try.

Dad's Kitchen

After eating takeaways as a Nottingham student for more than two years, the choices can get limited: pizza, kebab, and Chinese are the usual ones.
So when I discovered Dad’s Kitchen, which specialises in Jamaican cuisine, I was intrigued. Although, they don’t open as late as the likes of Dino’s and Mario’s etc., they have a variable selection of dishes and their customer-service is very friendly.
I had the jerk chicken and plantain, which is a pretty good combination, seeing as there is a lot of sauce that goes with the jerk chicken. The sauce was sweet but savoury and made for a good dip for the plantain.

Arena Kebab

I've ordered from Arena Kebab Nottingham twice. The first time I ordered I got a Doner Kebab and chicken wings. The wings were large and tasty and the doner kebab (although pricy) was very large and the Naan bread was just right. The bread held strong and I didn't find myself playing a balancing act trying to make sure the kebab meat didn't fall too heavily on one side or the other. My friend got the mixed tikka chicken and doner meat kebab and he loved his. The week after we were with another friend and we decided to get Arena again. This time the naan bread was too dry, there was not enough meat in the kebabs (we ordered chicken kebabs this time) and the chicken our friend ordered was too plain. In short it's just like any other kebab shop, you sometimes get a good kebab and sometimes a bad one.

Planet Pizza 3

Planet Pizza 3 (or the third… I really don’t know/care) is another of many kebab/pizza/sfc take-aways located in Nottingham. The one thing they have that sets them apart from the rest is that they do have stuffed crust pizzas, at your regular kebab shop pizza price. Could this be the cheaper solution to getting an expensive (yet frankly considerably better) stuffed crust pizza at Pizza Hut or Dominos, you ask? Well, nearly. Their pizza stuffed crust is effectively stuffed with cheese but a rather sad amount that can just be tasted. I must say their pizzas are a lot better than all your other kebab shop pizzas and clearly their chef used to work at pizza hut. But it’s not quite there. Cheap alternative: Yes. Replacement: No. Enough said.

Antalya Nottingham

If you are tired of your under-average kebabs (See below: Luigi’s) and want to tuck into some real high quality Turkish food then its best you check out Antalya in Nottingham. This traditional Turkish restaurant actually has two parts. One: an elegant dine-in setting with large seating areas for dinners and parties. The second: A simple yet very tasty take away. The food is of amazing quality and authenticity thus restaurant has a recurring clientele and I can see why. My biggest criticism towards Antalya is that it’s a very dark restaurant as the lighting is quite poor and the windows are always covered. I suppose for a romantic dinner with a date this would be nice but generally the darkness is not very atmospheric. I should mention that being quite a classy restaurant the price range follows suit and if you are planning to eat there do expect to pay at least £15 a head. All in all a good restaurant and a must try when in Nottingham.

The Lemon Tree Nottingham

We ordered from the Lemon Tree a week ago and all our stomachs said after we finished was "Meh!". The Lemon Tree gave us the most mediocre chinese take-away meal we have had in a while. Let's start course by course.

Appetizers: Prawn Crackers.
The prawn crackers were more like prawn sloppy joes as they were so oily I could feel the pimples wanting to come out by just touching them. To think prawn crackers are so easy to make...

Appetizer: Chicken wings
We got the salt and spicy chicken wings and well... actually they were really good and cheap too at £2.50 they are the cheapest wings you can get around and are actually really good value for money.

Main course: Beef Fried Rice
Now this was the saddest excuse i've ever seen for beef fried rice from a chinese restaurant. normally Beef Fried Rice is really lovely with mixed vegetables and with the lovely soy sauce and beef juice in the rice but not this one. They just had fried beef on some egg fried rice... with very little egg. Really a disappointment.

Main course: Chicken Curry w/ Egg Fried Rice
This was not worth the money paid for it. One would have thought it would only pass of as a school lunch. Not enough chicken and too many mushrooms. The taste of the actual curry sauce was quite bland. The fried rice was pretty pathetic: little flavour with hardly any egg. Very underwhelming.