Restaurants in Chester city centre

[NavyKitchen]

Dh and I are celebrating 25 years of marriage in December and have a night in Chester booked. Can anybody recommend a restaurant please for our evening meal. I’d like something a little bit special but we’re not massively adventurous with food so wouldn’t like the menu to be too unusual. We both like Indian or some sort of Asian fusion or a good steak place or traditional English. Dh not keen on Italian and I’m not keen on Greek or Turkish.

Upstairs at the grill is nice for steak

Shrub is great. Hear me out on this… it is vegan. I am not vegan yet this place is SOOO good. Tasting menu vibes but with more flexibility and the food is some of the best we’ve had (and we usually eat ‘posh’ food on special occasions eg Moor Hall, L’Enclume)

Oh my goodness! The reason we do Chester is because we had our ‘honeymoon’ there and also went back for our tenth anniversary. I couldn’t remember the name of this place as this is where we went last time! How funny it would be the first suggestion. It’s certainly on the table (now I remember the name of it!) but would maybe like to try somewhere else?

Thanks, I’ll keep and open mind and take a look at the menu

The Botanist was good recently. I like Hamayuu for Japanese, but maybe a bit casual? They also have kookaburra bakehouse for snack stuff which looks DIVINE and is on my to do list, plus this woman who bikes around with bakery stuff (patisserie pedaleur, I think she's called?). Which might be romantic for an outdoor riverside snack and walk ❤️

Noted is supposed to be very good, I just bought friends a voucher after it came recommended and they were thrilled!

Chef’s Table is good!

I LOVE UATG….

Avoid Grosvenor - all ponce and no substance.

Was also pretty “meh” about Chef’s table.

Amani is a decent Indian overall, but I’ve also been on a night when it was total chaos and quite stressful. Probably because the races were on.

My personal fav is Russell’s Thai tapas, despite it having a stupid name, being tiny and probably not “special” enough for your celebration. The food is fabulous though.

Chez Jules is good if you like hearty French food.
Siam Thai

Or yeah, Upstairs at the Grill!

For a 'posh' night out there is Upstairs at the Grill, Opera, Chef's Table and The Forge. Chester is a bit of a foodie heaven at the moment. I am not vegan but love Shrub too as the food is amazing. Other places I like are Porta, The Salt House and Moray (Asian fusion and near the market).
People rave about The Sticky Walnut in Hoole and a new place called Noted.

It's no wonder I am fat - I'm like a walking food critic. Lots of great bars too!

We always have a good time at Chez Jules. Good cooking, relaxed, always a buzzy atmosphere

Some great suggestions here, thanks everyone, I’ll start working my way through them…

The Cosy Club in Chester is good. I've been in four different Cosy Clubs, in different towns/cities, all very good (it's a small chain)
Lots of choice, steaks are good, cocktails excellent!

Chef's Table is fabulous
Upstairs at The Grill do the best steaks
The Ivy is really stylish
Opera Grill is nice and has a lovely terrace

Also, Amni is amazing if you like Indian food and the staff are super friendly

The Grosvenor closes next month for two years. I agree though...all style and no substance!

Sticky Walnut is fabulous but it's not city centre!
Chef's Table is fab
Noted - though you are missing out if it's not Sunday lunch cos their roast potatoes are heaven on earth
Porta for tapas, if you like tapas
Shrub is excellent
Or... Paysan and have the chessboard and lots of wine!

The cheeseboard is also nice at Paysan🤣

To be fair, the cheeseboard is even nicer than the chess board 🤗

As long as there's plenty of wine 🍷 😉

I also adore Russell's Thai tapas @Vinvertebrate You do need to be a little adventurous to go there, though. Shrub is excellent but again a little adventurous.

The Greenhouse is good and so is Chef's Table. Upstairs at the Grill too but you know that already.

Rooftop Social is a lot of fun especially in summer but it's extremely casual so maybe not suitable if you want a traditional anniversary meal.

I know a lot of people rave about Sticky Walnut but I don't get the appeal. The food is just ok and the restaurant itself is kind of grubby inside. Cosy Club is nice enough but not brilliant. The Botanist - I wouldn't. Maray is very good.

Agree Sticky Walnut has gone downhill. We went this year for our anniversary and it was so disappointing.

Shrub is delicious.

Taking notes on other recommendations.

I wish we were staying more than one night with all these suggestions! Although we don’t live too far so need to make more effort to go more often.
I’ve booked Amni, dh decided he doesn’t fancy steak and we both love Indian food. Thanks so much everyone for taking the time to reply!