The Daffodil Restaurant in Cheltenham – Review
Business: The Daffodil
Location: 18-20 Suffolk Parade, Cheltenham GL50 2AE
Date of Review: July 2017
Link to their website: Click Here
Booking the table
The Daffodil has a nice modern website which clearly offers 3 different ways to book a table.
You can use online booking App OpenTable, email them your requirements or use this new technology called the Telephone (beats me what that is??).
Sticking to what I know I plumped to use the online booking App. OpenTable is one of the easiest of these types of Apps out their to use but it does make you register for a free account with them before booking. It’s no big deal really but it does mean another company has your email address and will sure to make use of with the odd email.
Rating out of 5
Availability
I have been going to The Daffodil for many years, the once ‘hotspot‘ of Cheltenham is under some serious competition. This however has made it a little easier to get a table, every cloud has a silver lining!
You shouldn’t need to book too far in advance unless it is Cheltenham Festival week.
Rating out of 5
Location
Located in Suffolk Parade it is only a short walk from Montpelier area of Cheltenham.
If you are new to Cheltenham you are not likely to just walk past it, it is a little tucked away so have a quick look on Google maps.
Rating out of 5
Greeting from the staff
There is always a nice friendly face to meet you upon arrival. The Daffodils main entrance is quite special, stunning large sweeping staircase and a large original cinema reception desk.
Rating out of 5
Decor and Atmosphere
The Daffodil uses an old cinema which still has many of the original art decor features. The kitchen is on the stage where the big screen used to be. The gallery floor hosts the bar area for pre diner drinks with the stunning original staircases to take you there.
I think The Daffodil are missing a trick with the kitchen though. It is quite common that restaurants ‘show off’ the kitchen area as part of the entertainment.
Although The Daffodil have placed the kitchen in the correct place they have chosen to hide the ‘entertainment’ of chefs in action behind big counters. I’m sure this is all good for the Chef but us paying customers are missing out.
The decor has some really lovely art decor touches which we understand was overseen by Laurence Llewellyn Bowen, but it looks a little bare and dated, not in a good way.
The space is great I just think they need to do more with it. The Daffodil is now in competition with a ever growing list of very good restaurants like Bhoomi (Read our Bhoomi review here), Prithvi and Lumiere. To make sure they are not left behind they need to up their game.
What the owners need to do is fly over to Singapore and visit the Atlas Bar. Take lots of photos and recreate at their location. This would make sure the restaurant will never be in the shadows of the new upstarts as the Daffodil would look fantastic like this.
Rating out of 5
The Food
The food has always been good at The Daffodil, not too fancy-pants but still a high quality. If you have read any of our other Cheltenham restaurant reviews you would know I and my family have a few dietary requirements. Although a sometimes pain to explain to restaurant staff it is a good ‘test’ on their communication skills and quality of service.
Due to our history with them we don’t feel too confident on trusting them to remember our requirements from the booking and always go through with the waiter at time of ordering. It’s not a problem and they have always been very professional.
Rating out of 5
The Service
Like all businesses the most important area to get right is the level of service. For restaurants this can make or break a good food experience.
Over the years The Daffodils service has been very good however our latest visit left us feeling a little ‘taken for granted’
The Daffodil operate a ‘take your wine bottle away from you so they fill up your glass’ policy. Unless you have the quality and quantity of staff like The Waterside Inn you are making yourself a lot of work.
Just leave the bottle on our table, and walk away!
We like our wine so when our glasses don’t have any wine in them we can get grumpy. Think foot stamping child who wants it’s own way and you won’t be too far off us.
Through-out our meal we had to grab the attention of one of the waiters to fill our glasses.
As I mentioned above the service can ruin a good meal, and in this case wine-gate was the lasting memory.
Rating out of 5
Cost
The Daffodil isn’t the most expensive restaurant in Cheltenham but it might be a little too expensive for what you get in return.
Rating out of 5
Leaving the restaurant
All our restaurant reviews have a ‘Leaving’ section. For this visit to The Daffodil I can’t think of anything to say about when we left. We paid the bill, the waiter thanked us and we left.
If they made our exit something we would remember and continue to talk about even after we have left the building it would make us want to book again soon.
Rating out of 5
Overall impression of The Daffodil in Cheltenham
Once they have nipped over the Singapore, performed a little building TLC, trained their staff to be more attentive (in our waiters defense he had to look after too many tables spread over a large distance), employ more staff maybe?
Then maybe, it will keep those young pups of the new Cheltenham restaurants at bay.