€€€€ • Italian • Birmingham
⭐ 4/5 – Lovely atmosphere and service, but slightly disappointing menu policy
We had a really enjoyable evening at Regina’s. The restaurant is beautiful, with a lovely ambience and aesthetically pleasing interior. It’s definitely somewhere you can dress up for a nice evening out, which is something Birmingham could do with more of. The DJ and music were also excellent and added to the overall atmosphere.
The service was excellent. Millie looked after us and was attentive and friendly throughout the evening. Our drinks arrived promptly, and although the mocktail selection was surprisingly limited, particularly for a restaurant that caters to halal diners, the two mocktails we tried were both really nice.
The food was decent overall, with good portion sizes for both the starters and mains. We had no complaints about the quality or quantity.
The main disappointment was the lack of flexibility surrounding the Saturday minimum two-course policy. We understand that restaurants have their own policies, but we wanted to order three mains and one starter between the two of us. Unfortunately, this wasn’t allowed, even though our preferred order would have cost more than ordering two starters and two mains.
We were advised to share a starter and dessert instead, but that wasn’t what we wanted to eat. The policy felt unnecessarily rigid, especially as we were happy to spend more on the dishes we actually wanted. As a result, we missed out on a main we had been looking forward to and ordered a starter we didn’t particularly want.
It’s a shame because everything else about the evening was genuinely lovely. The atmosphere was fantastic, and the service couldn’t be faulted. Overall, this was a pleasant experience and deserving of four stars, but the lack of flexibility with the menu policy would make me hesitant to return, particularly on a Saturday.
