Ye Olde Toll House, Willenhall
Ye Olde Toll House? Sounds like a museum rather than a restaurant, writes Catherine Dalton. It's certainly one for the history buffs. Like its name suggests, the restaurant was once Willenhall's toll house.
Vehicles used to stop there to pay their toll to use the road from Walsall to Wolverhampton.
Built in the early 1800s, it looks more like it belongs in Shakespeare's Stratford-upon-Avon rather than one of Willenhall's busiest streets.
It's a white building, part of it set below ground level, with black timber beams on the front.
It has a small car park on the side which gets pretty full on busy days so sometimes you have to find alternative parking in one of the smaller streets across the road.
Sounds quite picturesque. What's it like on the inside?
It's not the largest of restaurants and the taller diner may have to mind their head on some of the entrances and doorways.
But it's certainly got plenty of charm. Think exposed beams and brickwork. Visitors are guided into a small waiting area complete with a dark mahogany wood bar.
There are a few green padded benches there and low tables where people sit and have a drink while looking at the menu and the specials blackboard.
It's not a huge space so on busy days such as Sundays it can be standing room only.
There's a main dining room, all rather traditional looking with its exposed red bricks, dark wooden beams on the ceilings, plain white table linen and silver cutlery.
From that room, there's a doorway through to a smaller dining area – all in the same theme. On the other side of the restaurant, there's more seating area and there's an upstairs.
What about the ambiance?
Maybe it's the size or all the olde-worlde exposed brickwork and beams but it feels ever so cosy.
On a Sunday afternoon, the restaurant is generally pretty busy and often full. It's popular with admittedly slightly more mature diners – for birthday parties and anniversaries, so it has a nice friendly and welcoming feeling.
The staff are friendly and efficient and their rapport with the customers shows they clearly have some regular visitors who make the trip there on a regular basis.
It's also got a great reputation and is known by many as one of, if not the, best restaurant in Willenhall.
That's enough about the interior, what about the food?
If you love a traditional English Sunday dinner, it's the place for you. It does a special menu on Sundays, which is actually pretty good value.
A main course on its own comes in at £9.50, two course with coffee costs £13.50 and three courses with coffee will set you back just £16.95.
There's also a children's menu and the Sunday lunch menu is pretty varied.
The choice of entrees includes the starter list staples prawn cocktail, crown of melon and home made soup of the day, along with the slightly more exotic mushroom and brie wellington, smooth chicken liver and port terrine and mushroom and spinach risotto.
For main courses there's roast beef, pork, turkey or a combination for those who can't decide.
There's also lamb shank, salmon and lemon sole and two vegetarian options of Mediterranean vegetable moussaka and mushroom and pepper stroganoff.
The dessert list also contained plenty of old faithfuls, including bread and butter pudding.
Did it taste as good as it sounds?
Yes, absolutely. A sack of lovely warm crusty bread (yep, a sack of bread) was delivered to the table to set the tone for what was to come.
The mushroom and spinach risotto was light and fluffy and packed plenty of flavours- and they weren't stingy with the portions.
The roast beef was succulent and served up with a separate side dish of fresh vegetables. The Yorkshire pudding was suitably crispy and it was all covered in a rich, deep gravy.
The bread and butter pudding was as a good bread and butter pudding should be – perfect comforting food as the winter days set in.
Any complaints?
Just one teeny, tiny complaint. The food and atmosphere could not be faulted. The only thing that could was the background music.
Whether it was on purpose or not but two hours worth of "Easy Like Sunday Morning" on repeat was probably enough to set even the most avid Lionel Richie fan on edge.
So, sum up Ye Olde Toll House Restaurant in three words.
Traditional, quality and comforting.
Worth a visit then?
Definitely to be recommended. It's good quality food, tasty and at a reasonable price for what you get.
Forget your modern bistros and gastro-fusion foods, Ye Olde Toll House Restaurant knows what it does and does it very well.
CONTACT DETAILS
Address: Ye Old Toll House Restaurant, 40 Walsall Road, Willenhall, West Midlands WV13 2ER
Phone: 01902 605575
