World Service Review

Driving into Nottingham offers quite a mix of old and new; on the one hand you have some historic landmarks and classic architecture which gives a feeling of quite an upmarket, illustrious city. But on the other hand, there's a plethora of garish high rises and areas close to the city centre where, to be perfectly honest, you wouldn't want to walk late at night. Oh and there's road works, so many, many road works. World Service follows a similar trend; on the right as you walk through the view-blocking wall is a fabulous seventeenth century town house. On the left, where the main restaurant area resides, there is what looks more like a dolled-up 1960's office block.

Despite some less than stellar external architecture, the outside courtyard area is a relaxed space and perfect for an aperitif, whilst the inside restaurant area, although having a bit of a clubby vibe, is a modern and perfectly acceptable setting to enjoy a good meal. And a good meal was certainly what I was expecting as I sat down with my wife, sister and young daughter for lunch on a warm August Saturday. I had an enjoyable G&T to start, there's a large selection of cocktails too including a good range of non-alcoholic options. The wine list is also decent and we enjoyed a nice Sauvignon Blanc during the meal, so no complaints at all really on the drinks front.

Food began for me with a wood pigeon wellington. It's actually a fairly brave dish in many ways, such is the cooking precision required and although the wood pigeon was borderline too dry, it just clung on to the right side of moist and was a very enjoyable dish. My wife however did not have so much luck with a very disappointing watermelon salad.

Whilst my daughter tucked into a not-on-the-menu plate of chicken and chips, my main of sea trout arrived. Again, this was an enjoyable dish, cooked well by a kitchen that clearly knows how to deliver good food. My wife had the rabbit and again was less impressed than I was. For dessert, my without-pot creme brulee was very enjoyable, a nice idea and it tasted very good indeed.

Service throughout was good and despite a slightly upmarket feel to the place, there was no detectable pretence and certainly no issue with our young daughter. Good though the service was, an automatically added 12% service charge did feel a little over the top considering the standard of restaurant and the location. Nonetheless, this didn't detract from what was an enjoyable meal in what is by any standard a perfectly decent fine dining restaurant.