Just eaten an absolutely gorgeous lunch at Mish Mash on eccy rd. I've walked past it so many times and finally went in (mainly coz my Mum was here and she could pay!) Not that it was expensive at all, its better when your Mum pays!
I felt I wanted to share how good it was coz its a real Sheffield enterprise and deserves supporting, locally sourced foods and drinks including alcohol, great service, food was yummy, seriously the best hand cut chips I've hand in ages. Also scrummy organic lemonade that tasted of lemons, makes me feel all nostalgic. A big bottle of Hendersons on each table and good service with a genuine smile, not something you come across every day.

I find chips are the measure of a good restaurant.

yeah, me too! I hate it when they are too hard or pale or just not good. These had the skins on were wuite thin but not too crispy, cooked to perfection, and the portion was just right too!!
mmmm waxing lyrical about the chips! yum

I went there for the first time this week. The decor is nice and quirky, service ok, wine good, but I wasn't that impressed with the food. I had lamb in haggis sauce and the sauce was a bit on the cold side. It's also one of those places where you pay £16 - £18 for a main course and an extra £2.50 for vegables / potatoes / chips etc

I'm not a big eater, but went to the pub after and had a bag of crisps because I was still hungry.

Won't be rushing back.

Also, it always amuses me "hand cut chips" as opposed to what? I think I'll open a restuant and put "fish that comes from the sea with machine cut deep fried potatoes" on the menu.

I don't know if they had a different evening menu up then but they were all £10 to £13 when I looked.

And hand cut chips is exactly opposite to machine cut thats the point..... it shows a chef that takes time to prepare by hand. I think it says a lot.

[/QUOTE]And hand cut chips is exactly opposite to machine cut thats the point..... it shows a chef that takes time to prepare by hand. I think it says a lot.[/QUOTE]

Really.... I didn't realise?! Thanks for pointing that out.

And hand cut chips is exactly opposite to machine cut thats the point..... it shows a chef that takes time to prepare by hand. I think it says a lot.

It shows he's not got enough to do in the kitchen if he's messing about cutting chips.

wow you're a cynical bunch. I just wanted to make the point that it was all local, time had been taken and it was yummy. Sheffield supporting Sheffield not griping about me mentioning that the chips were cut by hand!! yikes :loopy:

I've been half a dozen times - for lunches and for main meals. I've always enjoyed the food, atmosphere and service. I wouldn't hesitate to recommend it.

wow you're a cynical bunch. I just wanted to make the point that it was all local, time had been taken and it was yummy. Sheffield supporting Sheffield not griping about me mentioning that the chips were cut by hand!! yikes :loopy:

Don't worry about it. As far as I am aware no eating place has ever had the thumbs up on this forum. Especially so if they have the ‘temerity’ to charge more than £10 for a main course.

I find chips are the measure of a good restaurant.yeah, me too!Err... I think Nick may have been taking the pi55... ;)

As for 'Mish Mash' - I've never been but I love traditional well-made food.
Hopefully it's a fair bit better than that dire place that shut down - 'The Mash House' - which was the epitome of "lets go all modern and pretentious about sausages and mash... and charge extortionate prices for rubbish food and a terrible atmosphere... the students will love it!" :loopy:

Don't worry about it. As far as I am aware no eating place has ever had the thumbs up on this forum.

Actually, several have.

Actually, several have.

I agree with you on this Nick. I'm more than happy to recommend good restaurants on the forum and my judgements are not based upon the price of a meal. I had a wonderful meal last night at The Milestone at Kelham Island - this is over the £10 mark for mains. The food was fantastic, good wine was recommended by an excellent waitress. Unfortunately, Mish Mash didn't do it for me - maybe it was a bad day? However, I am entitled to an opinion.

I've been a few times - the service was not so great first time I went in, but it has improved significantly. I've always found the food to be really good, as have my eating companions - I've been for lunch 3 or 4 times, and twice in the evening. But everyone has different tastes and expectations, which is why I guess it's pretty rare to get nothing but praise for any restaurant.

I'm more than happy to recommend good restaurants on the forum and my judgements are not based upon the price of a meal.

Same here, I wouldn't hesitate to reccomend Wasabisabi or Baan Thai (amongst others), mainly becasue I've never had a bad meal in either, not becasue they are cheap/expensive.

Err... I think Nick may have been taking the pi55... ;)

:

I dont think he was. The perfect chip is hard to find and a combination of many factors.

Well I love Wasabisabi, and have had a great meal at the Milestone... so if Nick or missymarsbar recommend a place in future I can be confident that we have similar standards... ;)

Well I love Wasabisabi, and have had a great meal at the Milestone... so if Nick or missymarsbar recommend a place in future I can be confident that we have similar standards... ;)

Thanks KatieB...we eat out quite alot and here's a quick overview (not in any particular order):

1 Lounge in town (Glossop Road / West St) Szurko brothers have taken it over recently - both brilliant chefs....Christian knows what type of food we like and cooks it (so we don't order from the menu) - sign of a good chef
2 Marco at Milano and Rafters - for a posh meal
3 Portofino (next to Ponsfords nr Meersbrook) - best pizzas, great service and good value - we're in there twice a week - second home! Decor's not flash but the pizzas are great.
4 West 10 for lunch / dinner - Jonty is another good chef
5 Wong Ting chinese - good cheap lunch and good Sunday buffet (not like the usual chinese buffets)
6 Wasabi - great for tepanyaki if there's a few of you and good sushi
7 Milestone - first class where chefs have obviously taken time in prep
8 Cippola at Broomhill - contemporary decor, great service and quality italian food at average prices
9 Rowley's at Baslow if you fancy a trip out and good food. Only problem is the expensive taxi home, but woth it for special occasions and their wine tasting and food nights
10 Bar 23 (upstairs restaurant) - wasn't that impressed when it first opened, but the last few times we've been, it's been quality food and good value

That's my round up...hope it helps! It's only my opinion; I don't work or have links to the above places and I've tried to be objective in terms of price, service, food etc

And yes, I think Nick was taking the pi55 about the chip quality being the mark of a good restauant! Can you qualify this for us Nick!

Thanks KatieB...we eat out quite alot and here's a quick overview...Ooh thank you! :D Some new ones there for us to try :)
I love about half of your top ten (Lounge, Marcos, Wasabi, Milestone, Bar23)... and the other half I've never been to, but judging by our similar tastes I will enjoy trying them out! ;)

The only ones I can add to that recommendation list are:
Cricket Inn, Totley - great to spend Sunday afternoon there - great atmosphere & pub food a cut above ;)
Piccolos - nipped in there once with low expectations but had a really tasty lovely meal. Nothing fancy, good little Italian :)

I'm surprised we've never met, KatieB! We used to go lots to Cricket on Sunday afternoons (but haven't tried it since Fab left) and go to Piccolos for good, honest italian food in the city centre. We first went there with the same feelings as you, but have always had a good meal out! Tried Strada and Zizzi at Leopold Sq and Piccolino at winter gardens - ugh, not good. You'll have to update me with good places and i'll do the same!

I have just had the extreme misfortune of attempting to have lunch at this place with my girlfriend and I thought I would share.

After looking through the window and seeing nice contemporary decor that has obviously had some thought put into it, as well as signs proclaiming "fresh", "organic" etc we thought we'd give it a go.

We were seated and after looking at what was available for "brunch" ie before 6.30, it became apparent that the answer was not much at all. It was all a bit confused, a couple of salads, scrambled eggs on toast, the only thing that looked vaguely substantial was a lone burger.

After waiting a fair time I asked at the bar if we had to order there which finally got the waitress to come over, despite the fact the only other people in there were a small group that had already been served. Ordering a goatscheese and artichoke salad plus the scrambled eggs seemed to baffle our server, as did my girlfriend asking for cheese on the burger. We got a couple of smoothies which were fine, although it seemed to come as news to the waitress they served them.

When our food arrived we first had to request cutlery as that hadn't occured to anyone, my girlfriends 8 quid burger looked like - well a sorry looking slab of meat in a white bun with some standard fries, similar to something you might buy from a van on a friday night. My salad, at 6 quid, was the size of a modest sidesalad at best and was gone in a couple of bites. The kitchen had "lost" the eggs order despite our whole thing being written down on the same page of her pad. Nobody bothered to check if our food was ok etc. The waitress hovered behind the bar doing nothing whilst another guy amused himself on a laptop, maybe he'll read this - who knows.

20 pounds later we left feeling no fuller but a lot more angry. All in all a classic case of style over substance. It really is mind boggling that someone can take obvious care in the design and ambience of a place then totally forget about a simple coherant menu, quality of food, service etc.

When we paid the guy at the bar - again no "how was it?" or anything like that. I noticed there were lots of feedback slips proudly pinned to the wall on the way out, god knows who filling out these glowing reviews because we certainly weren't asked our opinions.

Avoid

That's unbelievable! You actually paid?? Without saying a word about the bad food and worse service ... why?

Has this been merged with the Ecclesall Road one? When I replied it was the first post about a place called Mish Mash on Abbeydale Road??? :huh: If you're going to merge, please say when, eh?

Why did we just pay and leave? - English reserve and just wanting to get out of there I suppose.

You are correct - it's Ecclesall Rd not Abbeydale, my mistake.

Went to Mish Mash for dinner last Friday (the third time we've been) and it was utterly fabulous.

It's a bit 'nouvelle cuisine', so don't expect big portions, but the food is just brilliant - in the same bracket as Artisan, IMHO.

Service was good too, but that was helped because there were so few people there.

I'd thoroughly recommend it; use it or lose it, folks.

mish mash is 10 times better now that one of the original founders is no longer there.
he now is a waiter in town (no names) so the story that he owned it seems to be (as expected) a load of pants.
food good
service good
price ok

I've been twice, both in the evening and found it to be a cut above most places. It's not been particularly full on either occasion, mind.

My husband walked past it the other night and said it was deserted. I haven't tried it yet. I loved 543 when it started out but that didn't take long to go down hill. I gather that Mish Mash has been set up by the old 543 chef or something?

My husband walked past it the other night and said it was deserted. I haven't tried it yet. I loved 543 when it started out but that didn't take long to go down hill. I gather that Mish Mash has been set up by the old 543 chef or something?

I believe so. I loved 543 too (Mr Chopsie and I had our first date there) especially the mini dessert selection thing they did... mmmm... anyway, I digress!

Having seen Mish Mash have a rocky start, then improve, the last time I went in there a couple of weeks ago for lunch, I have to say I was pretty unimpressed. The menu doesn't appear to have changed at all in the time they've been open (8/9 months now??) - certainly not for lunch anyway, and the waitress was fairly useless. Food was still ok, but not as good as it has been - Mr C had the burger and it was a bit on the dry side (bit stingy with the chips too!)

All in all, it put me off going there for lunch again, and if I was eating out in the evening it wouldn't stand a chance against my favourite restaurant - Seasons on Abbeydale Rd - consistently fabulous food, great service, and a wonderful, warm atmosphere.

Mish Mash need to be more consistent if they're going to keep people's custom.

Chopsie - can I ask you about Seasons? It changed hands recently - I know it always got good writeups but whenever I've been past it always looks totally empty. (I go past a lot as I live around the corner). I never fancy going to a restaurant where I think I'll be the only one in there... when is it busy? And is it still as good as everyone was saying last year? Thanks

Chopsie - can I ask you about Seasons? It changed hands recently - I know it always got good writeups but whenever I've been past it always looks totally empty. (I go past a lot as I live around the corner). I never fancy going to a restaurant where I think I'll be the only one in there... when is it busy? And is it still as good as everyone was saying last year? Thanks

I haven't been for a few months, but it had just changed hands last time I was there (don't know if it's changed hands again since though - do you know when the current people took over??) and it was still fabulous. It's pretty small inside, so even if it's full it doesn't feel busy, as the tables are all nicely spaced - I HATE restaurants where you're practically sharing a table with the people next to you (a la Nonnas). I've been midweek and it's been about half full, and at weekends when it's almost totally full, so I guess as with most places, Friday or Saturday night would be the busiest time to go.