Giraffe Restaurant Review.

I recently attended my local Giraffe restaurant located at The Oracle shopping centre in Reading. I had dined at Giraffe when it was fairly new to the town and I must admit I didn't entirely get on well with the dish I selected, however I thought I would give it another go and I'm extremely pleased that we went along. The person I took with me, on the other hand had never tried Giraffe, and being a big fan of food (what man isn't!?) he was looking forward to trying it out for his first time.

Arriving at the restaurant we was greeted by a friendly and smiley waitress who showed us to our table with menu's, she then appeared a few minutes later and asked if she could get us any drinks. The waitress (whose name I now wish I had wrote down) was more than happy to answer any questions me and Gareth had about the cocktails, helping us choose what we feel was the right cocktails to start our meal.

Gareth went for the Laid Back Jack cocktail, which was Jack Daniels honey with lemon juice, orange liqueur and lemonade priced at £6.95, it was served in a decent sized glass tumbler style jug. Gareth said the lemon worked really well with the whisky, something he wouldn't of thought to mix himself!

Laid Back Jack cocktail.

Whilst I went for the Mango Lime Daiquiri, which is Bacardi superior rum, fresh mango and lime juice blended to a tropically refreshing slush, this too was priced at £6.95 and served in a very stylish and deep filling glass. Apart from a little over powerness from the lime (I'm not a lime fan!) the cocktail was lovely! 

Mango Lime Daiquiri.

Our drinks was brought to us extremely quickly which surprised us both as the restaurant was relatively busy, however there was a fair amount of waiting staff serving between tables so all customers was served quickly with children being kept entertained with balloons, colouring activities and plastic giraffe cocktail stirrers of different colours.

Plastic Giraffe Cocktail Stirrers. 

For starter, after having to narrow down our selection's because there was so many yummy looking dishes to choose from, I went for the Orange BBQ Duck Tostada which was a crispy corn tortilla topped with sticky orange pepper BBQ duck, topped with shredded salad and fresh red chilli.

Orange BBQ Duck Tostada. 

Priced at £5.95 I was extremely pleased with the dish, the duck was beautifully cooked, making it extremely soft and easy to swallow. The flavouring worked surprisingly well, even though I personally wouldn't add orange to any dish. The tortilla was the icing on the cake really, broken down to small pieces with a piece of duck placed on top was mouth watering heaven! 

Underneath the salad.

Gareth went for the Firecracker Chicken Tenders - priced at £5.35, which was four chicken breast mini fillets, with a sesame crunch coating, served with asian slaw, fresh lime and wasabi aioli. We both was left with empty plates bar a little piece of salad and asian slaw.

Firecracker Chicken Tenders.

We was asked during our starter's if we was okay for drinks, I ordered a Coca-Cola (£2.45 for a large glass) whilst Gareth went for a Brookyn Lager (£4.15) that he really seemed to enjoy! He got his phone out to research more on the lager and found it accompanied his main course really well.

Brooklyn Lager.

Gareth went for the BBQ Baby Back Ribs - £15.50, slow cooked in sweet smoky bbq sauce, roasted to a glaze and served with creamy slaw and skin on fries. I can talk for both of us here when I say the ribs was the best ribs we've both ever tasted, and between us, we've tried quite a few!

BBQ Baby Back Ribs

Quite often with ribs, you'll find there isn't enough meat on the bones, or they're really chewy and fatty, that wasn't a problem at all. The sauce was beautiful too, not too much but just enough, I swapped half of my main for half of Gareth's as they was just so beautifully cooked.

BBQ Baby Back Ribs - so meaty!

The meat fell perfectly of the bone, as you can see in the picture below, this was a dish we both really enjoyed and would go for again on our return to Giraffe, we both think they should win an award of some sort due to how amazing they was.

All that was left was the bones, the meat fell off perfectly!

For my main, I went for the Grilled Sirloin Steak 227g - £15.95 which was a 21 day aged Irish-reared beef steak from quality assured farms, it was served with a rocket style leafy salad and I had the option of the dish coming with mash or skin on fries - I went with the mash. For £1.55 extra, I could of added garlic butter, or cracked peppercorn and bourbon sauce but I thought I would stay safe and go without incase I didn't like either of them.

Grilled Sirloin Steak 227g.

The steak, just liked the ribs was cooked to perfection, this may come as a surprise but I've never had steak before, so I wasn't sure what to expect, I do however know I don't like the sight of raw meat so I asked for it to be well done and it was divine. Using a steak knife, it was relatively easy for me to cut through, spending less time cutting and more time enjoying the dish! I would say though the leafy salad didn't go with the mash, however I feel it would go extremely well with the skin on fries.

The Irish-reared steak was cooked to perfection for me - well done!

For pudding, I went with the Chocolate Brownie - £5.40 which was served with very vanilla ice cream and chocolate sauce. I like my brownies hot, or at least warm, but never cold, so I was pleased that the dish was served hot. The cold vanilla ice cream accompanied the brownies extremely well, although I was stuffed to the brim, I think I could of easily ate two of the pudding dishes!

Chocolate Brownie.

Gareth went for the Baked Vanilla Cheesecake - £5.50 which was a ginger snap biscuit base with rhubarb compote and mascarpone cream. The cheesecake portion was very generous, as was the compote and cream, which Gareth said went really well! His most favourite part was the ginger snap base, something he's not seen on a cheese cake before!

Baked Vanilla Cheesecake.

Overall we was both extremely pleased with the service we received and the food that was served. We was greeted a number of times from the waiting staff to make sure we was okay for drinks and to check our food was okay. I feel it's important for waiters and waitresses to get the balance right, at other restaurants I've waited so long for table service I've ended up having to go and ask for service which I don't like if the service is suppose to be provided.

Both me and Gareth was pleased we spent our date night together at Giraffe, and couldn't think of a better restaurant we could of spent the evening at, where we ate good food in a good atmosphere.

The atmosphere and decor in Giraffe was very welcoming and friendly, I especially loved their ceiling, and only wish I took a photo of it now! Giraffe is a family friendly restaurant and both me and Gareth will be returning to the restaurant fairly soon with Spud.

We give Giraffe 5 out of 5 stars!

★★★★★

To find your nearest Giraffe restaurant, check out the official website here.

Jada x