The Roast Café

This place probably gets my vote for «the most completely ordinary bar in Leeds with an outside area»… It’s an interesting award I’ll give you that.
Tucked away behind numerous buildings and on the river, it’s not the easiest place in the world to find if I’m honest; it’s also about 80 meters away from Toast and whichever came second in my opinion really ruined themselves when they decided to name their alcoshop so closely to the other.
The clientele seem to mostly guys and girls from the The Yorkshire Post and other media type places in the area, with a degree of crossover with Leeds’ financial/​legal sector if the power suits are anything to do by.
Though given the décor and ambiance it’s probably a lot more of the former and not much of the latter; the inside of the place looks like it could double for a badly refurbed Wetherspoons and comes complete with a dodgy looking UK sized pool table, and an overly large fish tank on the bar which houses a couple of half tropical looking fish. My friends and I wondered how many drunken folk end up pouring their dregs into the tank. The fish might not be tropical at all. Just ill treat, permanently drunk and orange.
Drinks are all standard pub fare and there is nothing that sets the available beverages apart from Yates’ … though arguably the staff at Yates’ are more friendly; the last time I was in the young lady serving us scowled pretty much all night and I’d love to say that this didn’t spur us on into lightly ribbing her for this, but that would be a lie.
I’m fairly sure that it’s the kind of place that is frequented because it’s a local to your office block, I can’t see any other reason (besides the location on the river with the ‘beer garden’) that you’d ever really want to spend any time here.

I wasn’t aware this place existed as Whitehall Quay is not a part of town I’d frequent but when a family member books it for a birthday party you can hardly protest to not knowing where it is!
It is not a great place to find location wise I will start with!
I won’t go into the whole night but these are my key gripes–
Overpriced and limited bar
Very bad smell from behind the bar
Very poor service from rather uninterested staff
Lack of staff
Glasses not collected when empty
Toilet floor was wet through
Only 2 toilet cubicles and hardly room to swing a cat!
I hope we just attended the venue on a bad night but I wouldn’t be tempted to go back and give them another shot to impress me with this experience.

A few years ago I wrote a review on here lamenting the loss of The Roast from their former site on great george street.
To my delight I just recently discovered they had relocated, as opposed to shutting their doors for good. Now residing on the side of the river they are a few minutes walk from the rear entrance of the train station.
The place is larger, the décor a little more elaborate, but the food maintains the same great simplicity that served them so well before.
It’s a relatively pedestrian menu on first look, burgers, salads, the now ubiquitous fish finger sandwich. What sets The Roast apart is the small touches. Their beef burger is riddled with both coriander’s fresh leaves and dried seeds, the chicken blt is actually a pile of torn roast chicken topped with crisp bacon.
It’s great value for money as well, the two above items being £6 each, today they were even offered as a two for one deal, so just £3 each.
Simple honest food, good prices and friendly staff throughout. Plus, they now serve beer as well, which is just the icing on an already tasty cake.

The Roast Café occupies a riverside location, which is always a plus and with outside seating this would be a great place to eat or have a few drinks in the summer. However, the weather wasn’t great — a little cold today!
For a works lunch this is an ok venue, though the lack of large tables I think would be an issue if there was more than one group (think twice also if there are more than four of you), we where placed on a table which actually was a pool table with a protective top on! However, tables of four and two are a plenty.
I ordered a Fish Finger Butty for lunch, which I was really looking forward to. However, I have to say I was a little disappointed, a fish finger to most people would be the iconic Findus Fish Finger, what turned up though you couldn’t say were fingers! And they were battered not breadcrumbed! The portion size though was good and well worth the £6 (Fish Finger Butties are a part of a £6 Lunch Menu).
With it being lunchtime I didn’t partake in the wine or the beer — stuck with good old Harrogate Spring Water.
Would I return? Yes, though probably in a smaller group and try a few more items on the £6 lunchtime menu. I can imagine when the weather picks up though this place will become even more popular!

The Roast was a stone’s throw away from one of the flat’s I used to live in the Whitehall Waterfront development. After I tired of throwing stones, I simply visited there for dinner. Extremely often.
The food at The Roast is exquisite and extremely reasonably priced. As my residence in that area coincided with a hedonistic and therefore lazy time, I have sampled the fare on offer at all times of the day. Their eggs benedict regularly provided a necessary and delicious morning dish to revive the senses, or if the ultimate nourishment was required, the full English breakfast was a reliable friend.
The hot duck sandwich with hoi sin sauce still provides reason enough to make the short trip to The Roast at lunchtime. In fact, I have converted many colleagues to the wonders of this café.
The value of the evening menu is phenomenal. Offering delicate belly pork dishes alongside fiery tiger prawn linguine and comforting homemade pies with gravy and mash amongst many others, the majority of the main courses will only set the punter back by £5. The quality of the cooking and the local sourcing of ingredients is commendable, especially for such a small venue.
The décor of The Roast is contemporary without the annoyance of pretentiousness. Traditional leather sofas greet the customer, providing a relaxing environment to read the variety of magazines on offer. Plastic chandeliers, classic wooden furniture and round fishbowls reminiscent of childhood, are used effectively to create an inviting interior. A pool table is discreetly situated at the back of the restaurant and the walls are adorned with interesting ‘porn chic’ art, which is available to purchase.
The staff that I have encountered have been consistently excellent, something which I feel always adds to the overall restaurant experience. Along with Vogue and The Yorkshire Post, I give The Roast at Whitehall the highest of accolades. I am already planning our next rendezvous.

Bit out of the way unless you happen to work of live nearby but will be nice spot in summer, overlooking the river. Grabbed a sandwich there at lunchtime, goat’s cheese and chillivery good it was too and plenty of others making use of their sandwich bar and soup express line. They also do hot meals such as jacket potatos and various hot sandwiches. Tapas and light grills on an evening. One of those places you might go to if you just want a snack and quickly.