Giraffe

Fantastic quesadillas. Good service. Slightly disappointing choice of non-​lager beers. Kids’ pizza is not really like the sort of pizzas you get in Pizza Express. More like Pizza Hut as they are very thick bread. Not the tastiest kids’ pizzas. Good menu though and definitely kid friendly. So four stars overall.

This was the first Giraffe I’d ever been to and it had a lot to live up to with the hype my friends had given Giraffe as a chain. I have to say that it was just alright. It’s better than many other chains that a lot of people I know love and so I’ve been back again.
The restaurant has a great feel to it and the décor is really warm and relaxing. I’ve been to Giraffe both pre and post being diagnosed coeliac and they are really good at labelling their food to let you know what you can and can’t eat. Having said this I was really gutted to discover that their tasty sweet potato fries are now a no go for me, I guess it’s the coating that makes them off limits.
Giraffe is a great place to cater to most people, with good burgers, less conventional mains, a range of salads and with general discounts to make it cheap on the wallet you could do much worse.
Giraffe is handy if you have a vegetarian friend and a coeliac in the same group, as well as any meat eaters to boot.

Whilst Giraffe are quite a big chain in the South of England and London, they are relatively new arrivals on the Birmingham food scene. They currently have one branch in Solihull, located in the Touchwood shopping complex.
The Giraffe concept is all about fresh and healthy food served up in fun and imaginative ways. It is a good place for families as they offer excellent kids options and the service is top-​notch.
The sharing mezze is excellent — loaded with baba ganoush, hummus and meaty nibbles. For a main course, I tend to go for one of their salads, which are far removed from the typical bowl of uninspiring limp lettuce. Giraffe salads are all about zesty flavours, spices and unusual flavour combinations — I heartily recommend the Edamame, Asparagus and Soba Noodle Salad.

Giraffe! I love Giraffe — from the bizarre name, to the delicious — but often surprisingly healthy — meals on offer. I have eaten at a number of their London branches, and when they announced on Twitter that they were opening a branch in the Midlands I did a very excited little happy dance!
I guess I was mildly surprised it opened in Solihull rather than Birmingham, though perhaps the demographic suits them well? And besides, the Touchwood is a pretty snazzy shopping centre if you want somewhere outside of the centre of Birmingham to mooch — plus there’s a cinema on the complex, which means you can tie a visit to Giraffe with whatever your movie genre you feel like enjoying (and enjoy 20% off with a Cineworld Unlimited card, or 20% off on Orange Wednesdays with a valid cinema ticket!)
Things I like about Giraffe in particular:
* they have a WIDE range of interesting and unusual food on the menu that caters for vegetarians, coeliacs, meat eaters, fussy eaters and KIDS! (- so, everyone then!) and there are seasonal specials in addition to the main menu, so you never get bored with the options available.
* they do DELICIOUS cocktails (mmm Appletini!)
* they have a lot of ever changing special offers — despite being a chain, they’re really just a small UK chain so they quickly respond with their offers to UK events, such as National Vegetarian Week when they’re doing 2-​for-​1 on veggie meals! Definitely check both the Solihull site and also the national Giraffe site for the range of offers on — including lunch deals, kids deals and drinks offers.
The falafel burger is delicious (especially with sweet potato fries!) but the one things I would say is that the dressing on the Zuma Beach Salad is SO orangey, it’s like it’s doused just in orange juice. Which some people may like — I just know it’s not for me! (everything else I’ve eaten there has been yummy though)