The Malt Shovel, at Barston in Solihull - Phone Number, Reservations, Reviews

Came here with some of my girlfriend’s retired friends for a catch up and some food on a Sunday afternoon. Pub was very busy but we had a very polite waiter who sorted us out with a table and our order. We all went for the Sunday roast (standard on a Sunday., surely). Food was lovely and a portion that just hit the spot. We had ordered a large side of cauliflower cheese, which we also dismantled. A point that was made in a previous review and also picked up by my girlfriend, was how noisy it was. I did find myself struggling to hear my friend opposite. This could be enough to put people off as the food is far from cheap.

A good country restaurant. Good menu choice. Friendly and helpful staff. Onsite parking. Outside seating when the weather is good. A relaxing place.

A really good gastro pub Good menu, great staff, really good service.

We had dinner in the Malt Shovel one evening. The food is excellent - decent menu choice, nicely cooked/presented, but we won't go back ! Why ??? It's noisy, not just a bit noisy, but so noisy that we were shouting at the top of our voices and still not heard by our friends. The pub has all hard services (fine they look great, but are acoustically really poor), plus they have a large bar area, where people stand and drink, and talk to each other (shout at each other would be more correct !). The result is the most noisy pub environment I've ever been in, and is totally unacceptable for a dining area. We complained and were eventually moved to an area apart from the main bar, which was better, but still not great (and not in character with this type of pub). If you just want a drink with mates, this pub is perfect, if you want a "proper" meal, with "proper" conversation it's not. (I feel they need to use more acoustic deadening materials, and more the dining tables out of the bar area totally).

We enjoyed a perfect meal tonight at the Malt Shovel. From the moment we got there, the service was exceptional & the food & drinks were flawless. The staff looked after us so well, setting up a table outside, bringing more bread & even bringing out blankets when it got a bit chilly. There is nowhere else like it in the area. A perfect destination for a special occasion!

Always a thoroughly enjoyable experience.

Lovely place for a meal my partner took me for my birthday food was lovely and staff catered to our needs

I wanted a great British pub for French relatives to visit whilst also in the area for the National Motorcycle museum. This was just perfect. Lovely Doom Bar on draft & wonderful food with giant Yorkshire Puddings & high end fish & chips. Nice pudding selection

Fantastic family lunch, food was perfect, staff we're great, we'll be back

Probably the best place in Solihull to get a decent choice of quality fish dishes. Only 2 lamb chops in the Sumak dish I had, which was disappointing for £26+ The wine list is very expensive also. Most offerings are of quality and taste, and they make this a very good, if expensive gastro pub. Recommended for a special occasion.

We both had taken the Friday off work and my girlfriend wanted to try this restaurant for lunch. We hadn’t booked but they managed to get us a table, so our us a popular place. It wasn’t the type of lunch we were looking for, more main meals than sandwiches and a bit pricier than expected but we were in a very nice area Portions were large and the food was amazing. I had the ribs and the meat just slipped off the bone. Staff were very attentive and it was a lovely experience.

Really nice pub with good food, beautiful setting and lots of outdoors sitting. Service is friendly but can be a little slow when busy

Visiting the area escorting a family member to a wedding and took a chance on the Malt Shovel. We were NOT disappointed in any way. Nice welcome and easy ambience. Friendly staff and fantastic food and made a welcome night out with my wife after what has been a difficult year due to health issues. Thank you to the whole staff. If we only lived closer! C

Food was nice but service for drink and food was ridiculously slow. The food and drinks are pricey and then they add on a tip without telling you! Not sure I would go back again sadly

Absolutely Fantastic a real find, staff were great really engaging and knowledgeable, food was incredible, will definitely be coming back to do the full list of deserts !! I rarely give 5 stars but this place deserves it.

Great place to go either for lunch or dinner.

Always lovely food regardless of weekday or weekends, lunch or dinner

Absolutely fabulous - they read our booking request for a quiet table and they created one! Lovely service, fabulous food and a gorgeous place. Highly recommend

Food good but very small portions for a high cost. Lovely pub and great staff.

Good Sunday Roast and plenty of it

Took my wife and some friends for my wife's birthday. Had a great night. Food and service were excellent.

Absolutely amazing Sunday roast. Food was delicious service was fantastic. Everything about The Malt Shovel was first class. Can't recommend this place highly enough.

Fist time Eating here, and both of us loved the food. Millie had a soup starter and I had the best Pork belly skewers ever. For my main fish and chips, millie had chicken supreme. We shared a Pecan tart which was excellent. It's not cheap BUT the food was worth the money and our time

Excellent Sunday lunch - the food was exceptional. Service was brilliant. Can't find any faults.

Always fabulous in every way. The team warmly welcome you as soon as you arrive making you feel valued and relaxed. The service is fantastic. The food is consistently excellent, even when you're in a large group. Couldn't fault the place,well worth a visit. Menu changes with the seasons and is all scrum.

Lovely Sunday roast, definitely coming again.

Food excellent, service just as good

Lovely gastropub, delicious food and great service/atmosphere AA rosette worthy

The food here was absolutely amazing!! Really good quality and served by lovely staff. The venue itself was also great. We visited on a winter night and it was lovely and cosy with the open fire on.

Absolutely outstanding food & service. Everything was completely perfect; food, drink, service & surroundings. Exemplary!

I have been going back to this establishment for many years. I always introduce my friends and colleagues to The Malt Shovel. I often see them there in different work groups as once they have been once, they always go back. I think that says it all. First class!

Locally sourced ingredients and fresh seafood daily with an ever changing special’s menu. Top quality food at fair prices.

Lovely atmosphere and amazing combination of flavours with the food!

Fantastic restaurant supervisor, most helpful lady, went out of her way to help us this evening. A credit to the Malt Shovel.

Amazing Sunday Lunch - went with family and whilst not cheap, worth every penny - food and service excellent - portions are big and all food is really well prepared - we had 2 roast beef (and I like the fact they ask you how you would like it cooked), a pork roast and chicken roast and a veggie Thai curry - desserts were brilliant too

We have eaten in this restaurant a number of times over the years but had never been for Sunday lunch. The food and the service were excellent. Our group had the Lamb rump, beef, pork from the Sunday lunch menu and one person had fish and chips. All of the meals were excellent, plentiful, delicious and hot. The cauliflower cheese as a side dish was huge and even between 6 of us we couldn’t manage it all. For desert we had cheese board, tiramisu and Jam sponge, again all excellent. A big thanks must go to the staff as the service was perfect. A definite recommend.

Delicious food, fantastic setting and reasonably priced. I love this pub and the choice of food is genuinely brilliant. I ordered purely off of the specials menu and I was not disappointed. A truly fantastic gastro pub.

We went as a family of 14, we were put on different tables, which was a shame as we would had preferred to be all sat together as this was our Christmas get together, we had carvery with two little bits of meat, for what we paid I don't think it was worth it.

Best pub around no doubt about it.

We eat here quite regularly & are always so very well looked after by the most wonderful staff. The menu, whilst always delicious, did require a bit of a re-vamp in our opinion as had become a bit ‘samey’ Oh my goodness, the food here last Thursday & Friday was just incredible. We had dined at a well known Michelin star restaurant the previous Saturday night & we all agreed the food here surpassed it completely. The lobster mac n cheese was sublime. The hake gorgeous & the tuna sashimi flavours just popped! The staff all work so incredibly hard & they make you feel so comfortable & valued. So well deserved of their recent award

I've been twice now for Sunday lunch and would highly recommend it. Their food is delicious, especially the generous portion of their cauliflower cheese. The bar and restaurant have a lovely atmosphere and the service was fantastic.

I usually can’t recommend this restaurant /bar highly enough having been a regular there for around thirty years . Although none of the fayre and service was any less impressive the whole occasion was spoilt by the annual Barston residents party . The noise emanating from them and the live entertainment meant that ourselves and the visiting couple we had taken out to treat to what has always been a very enjoyable experience had to shout to be heard for the duration of our meal Our whole experience was ruined by the intrusion and judging by the reaction of our fellow diners we were not alone in our thinking I would have really appreciated being notified that such an event was taking place

Went for a family birthday party. When the booking was made they were informed that one of the party was a full time wheelchair user. On arrival we found we had been allocated a table down some steps! They had to reset the table in another room which meant waiting about. The meal was slow being served and they got one of the starters wrong. All a bit overpriced for what it was. Poor disabled parking and access to the building. We won’t be going again.

We were looking for an early Festive Lunch venue and this didn’t disappoint. We had two main criteria namely GF options and near a cosy fire for the atmosphere. Both were spot on and the delicious food and friendly staff made it a real treat. Can highly recommend

Delightful pub, atmosphere, delicipus food, and customer service. Would definitely visit again and again

Myself and my partner regularly eat here. Sometimes with our little one! We are always looked after so well! There is a personal touch that is so nice and really not given elsewhere. On our recent visit the food was our of this world! Top quality food and service! Lovely people!

We have now been three times to the Malt Shovel and each time our experience has been bettered ,the food is exceptional the staff are positive ,enthusiastic and go out of their way to make our visit an unrivalled event . Thank you

This is a wonderful and welcoming establishment. We enjoyed fresh and delicious food, a fine selection of drinks and attentive and friendly service throughout. We were also able to change our table on a busy Friday evening too. Rightly recommended by the Good Pub Guide.

Went for Sunday lunch 12,11,23..food and service fantastic, will definitely be back...

What can I say… this place is amazing, the food was exceptional the staff are incredible Dani, Dobrina & Haz are the best waitresses in the midlands! We can’t wait to go back, we’ve even booked in for Christmas Eve!! Thank you Malt Shovel!

The food at the Malt Shovel is some of the best in the area, you won't be disappointed by the Sunday roasts and Ala Carte menu.

Popped along for Sunday lunch, friendly staff, good speed and good food. Had the roast beef, was quite pink and wound have been nice to get mash, stuffing and pigs in blanket too for the price. Scotch egg as fantastic and the cheese board is massive, well worth it 👍🏼

Came here with two friends for a quiet pre birthday lunch. The menu has a good range of choice. Two of us went for the salmon fish cakes, that we had as a main course with side salad. Beautifully made, with generous portions, it was the most delicious meal that I’d had for ages. The third person went for fish and chips, again a good portion and delicious. The service was very good.

Roast chicken dry and rubbery, rest of plate ok.V noisy for a while, tables close together. Whole place and kitchen needs refurbishment by now.

Food was ok but the service was not! So rude and not welcoming

The person who give them a award must have COVID

Superb as always. Great food, service and atmosphere

This is just the place for Sunday lunch just the 2 of you or bring your family and friends ear inside we sat outside in the lush garden with just miniutes to spare we put our order in thank you chef the best pork and Yorkshire puds delighted and delighted our 2nd visit can't wait to come back .

Nice pub with a relaxing atmosphere

Been loads of times before and never realised how big the gardens were.

We had our own waitress, own room as it was for my cousins baby shower, and it was just the perfect, me and the family couldn't be any happier 💕

It's a great little pub and the food and service were great. But the interior decor is so dated and shabby. Dire need of a refurb. The colour scheme reminds me of a children's daycare centre.

Excellent Sunday lunch; roast beef presented perfectly medium as requested, quality veg and roast potatoes, large tasty yorkshire pudding. Ordered a cauliflower cheese side to share, very large dish and very tasty. Superb place to sit outside under the pergola in the humid and rainy weather. Not cheap, and the sunday lunch on it's own may not have been quite enough for us both, but still fully recommended.

This pub has a beautiful beer garden surrounded by trees. The food I have was delicious. A lamb rump cooked perfectly pink with tasty dauphinoise potato. Desert was sticky guiness sponge which managed to balanced being light with still being very moreish. Service was friendly. Definitely worth a repeat visit.

The food, service and ambience was all brilliant. We all really enjoyed the experience and couldn’t fault anything. We have been back 6/7 times over the last few years and will definitely be back again in the near future. Top marks all round and would thoroughly recommend.

We celebrated a family Golden Wedding anniversary at the Malt Shovel. There were 28 of us and the food and the service were excellent. The staff were so helpful and efficient. I couldn't recommend them highly enough!

There is outside seating for al fresco dining, plenty of parking including two disabled bays, excellent food and service in our opinion, generous portions, waiting times vary depending on the dish(s) chosen but everything is cooked to order and arrives piping hot. There is a good range of beers, lager, wine, soft drinks etc.

The menu is underwhelming, more choice is needed. Dauphinois potato’s were undercooked. Flavours were average. The price point just didn’t meet the quality of food unfortunately. The service was good. Either the prices need to be lowered or the quality and choice of food needs to be improved.

Lovely food. Service efficient and friendly. A real find!

Have been going to the Malt Shovel for many years and until now have thought it offered reasonable food at a reasonable price. However a very recent visit indicated standards have declined. The food was distinctly average. We complained about the worst course and the cost of these were deducted from the bill but the rest of the food was not good. The wine was nice and the staff friendly but the food was distinctly average. Will not be returning anytime soon which is a shame 😢

Well laid out, clean well kept, comfortable seating, professional staff, smart casual Lunch time visit. Good selection food and specials good portions. Not used but out door dining under cover looked inviting and cozy also picnic style tables. Street parking available carpark reasonable size. Worth the higher cost. Will return.

We had a lovely family visit. We were greeted at the door and helped with getting our wheelchair-user seated comfortably. Our family table was a great size and shape for a really sociable meal. The staff were very special and naturally hospitable, fun and thoughtful and it's always great to chat to people from other European countries. the food was tasty and the puddings imaginative. For two of the family it was the third time back in almost as many weeks.

Huge thanks for 100th Birthday Lunch Family and friends gathered to celebrate Roy’s 100th for private dining in the back restaurant. Great communication during the planning while we pre-ordered from a menu they were happy to amend. Extremely accommodating of ‘special’ requests and happy for us to bring our own birthday cake. On the day it was absolutely brilliant. From greeting to departing the staff at The Malt Shovel were excellent. Fun afternoon for everyone with great food and wonderful atmosphere due in no small part to the friendly, engaging, helpful and yet still hidden / unseen staff. Huge thanks to Jan and his talented team of both front and kitchen staff.

Haven’t been here in years and can honestly say fantastic. The food drinks and service 10/10. Went for my birthday meal too and that was incredible also. Been to many restaurants over the years for food and this is up in my now top 2! Keep up the amazing standards it’s always a pleasure coming back. Well done team Malt Shovel.😁👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻

Great bistro…great atmosphere..great food…really great food …great staff…we WILL be back …so easy to find just a short drive off the M42..exit 5

Sunday Roast Par Excellence - truly exceptional food, brilliant customer service and such a warm welcome. Highly recommend and will absolutely travel again from Yorkshire for this hidden gem of a place.

Me and my husband decided to visit the Malt Shovel tonight, the food was exceptional, the cod in particular was cooked perfectly. The service as well was fantastic our server Jack was great, polite and charming! Thanks to everyone

Still one of my favourite restaurants for a special meal and dog friendly as always... love it here.

Came with 2 elderly relatives. Asked for comfortable table away from due to Dementia. Crane in and told you can take any of those. Not really empathetic, draughty, or very welcoming. Beer off. They seem to be a little complacent, that's the impression. Staff serving were lovely.

Fantastic food excellent service and friendly staff would recommend it

Absolutely fabulous. Food is so fresh and home made, a little gem in Solihull and the service is second to none. Well worth a visit

Lovely place to visit especially when the sun is out , great staff and very good food . I had a pasta dish which was up the with the best I've ever eaten it was just a bit small for a main meal. So after...

Went there yesterday for the 1st time .Sat outside lovely service. Everything about the place was just Fabulous 👌

Really tasty food and a great service.

A nice ale and doom bar. Food looked amazing beautiful in the garden sun 🌞

Perfect Friday night fish & chips with a nice pint of beer. Been here lots of times and just keep going back. Lovely atmosphere, great food and really friendly and helpful staff.

Comfortably the most expensive fish and chips in the area, at nearly £19 (most charge £14-15). What do you get for top notch pricing? Ordinary chips (not hand cut or triple cooked), bland garden peas instead of mushy peas, and, strangely, curry sauce. Rather underwhelming.

Had lunch here today and quite simply the whole experience was outstanding. The welcome and service was superb and when the food came it was just out of this world! We took two young children and they were looked after so well by our hosts. Thank you. A real gem and one that we can fully recommend.

Amazing lunch yet again with fabulous service. Food is cooked fresh and the staff are delightful. Unusually for me had the kidney dish which was outstanding !!! Love coming here as we are always really well looked after. Apparently the beers are great too.

From the moment we walked through the door, service was exceptional. We arrived half an hour before our dinner booking and were led out to the garden, drinks orders taken and drinks arrived shortly after. It was a lovely sunny day and the garden was...

First time here but will definitely be back. The Sunday lunch was fantastic with plenty of meat and the best cauliflower cheese. The staff were also very attentive and friendly. Would highly recommend xx

Lovely lunch, smashing staff always something different and imaginative on the menu

Beautiful food, staff really welcoming, And they make a mean cocktail!!

Booked for a large family group of 13 including kids for an early evening dinner. There was actually 14 of us that turned up which was quickly accommodated for. Fantastic food and service and we all had a superb time. Although the menu is fairly...

Lovely welcoming foodie pub. Great selection of tasty food, cooked perfectly. Enjoyed the hake with pesto spaghetti. Specials change daily, excellent seasonal menu, too. Great coffee! Cosy surroundings, dog friendly. Perfect place to chill out and dine out.

Brilliant food, brilliant service, 10/10

What can I say lovely staff lovely food lovely atmosphere definetly one of my favourite places to come too

Visited a couple times over the past month or so as heard good things - was not impressed like i thought i would be, food was always under-seasoned and just a lack of passion in the food , also nearly close to £10 for some...

Lovely experience from start to finish. Cordial welcome - friendly, professional staff and flawless food. Can’t wait to return.

Local to Solihull but first time here. A little out the way for us but our local had no availability short notice so thought we would give it a go. We went for Sunday lunch, the food was absolutely delicious. We all had a roast...