Woodlands

Category: £30 - £50

Recently my partner and I had the pleasure of spending an evening at Woodlands Restaurant and Hotel in Leeds.  I say pleasure because from arrival to departure decadence was the only superlative I could use to describe not only the venue but also the food, the service, the ambience.  However, all this does come at a price.  The food cost is about what you would expect from a venue as up market as this, as are the room rates.  However, they do hit you with the wine for example Lauren Perrier Rose is £70 a bottle - £25 more than most decent wine bars in Leeds.

On arrival, we drove up the large gravelled car park surrounded by shrubs and finely mowed lawns where an impressive hotel sits firmly in the middle and just oozed with character.  It was plainly obvious Woodlands has recently undergone massive renovation, it looked old but immaculate.  Apart from Gleneagles in Scotland, this is probably the best hotel I have stayed in.

We were shown to our room, which was amazing (all the rooms are named not numbered), it was huge with beautiful silver wooden furniture and the bed was massive and oozed class with its distressed mirrored bed head and four posts - It was just shouting to be bounced on.  Then the bathroom, again, huge, but … wait for it, two, yes two Victorian baths sat side by side.  I could go on but you get the picture.

The bar area was small, but cosy; we settled in to a bottle of house Champagne Rose at £57.50 (Ouch) and relaxed into the deep sofa and reflected on the place.  So far excellent, especially the staff, they all appeared to be very efficient.

The evening meal came, which was fantastic, in fact I asked my partner to find fault with the food, she could not find anything wrong, nor could I.  The food was absolutely first class.

We started with Roast Scallops and Oriental Vegetables with Teriyaki Jus £5.95 and Steamed Shetland Mussels Marnier with Garlic & Parsley Cream £6.50 both good sizes and faultless.

For mains, I asked if I could order off the menu, just to see their reaction, this was not a problem at all (to my surprise).  I ordered Beef Bourguignon with Irish Cabbage, Bacon & Carrots, Dauphinoise Potatoes and French Beans, Chilli & Rock Salt (all sides £3.00).  My partner ordered Seared Sea Bass, Basil Crushed Potatoes, Comfit Tomato & Hollandaise £17.95.  The only criticism I had was that there wasn’t any background music, which meant the acoustics were a little off in the room, making us keep the volume down, as it was possible for other diners to hear us.

The following morning we were driven in a Bentley to Harvey Nichols by George, the Woodlands chauffer, where my partner had a makeover, we were collected later in the day, again all part of the package, making the whole stay decadence personified.

Woodlands is a fantastic venue for a special occasion like a wedding or anniversary or just to treat yourself to a damn good evening meal, we were impressed from start to finish.

Reviewed by Neil Saville

Review Summary

Atmosphere ♦♦♦♦
Food ♦♦♦♦♦
Service ♦♦♦♦♦
Value ♦♦♦

Contact Details

Woodlands
Gelderd Road
Gildersome
Leeds        
LS2 7LY

T: 0113 2381488
www.woodlandsleeds.co.uk