Forte A Birmingham Restaurant   

Overpriced branded sparkling wine doeth not a classy lounge make... The place is much smaller than I thought it would be, like a slightly wide corridor. Decor is so so, and doesn't feel much thought out. The place had, that night, a decidedly unpleasant smell, but that could be a one-off. The Champagne list is nothing exciting, the usual suspects, Dom P., Veuve Cliquot and Laurent-Perrier, although there is a couple of less familiar names, which was a pleasant surprise. Not that I had the occasion to try them... Coming in for a drink around 11pm, my girlfriend and I were ushered to the bar, although tables were available. And then were promptly ignored by the barman, who was obviously very busy cleaning some glasses. After 5 mn trying to attract his attention, we just left. Not. Impressed.

And I don't mean food. The food is just average

Today 1-18-2007 my husband and I had lunch at Forte,for the first time and it was fantastic, the cook went out of his way along with the waitres(Rachel) to make sure I had a meal that I could eat,being I am have Celiac and some other food alergies. We will make sure to eat there again when in Birmingham and take friends and family there and mention it to everyone. Other resturants should take heed as to this place and the service and food.The cost was great also.We being retired it was such a pleasure to be there after all the places we travle. e

I decided to choose this restaurant to celebrate my 1st anniversary with my wife. When we arrived, the restaurant was very elegant and suiting for the occasion. The host checked his list for my reservation and showed us to our table. From here things start to turn sour. Our waitress Bridgette took our drink order and when she returned we were not quite ready to order. She seemed displeased that we were not ready to order; so we were punished -it took her 30 mins to return to our table. You may say, maybe she had a lot of tables, or got busy. At best there were 5 tables occupied in the entire restaurant. She passed our table 5 times back and forth without glancing at us. I noticed a particular gentleman surveying the restaurant, he approached a few guests smiling and talking - the manager. He avoided looking at us or walking near our table. We watched him as he 'skipped' over us going around tables as to not come too close to greeting us. Finally our waitress returns and says "have you made any decisions yet". Her tone confirmed that she wanted us to be quick about our selections. At this point I wanted to leave but our babysitter was on a time schedule and we had no time to find another restaurant. I would like to commend the waitress with short black hair who lit our candle (a detail missed by the host and our waitress). She made sure our glasses were refilled. I wanted to give our tip to her. Our food came and it looked great. I ordered grilled salmon and my wife had roasted chicken. We may have enjoyed it more if the staff was more friendly. I noticed the manager John. He looked at us, went up to the front desk, both he and hostess looked back at us and kept talking. He shortly approached our table nervous and stumbling over words. He offered us free desert which were tasty but could not wash away the uneasy feeling they had already portrayed. My advice for staff is to take diversity classes.