Best Restaurants in Birmingham by Budget and Occasion

What kind of food city Birmingham is, and how to use this shortlist

Think of Birmingham as several restaurant cities layered on one map. The fine-dining cluster is tight around Waterloo Street and the Georgian streets behind New Street station, while the independents spread east to Digbeth and the Custard Factory and north-west to the Jewellery Quarter. Knowing which cluster you are eating in decides whether you walk from the train or budget for a taxi.

Use the shortlist by deciding one thing first: how much you want to spend. A splash-out dinner belongs in a different frame of mind from a Saturday lunch, and the price levels quoted here are a rough guide only, so check the restaurant's own menu for current figures. If value is the priority, our Cheap Restaurants in Birmingham shortlist picks up where this page leaves off.

Each named place we cover here has its own short guide, collected under Birmingham pubs and food landmarks.

Splash-out fine dining: Adam's on Waterloo Street and Opheem

Adam's, on Waterloo Street a short walk from New Street station, is the formal option: a smart bar with plush velvet stools leads into an elegant dining room of well-spaced bare wood tables in the grand Georgian quarter. Expect five- or seven-course tasting menus, with an à la carte alternative, delivered by a suited front-of-house team, and the atmosphere stays livelier than the serious cooking might suggest. The Good Food Guide notes that the kitchen has changed head chefs in recent years and reports it firing on all cylinders under the current team; book well ahead and dress with the room.

Opheem carries Birmingham's highest-profile modern Indian cooking and is the one to pick if you want a tasting menu with real heat and invention rather than a curry-house evening. It appears on both the Good Food Guide's Birmingham list and in wider round-ups of the city's best places to eat. For the rest of the starred and near-starred rooms, see the Michelin star restaurants Birmingham guide.

Tasting menus worth the trip: 670 Grams and The Wilderness

670 Grams sits inside the Custard Factory in Digbeth, and after a refurbishment it is now a light, gallery-bright room with a personal, playful tasting menu from chef-patron Kray Treadwell and his team. Expect globally inspired small courses such as a welcome broth and a Peterhead cod with koji onion and cauliflower, and a wine list pitched at easy drinking rather than high mark-ups. The trade-off is the location: Digbeth is a walk or short taxi from New Street, so plan the journey around your booking.

The Wilderness on Warstone Lane in the Jewellery Quarter runs modern British fine dining with an unusually even split between meat and plant-based menus, so a mixed table does not have to compromise. It leans into experimentation rather than comfort, and the room is calmer than the cooking. Both 670 Grams and The Wilderness suit a planned evening rather than a spur-of-the-moment walk-in.

Neighbourhood cooking in the Jewellery Quarter: Folium on Caroline Street

Folium, on Caroline Street in the Jewellery Quarter, has been running since 2017 under chef Ben Tash and his partner Lucy Hanlon, and it is the value story of the city's tasting-menu scene. Its short tasting menu has been reported as six courses, priced per person and built from dishes such as chicken liver parfait with Burnt onion, Staffordshire lamb with chicory and a Yorkshire curd tart to finish; check the restaurant's own menu for the current price. Trading hours have been described as limited to Thursday to Saturday, and a Saturday lunch can be quiet, so it is worth booking ahead for the day you want.

For a day-tripper, Folium is the relaxed middle path between a casual lunch and a stiff fine-dining evening: proper cooking, no formality, and a short walk from the Jewellery Quarter's streets. Confirm the current menu and service days with the restaurant before you build a trip around it.

Digbeth and the Custard Factory: where the independents cluster

Digbeth is Birmingham's independent quarter, and the Custard Factory is its anchor for eating, with 670 Grams the standout for a booked tasting menu. The area rewards an early evening: come for one well-chosen dinner rather than expecting to flit between many rooms.

The neighbourhood's pub life has been through a rough patch, and the much-loved boozer scene keeps changing, so pick Digbeth for the restaurant and treat the post-dinner pint as a bonus rather than the plan.

The chains and crowd-pleasers: Dishoom and what they are good for

Dishoom Birmingham is the reliable large-group option, useful when you want a table for six without a tasting-menu commitment and a menu that suits cautious eaters as well as adventurous ones. It appears on the Good Food Guide's Birmingham list alongside the independents, which tells you it is held in reasonable regard rather than being a pure convenience pick.

Bigger chains come into their own for a larger group or a weekend booking when the independent rooms are full, but the trade-off is that you could be eating the same meal in any city. Balance one chain meal against one independent dinner and Birmingham will show you far more of itself.

Modern Indian beyond the curry house: Opheem, Lasan and Asha's

Beyond Opheem's tasting menu, Lasan and Asha's give Birmingham two more modern Indian rooms where the cooking is presented as restaurant food rather than takeaway fare. They suit a group that wants the spice and generosity of the curry house with a proper table and a slower evening.

If what you actually want is the city's signature regional cooking, the Balti in Birmingham guide is the one to read before booking anything.

Small plates, street food and cheap eats

Birmingham's casual end is where the city eats every day: Tiger Bites Pig for bao and small plates, Original Patty Men and The Meat Shack for burgers, and Bonehead for fried chicken. These are short, informal meals that fit around a train and cost a fraction of a tasting menu, and they are the honest answer to a cheap night out in the city centre. Pick by appetite rather than by list order.

For a fuller cheap-eats plan, the Cheap Restaurants in Birmingham guide groups the casual spots by area and price. If you want a sit-down vegetarian meal instead, the vegetarian restaurants Birmingham guide covers the meat-free rooms properly, which matters because The Wilderness keeps a full plant-based menu alongside its meat one.

Where to eat in the city centre near New Street and Snow Hill

If your train lands at New Street and you have an hour, stay in the centre: Adam's on Waterloo Street is minutes away, and the clustered streets around it hold several of the city's best-known rooms within a short walk. For a quicker meal, the casual spots around the centre are the safer bet than trekking to Digbeth on a tight turnaround. Our guides to breakfast in Birmingham and brunch in Birmingham cover the earlier end of the day.

Snow Hill and the Jewellery Quarter sit a short walk or one stop apart, which makes The Wilderness and Folium reachable on foot from the station side of the city. Build your booking around the walk rather than the taxi and the geography stops mattering.

Sunday lunch and lunchtime menus: which places suit a weekend day trip

Weekend lunches are where a day-tripper gets the best value from the fine-dining rooms, and Folium's quiet Saturday lunch with a short tasting menu is the clearest example the city offers. Book the lunch rather than the dinner if your budget only stretches to one big meal, and confirm service days in advance because not every kitchen opens at midday.

If you want a proper Sunday lunch rather than a tasting menu, plan for a pub or a British menu rather than the modern Indian and small-plate rooms, which serve their own thing. For where to start the day, the breakfast in Birmingham guide covers the morning end of the trip.

Booking, timing and the queues

Book the fine-dining rooms well ahead and leave the casual spots for walk-ins: Adam's, Opheem, 670 Grams and The Wilderness are intimate rooms, and late planning is a gamble at any of them. Eat early for the best chance of a seat without a reservation, and keep a cheap-eats fallback for the night your first choice is full.

Visit Birmingham, the city's official tourism body, publishes food and drink listings if you want a second check on what is currently open.

What to order and what to skip, venue by venue

At Adam's, the tasting menu is the point and the langoustine-and-quail surf-and-turf-style seafood course has been singled out as a highlight; the à la carte exists mainly for those who want to control the length of the meal. At 670 Grams, take the full menu and the welcome broth rather than trying to pick around it.

At Folium, order the Staffordshire lamb if it is on and finish with the Yorkshire curd tart; these are the dishes that make the value menu feel anything but cheap. For the day-trip version of the same decision in another city, the best restaurants in Cambridge guide follows the same logic.

Which Birmingham meal should you book?

For most visitors the answer is one booking and one walk-in: a planned dinner at Adam's, Opheem or 670 Grams if the budget allows, and a casual lunch at Tiger Bites Pig or The Meat Shack on the day. If value is the priority, Folium's lunch is the standout trade of money for cooking in the city.

For a city that fits a similar weekend pattern, the best restaurants in Canterbury guide is a useful comparison.