Plates by Purnell’s is one of those places that looks like a guaranteed great meal. Glynn’s name on the door, beautifully furnished dining room, Spanish-ish small plates, date-night written all over it. We walked out underwhelmed, a bit hungry, and quietly wondering how something that photographs this well can taste so… forgettable.
Plates by Purnell’s At-A-Glance
- Vibe: Cosy tunnel of a room; fairy lights, greenery overhead, softly buzzy, very “city date night”.
- Spend: Small plates from £6–£15; expect around £45–£60 per head with drinks and service.
- Book?: Yes, especially Fridays/Saturdays – central spot and fills fast.
- Best seat: Along the main run of tables in the centre of the room, facing the bar and open kitchen.
- Good for: A glass of wine and a few nibbles if you’re here for atmosphere first, food second.
If you’ve ever scrolled a restaurant’s Instagram, seen those pretty little plates and thought, “Is it actually that good, though?” – that’s basically why I write these reviews.
I put Plates by Purnell’s on my list months ago. Glynn Purnell’s name on the door, Spanish-style small plates, central Birmingham location – it looked like an easy, happy tick. I booked a table and took a guest with me because I always like a second opinion.
We walked out feeling exactly the same: underwhelmed, still a bit hungry, and wondering how something that looks so promising can taste so… average in real life.
First impressions
I’ll start with the good, because there is good at Plates by Purnell’s.
The dining room is gorgeous, a long, tunnel-like L shape space, soft lighting throughout and patterned tiles underfoot. Dark walls adorned with wooden barrel ends and tables that you want to lean on for hours with a bottle of red and lots of small plates to share.
The staff were lovely from the off – warm, attentive, happy to talk through the menu. Atmosphere-wise, this place is perfect to pick for a date night or catch-up with friends over a glass or two of Rioja.
So far, so promising.
What we ordered
Between the two of us we did what you’re meant to do with tapas and ordered across the menu
- Croquetas de Queso y Tomate
- Repollo con Harissa y Queso
- Coliflor Estofada
- Carne Estofada
- Gambas Pil Pil
- Albondigas (meatballs)
- Croquetas de Bacalao
- Spanish Cheese Selection
- A bottle of Ribera del Duero
On paper, it reads like a crowd-pleasing line-up. In reality, almost everything hovered in that “fine but totally forgettable” zone.
Small plates, unfortunately, small flavours.
Croquetas de Queso y Tomate
These almost got there. The mozzarella itself tasted good, but mozzarella by nature is really rather bland; it lives or dies on what you sit it with. Here, it needed a generous puddle of punchy tomato to carry it, and while the tomato sauce on the plate tasted good, there just wasn’t enough of it. I ended up with nicely fried, gooey croquettes that felt a bit underdressed, when they could have been a proper little show-off with more sauce and seasoning.
Croquetas de Bacalao
The Croquetas de Bacalao (salt cod croquettes) should have delivered a salty little flavour bomb. They arrived nicely crisp on the outside, with soft filling inside, but again tasted weirdly timid. You get the texture, but not that deep savoury flavour that usually makes cod croquettes addictive.
Gambas Pil Pil
Gambas Pil Pil is usually the dish you can smell before it hits the table – all garlic and chilli and sizzle. Here, the prawns arrived plump, sitting in a glossy pool of ghee butter, yet they tasted oddly shy on both garlic and heat. Nice enough, but I never felt that urgent need to drag every last bit of bread through the pan, and that’s kind of the whole point of Gambas Pil Pil.
Albondigas
The Albondigas broke my heart a little. Flavour-wise, the meat tasted fine – nicely seasoned and properly beefy – but the portion felt stingy. Three small meatballs you could easily eat in a single mouthful each. The sauce, which should really do a lot of the heavy lifting here, barely covered the bottom of the dish. I’ve eaten a fair few albondigas in my time, and these had that tell-tale “overworked” texture – dense rather than juicy.
Carne Estofada
The Carne Estofada (braised beef) ended up being the best thing we ate all night. The beef fell apart with a spoon, sitting next to smooth, buttery smoky olive oil mash and a deep, shiny sauce. This dish tasted genuinely good. The problem? In a place like this, one good plate doesn’t quite feel enough.
The vegetable situation
I’m a big believer that veg dishes can quietly steal the show, especially in a small-plates place. Sadly, not here.
The Coliflor Estofada, for me, took the prize for worst plate of the night. The menu had me hopeful – braised cauliflower, sour cream, spring onion, breadcrumbs – comforting, tangy, a bit of crunch. Instead, I got two over-braised florets in a pale sauce with a token dusting of crumbs and a heavy hand of pepper. It looked beige, it tasted beige, and at £6 for what basically amounted to boiled cauliflower in a fancy bowl… wow.
Repollo con Harissa y Queso should have been a nailed-on winner. Grilled cabbage, harissa, chipotle, cheese – say less. The flavour actually held up pretty well, but the texture screamed reheated. It ate like something they’d charred earlier in the day and then brought back to life in the microwave, so it hit the table basically steamed. No crisp edges, no proper smoke, just exceedingly soft cabbage under a lot of sauce. One of the better dishes on taste alone, but when the menu says grilled or charred, I expect to see it.
Spanish-ish Authenticity
Authentic Spanish tapas can look rustic – scruffy, even – but the flavour always does the heavy lifting. I’ll happily take something that looks like it’s been flung at the plate if it makes me sit up on the first bite because it genuinely tastes great. Here, everything arrived neat and controlled, but the va va voom never showed up. We were starting to wonder, what in the Glynn Purnell is going on?
Still hungry, so we gambled on cheese
Portions sit on the smaller side – not a problem if the food is exciting enough, but we were still hungry, so we ordered the Spanish Cheese Selection to finish.
I honestly thought this might be where Plates by Purnell’s brought it home.
It wasn’t.
The cheeses had clearly been pre-prepped and straight-from-the-fridge, and they arrived as cold as they looked, so any character they might have had was dulled immediately from the start. The fig chutney had clearly lived the same fridge life, thick, extremely set and basically inedible. Two out of the three cheeses tasted of zippidy-do-dah, which probably tells you everything you need to know. Such a shame.
Service, wine & value
To give credit where it’s due, service was genuinely good. Our server was friendly, on it with water and wine, and the pacing of dishes worked well – no massive waits, no table overload.
The wine list leans Spanish, as it should. Our bottle of Ribera del Duero at £39 was lovely and very drinkable.
Price-wise, once you add a bottle of wine and a spread of plates, you’re looking at close to three figures for two with service. I don’t mind paying that when the food has personality and punch. Here, the gap between price and experience felt hard to ignore.
So… would I go back?
I never take pleasure in writing reviews like this. The venue is genuinely beautiful, the staff are doing their best and nothing we ate was a full-blown disaster. But I do believe in being upfront about what you’re walking into. The whole reason my reviews exist is because I’m honestly tired of Instagram-perfect restaurants serving bang-average food. If you’re spending real money on a night out, you deserve to know what’s likely to land on the table.
Could we have hit it on an off night? I’m not so sure. And if a friend asked me where to spend their money on tapas in Birmingham right now, I unfortunately wouldn’t point them here.
For now, Plates by Purnell’s goes into my “unlikely to go back” category.
Hey Lolly rating: 6/10 – lovely setting, kind staff, but small plates that never quite get out of first gear and we left feeling everything was just boring and average.
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