Tigers Bills

Just came back from the WORST meal in my life. Waited over an hour for food, with only two tables before us. Asked for meals and appetizers to be brought out together, everything came separately, up to twenty minutes apart. One of the dishes was inedible, too much ginger! Asked to speak to the manager, and was offered a £23 discount plus a chance to swap the bad dish. Came to pay the bill later and manager refused to give us the discount! He then locked us in the restaurant, went on an angry rant and insulted us. Had to wait for the police to come and resolve the matter (whatever happened to the customer is always right?), for which we paid the agreed upon price. Will never come back here and will tell everyone what a disaster this restaurant is. Go to Nando’s! We won’t be pursing them for false imprisonment, consider it a tip.

This is the third journey I have made to Tiger Bills. We went on opening night (we received an invitation to come and try all the dishes) we went a couple of weeks later with family but 2 years later we decided to visit again. Whilst our first couple of visits was pleasurable we didn’t think it was anything that we would rave about to friends. I was always curious as to how well it was going to be received by others and as time as gone by I have seen the place be less and less popular.
We were heading to the cinema so i think our third visit was both intrigue and convenience mixed together (as we are not a fan at all of Nandos). The place was empty when we arrived about 6 o clock on a Friday (which is never good) but we continued to be seated all the same.
If you’re not familiar with the format of Tiger Bills it is both a Thai and American Cuisine menu and whilst the 2 might seem like an unusual combination it actually can make quite a satisfying dining experience when you have diners who are not overly keen on one, the other should suffice.
We decided upon a Thai sharing platter to start and I must say this is where the disappointment struck. We were brought a rather disappointing sized plate containing what I can only describe as defrosted chinese party food. Why any restaurant feels that it is acceptable to serve previously frozen food and try to pass it off as freshly made is beyond me. Either way, we finished it and waited for our mains.
I had ordered the Steak & Chicken and my partner had ordered Thai Green Curry. Both came out fairly sharpish. Both dishes were well done but again, there is no real wow factor with them at all.
I think overall for just over £40 (including a pint soft drink each) it wasn’t really value for money at all. I can’t see myself coming back here and I do feel motivated to actually complain about the standard of the starter as well, a sharing platter that was most certainly not worth £12, i feel I could have bought that myself for £3 from Iceland.
I’m sorry Tiger Bills but keeping up this standard and I severely fear for the fate of the future of the place.

I must keep my eyes closed when I walk to the cinema, because I go there a lot, but I’ve never really noticed Tiger Bills Birmingham. Perhaps it’s because I walk, head down, along Broad St and if I’m going to eat before/​between films then it’s a quick trip to cheap and cheerful Nando’s. But when Tiger Bills emailed me a voucher for a free main course it seemed like as good a place as any to catch up with my friend Jo-​ann.
Tiger Bills Birmingham is part of the Lifestyle Hospitality Group who operate a number of venues mainly in the south west of the country, although the Tiger Bills brand seems to be their fastest growing concept. With eight other branches around the country, they describe themselves as ‘East meets West dining experience’ which is one of those descriptions that grates on me for being a bit too vague. Although, to be fair, their menu does seem to take inspiration from a lot of East Asian dining with noodles, stir fries, soups and a fair few Thai-​inspired dishes. But there are also some ‘West’ dishes in the form of burgers, steaks and grills — and inexplicably fajitas, which feel a bit of an anomaly. Still, it’s got the sort of range that should mean everyone can find something they like.
That said the menu is not the easiest to follow. Being a bit of a font nerd, the typeface they’ve chosen is an atmospheric one which works for titles and posters, but in a restaurant setting it’s just a bit hard to read at the table. I’d had a craving for Thai green curry for a while and almost missed that it was on the menu — partly due to the font choice, but also because it was entitled by its Thai name. It’s also worth pointing out that the curries come with chicken or vegetables and with jasmine rice, but if you want to upgrade to beef or duck you can do for £1.50…and if you want to upgrade your rice to egg fried rice that’s free, but garlic or coconut rice is 50p more. Our waitress patiently explained this to us, but the upgrade options just feel a bit clunky.
I had the Thai green curry (£8.95); the sauce was thinner than I was expecting, but had a nice flavour to it and the bamboo shoots, beans and peppers gave it a nice freshness. The chicken was a little too dry, but not massively so. The rice was lovely, but the separate dishes for them felt a bit overkill. Jo-​ann had the Tamarind Duck (£9.95), which came on a bed of deep-​fried noodles that she wasn’t overly keen on but I didn’t mind, although egg noodles would probably have been better. The waitress that cleared our plates said the deep-​fried noodles had a sort of marmite reaction with people either loving or hating them.
For dessert I went for the All American Waffles (£4.25) which I suspect are brought in and heated up, but they were fine and though not a massive amount of ice cream, it had just the right amount of sweetness to it. Jo-ann’s Banoffee Cheesecake was super sweet, but then that’s sort of the point of banoffee cheesecake, isn’t it?
Tiger Bills is fine, but that’s about as far as I can go with it really. Nothing bothered me, but nothing really wowed me either. Now that I know it’s there, I’d go as an alternative to Nando’s, but that’s what I’m measuring it against. It’s a perfectly fine concept to roll-​out nationally, but it just doesn’t have the same unique charm as some of the places in and around the Arcadian (aka Chinatown). It’s a great location near two cinemas and Broad St and it’s got more atmosphere — and cocktails than Nando’s, but wow factor, not so much.

Tiger Bills is an unusual mix of Thai restaurant and American Grillhouse. The restaurant seems to understand that these two cultures make unusual bedfellows as there is no attempt to fuse the two cuisines, each simply gets its own side of the menu. With spring rolls to start and a burger to follow It’s a bit like an upmarket Jimmy Spices.
Main courses will set you back just over a tenner so with a starter and drinks it is at the higher end of fast food. Situated next to Cineworld on Broad Street this is an ideal stop off on the way in to or out of a movie. Beware the Thai dishes can pack a punch so if the meal is described as «spicy» take it seriously, it will test even a seasoned Brummie palette. Tiger Bills is often quiet and so lacks atmosphere, as a result it also offers several discounts including a billionaire clubcard (surely the last group of people who need a loyalty card?) or a cinema deal for showcase patrons with an unlimited card. Tiger Bills is preferable to the boring, overpriced, and paradoxically, always heaving, Nando’s next door, you will be in and out before your Sliding Doors counterparts start asking after their table.