Hey lovelies, so this week I was invited back to Turtle Bay Northampton to write a review for them. I was lucky enough to go to then opening night event which was amazing, and so I was really well versed in the brand and the ideas behind the restaurant.
I decided to take my best friend and boyfriend with me so we could have a really nice evening and have a great meal, because outside of uni we’re all really busy people and we rarely go out for meals. When we arrived we were greeted and sat down at a nearby table, unfortunately both tables we had were really wobbly. I managed to sort one out by folding up a Christmas booking sheet that was on the table and a waitress bought some napkins over to help us with the other. Obviously this is no biggie but both were ridiculously wobbly. We then were given a menu and given a few minutes to order our drinks. I opted for the vanilla and passionfruit mojito which was one of my favourites from the opening event, my friend opted for the watermelon crush and my boyfriend went for the ginger beer. Our drinks took around six minutes which wasn’t too long to wait.
For starters my friend and I ordered the veggie platter to share because most of the food on it is vegan minus one which has dairy in the sauce, and the boyfriend went for the duck rolls. Now here’s where I’m disappointed, after around twenty minutes of waiting for our starters our waiter came over and said the food would only be a few more minutes. The starters were then another 30 minutes, and I’m not going to lie 50 minutes for starters is ridiculously too long to wait. Our waiter was very stressed as well as he was going around telling all the tables that they had to wait longer – which wasn’t an issue I just wish he had said something when we ordered the food because we wouldn’t have minded waiting if we knew when the food was coming. When it did arrive though the food was heavenly. The veggie platter has five dished on it, all of which are amazing. Our personal favourites were the sweetcorn fritters and the flatbread with the chickpeas. My boyfriend ate through his rolls in minutes and said they were really delicious! He also gave us a hand with eating the platter because it was so filling.
For our mains my friend and I both ordered the Ital Rundown which is a coconut curry with butterbeans, corn, carrots, sweet potato which comes with coconut rice and some flatbread. We both had this on the opening night and we fell in love with how delicious and coconutty the curry was. My boyfriend ordered the Trinidad chicken curry, he did want the beef curry but they had run out. My boyfriend had nothing negative to say about the curry and enjoyed but me and my friend were both disappointed with our curry. Having tried the platter and the curries before we could tell that there was a massive difference in the recipe. Our coconut curries had a lot of spice in them in comparison to the first time that we had them, which I didn’t mind but my best friend absolutely hates any spice and she struggled to finish eating it.
After mains we all opted for deserts unfortunately I can only eat one desert on the menu, feeling so ridiculously stuffed I ordered the brownie for my friend and boyfriend to share, they both ordered the cheesecake. I know from the opening night my best friend loved it – my boyfriend loves all deserts so it was a winner! They also really enjoyed the brownie.
Overall I thought the food was excellent, I would have preferred my Ital Rundown without lots of spice and my best friend definitely would have. It’s a shame about the wait for food which I can understand thought working in a restaurant scenario myself, I just wish the staff had communicated better about it and kept customers informed. My only other comment would be on the booking table policy the brand appear to have, sitting right by the door we overheard a lot of conversation between staff and customers entering the building. It appears like Turtle Bay don’t allow for walk ins and you have to have a pre-booked table, there were a few points when the restaurant was half empty and they were turning customers away and I personally feel that’s really silly? One customer pointed this out to the staff and he was still turned away? I just don’t really feel it’s a good policy, it takes the spontaneity away from enjoying a meal if you’re in town shopping or just really fancy some Caribbean food.
Would I go back? Absolutely. The food is delicious and well priced, but it’s a new store and the team needs some work – so I might wait a few months before venturing back.
I’d love to know if you’ve ever been to Turtle Bay, and if you did what you thought about it.
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