Tranquil Turtle

Previously the crooked Billet pub in Symonds green , the Tranquil turtle sits on the edge of Stevenage. Newly refurbished and with a completely new style and menu.

We decided to give it a try. Here's their website - Welcome to Tranquil Turtle (tranquil-turtle.co.uk)

For anyone arriving at the tranquil turtle who remembered it in its previous life as a pub the main entrance is around the back near the car park, we went in the old entrance at the front of the building and ended up traipsing our way through the dining room - ooops

However this aside once you are in the building the transformation is remarkable; as you are transported into a dining area that is more reminiscent of a high end London restaurant/club. With dark décor illuminated by an array of coloured lights and a ceiling of flowers over the dining area. Now we went in the evening and they had music on quite loud, but not so loud you couldn't hear each other talking. While I am on the subject of Décor and ambience and before I get on to the amazing food and drink I should take time to mention something I mention quite a lot in my reviews --- The toilets !!

Never before have we been told to take our phones into the toilets in a restaurant by a waitress

"you have to get a selfie" she said.

I mean I think the pictures speak for themselves, the are beautifully finished and clean. What you cannot see in these pictures are the extra details such as the gold adorned.

The only thing I would say is that you do not need the radiator on in there as it was roasting, but other than that the toilets were a winner.

Now down to business

I love going to newly opened restaurants as it normally gives me lots to write about, suggestions I can make etc...

Honestly here I had no real constructive criticism, the service was very friendly and professional without being overly pushy. The staff were clearly very happy considering we went relatively late in the evening between Christmas and new year. There were adequate staff on to get the job done, and unlike other newly opened establishments they were not tripping over one another nor flustered.

Most people I had spoken to who had already been to the Tranquil Turtle said we had to try the cocktails, so we left the cars at home.

Whilst the cocktail menu is not extensively large it was definitely a case of more is less. Sometimes you go to a place that serves 100's of cocktails, but they are watery or use syrups or are just so strong they just taste like paint stripper.

The cocktails were spot on too!

Now the food.

Having seen the previous reviews and the article in the paper I was expecting great things from the food.

They had a selections of both seafood, meat and vegan options for both starter and main.

We chose a selection of starters all of which I can honestly say were stunning in presentation and absolutely delicious. From what we had heard they have their own smoker, so made sure we had some dishes that made use of the smoker. Honestly we would have had the same again.

Here are 3 of the starters from the 5 we had : Left to Right - Pan fried north coast scallop, Crispy King Prawn and House smoked Loch Duart salmon and hot smoked lobster (which was mine). The scallops normally come with a beef sausage, but as my friend who ordered them does not eat meat they added an extra scallop and removed the sausage with no question. I have never had lobster before as I'm currently trying to get more fish in my diet and try new things so I thought I would give it a go. It was delicious!

The mains were equally as impressive: Left to right Barbecue sea bass, Smoked duck breast and Smoked lobster linguini.

There were deserts but we were all full, they did look amazing, but just couldn't fit them in.

It was a lovely treat, everything from the atmosphere to the food and drink and service was on point. I hope that they keep up the standard.

I can't really recommend anything as everything was so good.

Next time I am there I must make sure I get a picture of the Turtle, but here is the lovely horse statue they have in the outside seating area.

All in all a must go I feel