A Review of Red Dog Saloon Nottingham

There are so many wonderful places to eat in Nottingham, with new restaurants springing up all the time – it is a great place to go out for a meal in the evening, or just to grab a bite to eat during the day, and I love trying different places.

Red Dog Saloon Nottingham

One that was new to me (but has been open for a couple of years in Nottingham) is Red Dog Saloon – an old-school Austin Barbeque and Dive Bar, located in the city centre (where Ark used to be if you ever shopped there!).

From the moment you walk into Red Dog Saloon Nottingham, it is clear that you are in an American style restaurant, with the dark wood panelling, the animal heads on the walls, and a menu filled with huge burgers, fried chicken and platters of meat.

I really like the style of the place, and the big, comfy booths to sit in and relax. It all feels very chilled and informal, which I like, and the staff were all super friendly and helpful when choosing what to have.

The food

We ordered a lot of food to try, much of which was recommended by our lovely waitress. We had a burger and fries, pit beans, loaded fries, and smoked chicken wings, which were really good with the ranch and blue cheese dips. The main thing we were there to try, however, was their new Whole Hog Sunday – a different take on a traditional Sunday dinner, the whole hog barbeque is fired-up on a pit within Red Dog’s terraces all day, every Sunday. Whole Hog Sunday features chopped pork, sausages and ribs, alongside a selection of sides from potato salad and coleslaw, to macaroni cheese and creamed corn.

The kids menu

Ava chose the macaroni cheese with fries from the kids menu, which she seemed to enjoy although it did look rather bland and ‘beige’ and it was a bit of a shame that it didn’t come with any veg at all. Although let’s be honest – you don’t come to Red Dog Saloon for a healthy, balanced meal! You come to indulge and gorge on tasty meats and fried food, and enjoy a cocktail or two.

We really enjoyed all of the food. The meat platter was really good, and I really enjoyed the sausage and the ribs in particular. It came with a cob (yes, we’re in Nottingham, so it’s a cob) and gherkins and onions for the chopped pork, but we preferred to eat it on its own. The pit beans were slightly disappointing as we didn’t think they had a ton of flavour – they weren’t dissimilar to ordinary baked beans which was a shame, as I love pit beans usually.

One of our favourite parts of the meal, that we destroyed very quickly, were the Bacon Loaded Ranch Fries – smoked bacon and ranch sauce fries. They are not something I would probably have chosen myself, but they were recommended to us by our waitress, and oh my god they were so good. They were so insanely tasty and moreish and we couldn’t stop eating them. The sauce was so good with the crispiness of the bacon and the softness of the fries.

The desserts

For dessert, we shared the brownies and the Key Lime Pie special, and even though I hadn’t planned on having dessert as I was so full – the brownies were amazing and so moreish that we did fight over them a bit. I also finished with a really lovely cocktail – an Espresso Martini.

We really enjoyed our evening at Red Dog Saloon Nottingham. It’s a lovely restaurant to go to for a chilled, informal evening with good food and drink and a nice atmosphere. It was very quiet when we went, but the staff were all so friendly and helpful, and knew the menu well, which is always good. It’s a nice place to go to with kids, with the big spacious booths to sit in, and it’s not the kind of place that you worry about them being a bit noisy. I think it would also be a nice place to go with a group of friends for some cocktails and food. We left with full, happy bellies after a lovely evening.

We were invited to review Red Dog Saloon, but all words and opinions are my own. See my full disclosure policy here.