Restaurant review: The Good Luck Club, Wellington Place, Leeds city centre

And yet our visit to The Good Luck Club, one of Leeds’s newest bar bistros, was a bit of an exercise in irony.

It certainly answered the eternal question of what came first - the chicken or the egg. In fact, they both came together!

Let’s start at the beginning though...

Our group of three popped in for an early-ish post-work dinner on a midweek evening.

The sun was out and the place was absolutely heaving with the office crowd, drawn from the surrounding area, who were mostly milling about outside.

It left the inside, with spacious leather booths, interesting high-chaired island-tables and a decadent dining area, virtually empty.

The bar sits in the new Wellington Place development, a burgeoning business district of the city centre which will bring with it associated leisure benefits and a professional clientele.

The atmosphere was great, with buzzing conversation, a relaxing musical background and lively chatter.

We found a table, and perused the menu, which is unfussy, dominated by burgers, salads, skewers and grills. Perfect for an express midweek dinner.

There’s an international tinge to the offer, with Mexican and Portugese flavours on the burgers and Persian, Jamaican, Indian, Indonesian and Moroccan flavours all popping up elsewhere on the menu.

I asked for the breadcrumbed poached egg salad (£8) with spinach, kale, toasted almonds, pomegranate, flax seed and avocado. Unfortunately the staff member misheard me, and I was instead presented with a poached chicken breast salad, with cashews, basil, cherry tomatoes, green beans and cucumber in a lime and honey dressing.

It sounds delightful, I know, but it wasn’t what I had ordered.

No worries, I thought, human error, easily fixed. However it turned out there was no salad left in the soon-to-be-closed kitchen - even though it was barely 7.30pm.

The waitress, deeply apologetic, then asked me if I was vegetarian and could they just replace the chicken with the eggs. I reluctantly agreed.

A few minutes later, my eggs turned up, beautifully cooked and deep fried in a bread coating, albeit with the wrong salad.

But...the chicken was still on the plate! So there you go, the chicken and the egg came together!

It was somewhat of a comedy of errors, and marred what was actually some tasty food and a fun overall experience.

The salad was refreshing and tasty, and the eggs and chicken breast both very well cooked, but I definitely felt like I was eating bits of two dishes rather than one complete dish, which i was.

My friends’ meals were, thankfully, clanger free.

The halloumi and sweet potato salad (£8) with toasted walnuts, crunchy kale, pomegranate, grains and seeds went down very well.

My friend liked the rustic presentation and the crispy fresh salad. She said the walnut added a nice additional crunch and the tangy pomegranate dressing was a clever and delicious addition.

The halloumi, deep fried in breadcrumbs, was also creamy and flavourful.

My other companion loved her halloumi burger (£7) which was served with mushroom, red onion and baby gem drizzled with a sticky chilli sauce.

She especially love the brioche bun it was served in. However the presentation was awkward and clunky, with he burger served on a long rectangular plate, plonked in the middle with not a hint of garnish or side salad.

I fear the issue might have been the aforementioned shortfall in greens that had contributed to my own salad woes.

The Good Luck Club menu is based, according to the website, around a charcoal grill in which all the burgers, steaks, chicken, fish and vegetables are cooked quickly.

The branding promises New York inspired decor and food and an all day menu offering “something for everyone”.

The food, decor and atmosphere certainly hits the spot, but the service, on this occasion, didn’t.

This place Caters very much for the professional crowd, and on that it delivers very well.

But just a few tweaks - and attention to both detail and customers! Would elevate it.

Our bill, which included soft drinks and teas, came to just under £37, a reasonable amount for what was, despite the glitches, a tasty and satisfying meal.

There’s an early bird menu from 5pm to 7pm from Monday to - Wednesday,a and on Thursdays and Friday’s there’s a pizza and a pint offer.

The kitchen has also closed up very early in the day, the dining clearly plays second fiddle tot he drinking, and that was part of the problem. We certainly felt like a bit of an afterthought, but it might just have bene our timing, or indeed, or bad luck.