Tonic (Nottingham) (Closed)

Address: 6B Chapel Quarter, Nottingham, Nottinghamshire , NG1 6JS, United Kingdom
Door: Open door
Style: Restaurant bar
Food: Set menu

Review

Tonic occupies a deceptively large site than you might expect from its street-frontage. In fact it's three levels of deli, bar and restaurant, decorated in curvaceous wood-finishes that warm up what would be an otherwise cold industrial site, with Jetsons-style seating and fancy Tom Dixon light fittings. Large blank walls are used as cinema screens, either for serene scenes of nature or for big sporting fixtures.

Resolutely a more white spirits type of place - and increasingly so with a more recent focus on gin - the drinks offer here is evolving: we've seen a new menu they are putting out and it's now got a greater focus on cocktails, and classics at that, arranged by spirits category, plus a dedicated Martini menu. They've thankfully dropped a special Jagermeister section which smacked of 'High Street' and it's altogether becoming more serious about its drinks, which also cover a wide list of beers and a select list of wines.

Working from the existing menu, we found our drinks well-executed after an initial scrabble for spec sheets, and customer service strong - we also admired the fact that despite this reporter having had a five-year absence from Tonic, it looked as good as the day it opened. Live music on weekends helps build atmosphere in what are pretty cavernous surroundings. Hopefully with the changes underway we'll be able to give it a higher score in future but for now it's a 3.5/5.