The food was not nearly as good as the other reviews suggest. My starter was rabbit terrine served on a couple of slices of toast. The chunk of terrine was very bland - very like a bought-in commercial product. (My wife had ordered a smoked salmon pancake which turned out to be a couple of slices of smoked salmon wrapped around a sort of potato croquette!) My main course was King Scallops and Crabmeat served on over-used (blackened around the edges) clam shells topped off with cheese and grilled - for far too long. I had a strong suspicion that the scallops were frozen and the crabmeat was commercial. The cheese used for topping was far too strong and completely overpowered the taste of seafood. It was accompanied by a loose ball of salad leaves - mostly parsley and what I think was rocket. A good deal of the leaves were black and soggy - just like when you leave leave salad in the packet for far too long in the fridge at home and have to throw it away - and there was grit around the parsley leaves where they hadn't been washed properly. I drew this to the attention of the floor manager who went to speak to the chef. She came back to say that the chef had said that the appearance had something to do with pesto (I didn't understand what he was trying to say and there wasn't any pesto on the leaves). I could tell she wasn't convinced either and she did apologise - but didn't offer to change the soggy mess! We paid £2 extra (very reasonable) for two portions of vegetables. The vegetables were only briefly cooked just as I like them (except the leeks which are uneatable when only flash fried). For wine, I chose a New Zealand Pinot Gris which was very pleasant and at £20 a little dear, but par for the course. La Rue could be good if only they would use good fresh produce instead of buying in pre-made food and if they took a bit more care. Rabbit Terrine isn't difficult to make from scratch and should be very tasty. It's not difficult to wash salad properly and throw out stuff that's past it's best. And if a customer shows you a salad with black soggy lumps of rotten leaves in it - for goodness sake, don't make excuses for the chef, apologise and change it!
La Rue Restaurant – Shipley