WHAT is going on in Northallerton? You wait 25 years for new eating places to open and then all of a sudden zillions spring up all at once.

Of course, I exaggerate – a bit – but at this rate Northallerton is going to be the new Yarm.

In the last couple of years – despite the pandemic sweeping through society – we have seen more openings than at any time I can remember in the 30-odd years I’ve been kicking around this town.

Uno Momento, Ristorante Bianco, Origins, The Buck/Wetherspoons, Café 1Twenty7, Ciao Bella, Ontano Lounge, Northallerton Inn and, as we discovered on this page a couple of weeks ago, a cafe that is sufficiently confident of success that it has tucked itself away down an alley off the High Street and called itself a Secret Garden.

And there’s more to come. The new cinema at the Treadmills is going to be serving food along with three other restaurant/café units as and when that last section of the development is completed – and tenants are found.

Okay, not all of them have survived, Ciao Bella in The Fleece falling by the wayside. But given Northallerton’s previous reputation as the graveyard of culinary ambition that’s some going. As a local restaurant critic faced with checking them all out I feel a bit overwhelmed.

Ontano Lounge sprung up a month or so back in what was the branch of HSBC. The grandeur of the old bank interior has given the corporate design people full scope to bling it up big time.

 

Inside Ontano Lounge, in the old HSBC bank on Northallerton High Street

Inside Ontano Lounge, in the old HSBC bank on Northallerton High Street

 

There’s lots of chandeliers, lots of mirrors, lots of pictures and a big bar where the cash machines used to be. The look is old-style French brasserie on acid.

We dropped by just after midday and the overall impression we got was that the slightly OTT extravagance of Ontano Lounge is perhaps not the obvious spot for a low-key midweek lunch.

We suspect it probably comes into its own on a weekend evening when you’ve downed four mojitos, two pints of exotic lager and you need some deep-fried carbohydrate and protein to soak up the alcohol.

But it’s a long, long time since we did that sort of thing. So we ordered a diet Coke and an alcohol-free gin and tonic. Sobering times.

Some context here. Ontano Lounge is one of 168 such establishments lounging around the UK – a chain established in Bristol in 2002. Northallerton is the most northerly branch so far at least until another is opened in Richmond – in another former HSBC bank.

 

Inside Ontano Lounge, in the old HSBC bank on Northallerton High Street

Inside Ontano Lounge, in the old HSBC bank on Northallerton High Street

 

The menu, which seems to be common to all of these lounges, is designed to cover the 9am 'til late opening hours, so there’s an extensive range of brunch dishes, tapas, sandwiches, a couple of salads and a bunch of "mains" which seems to feature a lot of fried chicken dishes and chilli. There’s definitely a Tex-Mex influence in much of what is offered

There is a good choice of vegetarian and vegan dishes across the menu with guacamole, halloumi and aubergine to the fore.

Everything is listed with calorie-counts – as the law now requires for chain eateries – and it is a little disconcerting. For example, a top of the range burger with fries plus a pud would take you way beyond the 2,000 calories a day recommended for an average adult (guidance which is also listed on the menu).

We chose one of the mains – buttermilk fried chicken with barbecue sauce and fries (1,001 calories and £10.95) – plus three tapas dishes – salt and pepper squid with roasted garlic mayo (333 cals), mozzarella arancini with red pepper ketchup (I’ll stop boring you with the calorie counts now – but it’s a lot) and edamame guacamole with chipotle tomato salsa, extra virgin olive and some toasted ciabatta. The tapas deal meant the three cost £11.50.

 

Ontano Lounge, in the old HSBC bank on Northallerton High Street

Ontano Lounge, in the old HSBC bank on Northallerton High Street

 

It was all just a bit meh.

The chicken was tender enough but slightly frazzled at the edges. The fries and slaw were fine. The arancini was deep fried mush. The guacamole was fresh and zingy. But the squid was really disappointing. Tiny nuggets of rubbery squid which tasted of nothing but the batter they were hiding in. The garlic mayo couldn’t save them.

Service was okay considering. Considering that you order using a QR code on the menu or at the bar. Considering that there were just four waiting staff for a lot of tables and it was quite busy. And considering the four friendly staff were recovering from the day before when the Loungers group had held their staff party in Bristol and the Northallerton crew had got back home at five in the morning before starting work at nine. Respect!

The bill was £28.80 which was reasonable given that we were presented with a lot of food and didn’t feel the need to eat again that day. Those calorie counts told us why.

Ontano Lounge

189 High Street,

Northallerton, DL7 8LQ

01609 711234

ontano@thelounges.co.uk

thelounges.co.uk/ontano

Open Sunday-Wednesday, 9am-11pm and Thursday-Saturday, 9am-midnight

Ratings (out of ten): Food 5 Service 7 Surroundings 9 Value 7