The Morro Lounge reviewed: What we thought of Richmond's new bar and restaurant

But it opens out into the old banking chamber, with a double height ceiling, the walls lined with wooden panelling and shiny tiles, topped with an elaborate plaster cornice and lit by a glass roof. The upper half of the walls has been lined with William Morris wallpaper and then covered with an eclectic mix of artworks: Dutch still life, Lowry and Stubbs paintings, Oriental bird prints, 1980s family photos…

It's all a bit chaotic, particularly once you pass the old lift doors, and go into the low, dark bank back rooms where all the clerks with their quills and their ledgers must once have toiled away, totting up columns of inky numbers.

And what a trek to the main toilet! Up two flights of narrow, low-beamed stairs that wind around the outside of the bank chamber and along tight corridors until you reach what was once, presumably, the bank manager’s apartment (there is also an accessible toilet on the ground floor).

And what a lot of people! The Morro Lounge has only been open a month but on Saturday lunchtime, it was full. We said we’d brave the outside seating area, and as we walked through the bank chamber and the back rooms, we counted about 130 seats, all full of people (and dogs) – the tearooms in the Market Place seemed as crowded as ever, so where did all these people dine before?

A glimpse inside the Morro Lounge with a riot of colours and artworks in the old bank chamber

The pleasant rear courtyard is unroofed. This will cause a problem in the many sunburn summer days that Richmond gets each year; it caused a problem on an October Saturday because as soon as we sat down, great drops of rain blew out of the blue sky. The young staff promised that they’d come and find us when an indoor table became available and, although we feared we’d be forgotten in the rush of people, they did.

We were extremely grateful because soon the drops had become a steady drizzle and, had we stayed exposed to the elements, we would have been thoroughly soaked.

Inside, we sat among a great hubbub. There were plenty of children and babies whose cries filled the echoey bank chamber, and there were loads of dogs which had loud barky discussions with each other. Nearby, a lady had three spaniels which, by the end of her meal, were bouncing all over her sofa and chairs – when we ordered our food at the bar, the staff were really anxious about any food allergies we might have but those of us with animal allergies still have to sit among the same cushions as the spaniels.

The Lounge is a chain which, like Tomahawk steakhouses, is exploding across the country even in these uncertain financial times. All Lounges follow a naming convention so they have an o as a last letter, and my colleague, Malcolm Warne, reviewed the 168th Lounge, the Ontano, which opened at the start of the summer in another former HSBC bank in Northallerton.

All share the same fashionable menu – mains, burgers, sandwiches, salads, tapas with lots of vegetarian options. It offers something for everyone for every time of day with plenty of world tastes thrown into every dish. In fact, there’s as much going on on the menu as there is on the walls.

Petra, my wife, was really taken by the Mexican superbowl (£9.25), which was a vegetarian grazer’s delight: separate portions of black beans, sweet potato with molasses, spicy rice, tomato salsa with a touch of chipotle heat, and rocket leaves all piled around a central bowl of guacamole with a slice of lime. Fresh and flavoursome, it was a success.

The Mexican Superbowl got the thumbs up

I went for the pulled brisket chilli (£11.50) which was burblingly hot from, I imagine, the microwave. The mature cheddar topping had melted into suffocating layer that had all the tenacity of superglue in its stringy-stretchy desire to remain attached to the bowl.

The Pulled Brisket Chilli, with a top coating of melted cheese, and a bowl of "spicy rice"

However, once I prised the food out, it tasted fine, the brisket being rich and juicy and really rather nice, with little tastes of spring onion, red chilli and yoghurt on top. It came with “spicy rice” which was more aromatic than spicy.

Our son, Theo, had Macaroni cheese with an additional sprinkling of bacon on top (£10.75). It, too, was blisteringly reheated. As a dish, it is just pasta with a cheesy sauce and even a fellow with Theo’s mountainous consumption capabilities struggled to get through it because it was one dimensional – he would have loved a piece of garlic bread to lift it.

Theo's Maccarone Cheese, with bacon added

Our guests tried the Dirty Brisket Burger (at £13.75, one of the most expensive items on the menu) and a fish finger sandwich (£8.50). The burger was stacked full of brisket, streaky bacon, “gravy mayo”, cheese, gherkin and chilli jam as well as a beef patty. It was perfectly pleasant but there was just so much going on that all the individual tastes, even the chilli jam, just disappeared.

A Dirty Brisket Burger

The menu promised that the sandwich would come with tartare sauce, and the three fish fingers were drowning in it – too much for our guest even though she quite likes tartare sauce.

The fish finger sandwich, in which the fish fingers drowned into much tartare sauce

The chips, though, were universally agreed to be good.

There are five puddings, priced from £6.25, but as you had to trundle back to the bar to order and pay, we decided not to bother.

Refinements would certainly improve the dining experience – a side bowl of tartare sauce rather than a one-size-fits-all smothering, for example, and protection from the elements outside – but there were many moments that were worth returning for.

The building, though, is better than the food. It is a great space and it is a joy to see it brought back to vibrant life rather than be boarded up. Will the Lounge be brave enough to open a Darlo branch; if the former Dressers building with its fabulous wooden stairs had gone this way rather than be stripped out for a sterile pound shop, High Row would have a much greater appeal.

The Morro Lounge,

Market Place, Richmond DL10 4QG

Tel: 01748-503168

web: thelounges.co.uk

Ratings (out of ten): Food quality 6 Surroundings 9 Service 8 Value for money 7