Thunderdome Cafe

Amazing food as always, staff are always kind and putting the customer 1^st for every need, a lot of places fail to do that, but even with the restaurant being in the new Trinity building it’s lovely with a touch of homeliness, love this place so much I’ve been twice in one week. 10 out of 10 for everything.

Nothing special here. Usual beer you find anywhere, got a few pool tables though which is good. Prices are average and so is the building /​décor.
Was here for a friends birthday party and they provided a buffet service, the food was pretty good! Especially the chicken which is always a win! Overall all verdict… not bad

Back again to the home-​land and have been here already this week, yum!
Food was top class as was service. Try it — you won’t be disappointed!

I pop in here now and again for a drink or for dinner, great for both. The place is massive and is split into two areas, the dinning area and the pub area. The dinning area is well presented and the menu has all the usual tit bits and at a good price. I’ve never had a complaint about any of my meals, quantity or price. The pub has lots of TV’s showing mostly different sports and a full bar, oh and plenty of pool tables. Service is swift and prices are normal. The manager is about most days and is friendly, although he is a united fan. At weekends they do a light disco and on some occasions hire in live performers like Freddy Mercury and Pink performers. I went here one new year for a 3 course meal and a Disco for £25, great stuff. They also have security at the door to keep out the unsocial folks.

The Thunderdome. Oh dear, oh dear. Like Judith, the previous reviewer of this place, I don’t like to be negative about a business. People have put love into it, maybe the staff feel strongly about it. But…
The building itself is an eyesore. The interior isn’t much better. Primarily designed for families — lots of stuff for hyperactive children to gawp at — when me and my clan were in, they had the Cartoon Network on TV! I felt uncomfortable and was in a bit of a hurry to leave, to be honest.
Waiter: What’s your order, Sir?
Me: I’ll have the rump steak medium rare, please.
Waiter: Sorry Sir, but we cook all of our steaks well-​done…
Me: What?! Balls to this, I’m out of here.
I didn’t really say that last sentence, but the rest of the conversation really did take place. I’m too polite. I ate my strip of leather and said thank you when I left.
I’m certainly not going back though.

Tunderdome café is like the Springsteen’s of Botanic in my opinion. It seems to have put a lot of effort into its surroundings and not much thought into it’s menu. I suppose I might think this because this place isn’t catered towards me. It’s mostly for families to take their kids and distract them with bright colours and loud noises just long enough for the parents to have a non interrupted meal. The food is very much like American style diner food, just burgers, fries etc. These items aren’t too bad. I wouldn’t come here and spend that little extra getting the steak because you know if there’s an average burger, then it’s better/​cheaper than an average steak. Great for families and their kids, but that’s it.

I hate being too negative, so I’ll start with the things I like about the Thunderdome.
It’s near my house. Always a bonus!
The staff are all lovely and so the service is usually faultless.
It’s very family friendly. There’s lots to look at, so it’s a good place to take the kids. It’s also pretty big, so there’s room for them to run around if needs be!
Now the things I don’t so much like about the Thunderdome.
The food is never fresh. It always tastes microwaved, an if you’ve read any of my other reviews, I HATE this in a restaurant.
It’s very expensive for what you get, in my opinion. Now, they do an early bird special. If you order before 6, your main is £6, which is pretty cheap. If you don’t get it at that price, expect to pay a tenner for a burger and chips.
I’ve never been to one of the shows they have in the Thunderdome. In all honesty it’s not my thing, so I can’t imagine myself going anytime soon either.
All in all, the Thunderdome does its job. Being in the middle of Glengormley, it’s never going to be a fantastic, modern, haute cuisine restaurant, but the food could be better, especially for the price people are asked to pay.

Thunderdome Café is the kind of place that you want to take children. It’s loud, colourful and could easily keep any hyper active 6 year old busy for 45 minutes. My parent’s used it most years for my sister’s birthday party between the ages of 7 — 11, and the restaurant certainly catered well for them. It does a basic restaurant menu and the food is ok, though nothing you would write home about.
It seems that the décor of the place is where most effort has been put. If you have ever been to a Hard Rock café or a Planet Hollywood then you pretty much know exactly how the inside of the Thunderdome will look like. From the motorbike in the front window, to the ‘collectables’ that litter the walls, the place is overflowing with weird and sometimes interesting bric-​à-​brac.
It’s not somewhere you would want to take the love of your life, but if you have a few kids then maybe it could be the place for you.

I’ve heard and met lots of people who don’t like it in here at all. Now, it’s definitely not for a romantic night out, or even a chilled out night out — we went before going onwards to a concert elsewhere in the city, and we went because it was local, handy and reasonably priced. The food is straightforward, nothing to write home about — I had chicken Maryland and chips followed by pavlova. It wasn’t horrible, just kind of mediocre — but I was happy enough to pay for it. The main took quite a while to arrive also, but when it did it was satisfying. It’s kind of making an attempt at the ‘Hard Rock Café’ vibe, and doesn’t quite pull it off, because let’s face it, it’s in Glengormley and it isn’t trying hard enough. It’s okay if you want to bring the kids for a quick Saturday afternoon feed. Steer clear if you like quality dining.