Review of 'Ate O'Clock'
I travel to York at least once a year to attend a stamp and coin show held at the racecourse. Whenever we visit we try to take advantage of being in the area to have a nice meal. This year I reached out to my AI overlord and it suggested the quirkily named “Ate O'Clock” as somewhere that may be of interest. Located in central York a short distance from the Shambles Market it was easy enough to find on a damp January afternoon. The small entrance to the restaurant can be found immediately beside the “Social 8 Lounge” (a related business) which leads you along a narrow tunnel to the restaurant that is found behind the lounge, with the narrow, main section in a glassed over alley and a small dining area off to the left immediately behind Social 8.
The interior is very quirky with things like features around the light fixtures, flowers painted on the ceiling and fake plants draping down the walls. The chairs are plush with garish colours but warm and welcoming.
We decided to take advantage of their set menu (Sunday-Thursday 12pm to 10pm, Friday-Saturday 12pm to 4:45pm), 2 courses £25 and 3 courses £29.50 which was quite a good discount off their standard a la carte menu, so we made a reservation for 3:45 pm (but showed up a bit earlier at 3:30 pm). Despite it being quite early for dinner, the place was hoping with inquiring punters turned away from the door when asking for a table. It was just as well we made our reservation but we did have to wait for a few minutes before our (early) table was made available to us in the adjoining room.
The set menu is divided into “Whilst You Decide” (extras such as olives, bread and crisps), “Starters”, “Side Dishes” (more extras), “Sunday Roast” (available on, of course, Sundays after 12pm, for £22), then “Mains” and “Desserts”.
Our friendly server mentioned that the soup of the day was potato and thyme (I believe) which I immediately opted for. A short time later it arrived with a slice of toast on the side with a ridiculous amount of herb-flavoured butter that I cut into pieces and arranged on the surface (I was not going to leave a bit of it left over). The smooth creamy soup was mild and felt very cosy after our harsh few hours walking in the cold, miserable outdoors. The bread and butter was quite nice if a bit overwhelmed by the copious amounts of butter…
My companion opted for the “Chicken Liver Pate” starter (“Served with toasted soda bread, red onion marmalade & dressed leaves”) which she found absolutely delightful - The generous portion of lovely smooth pate was accompanied by a good amount of deliciously tangy/sweet marmalade with two small slices of toast to eat it with along with a small green salad.
For my main I opted for their signature “Ate O'Clock Beef Burger” (“Topped with cheddar cheese, lettuce, gherkin, beef tomato & burger sauce. Served with skinny fries & coleslaw.” - I declined the offer of the £2 extra for bacon or blue cheese) which was a bit of a change for me. Normally I would avoid burger in a (normal, non-fast food) restaurant but in this case I thought it sounded good and I wanted to see what something with their name on it would taste like. The juicy beef patty was quite large perched inside the bun accompanied by fillings that refused to stay inside the bun as the burger was eaten. It was quite good if not exactly bursting with flavour. The “skinny fries” were really just “normal fries” but perfectly fine, if not outstanding while the coleslaw was light and thankfully not heavily doused with mayo. The general portion size was good – not too small, not too big.
For her main, my companion opted for the “Chicken Kyiv” (“Served with smoked bacon mashed potato, kale, carrots & garlic butter”) which was absolutely massive and topped with the same large nub of garlic butter I had with my starter (though none appeared to be inside the meat as one would expect with Kyiv). It was perched on top of a mount of smooth mashed potato with bacon bits scattered across the top with nicely caramelized carrots and tender kale on the side. The whole dish would have been overwhelmed by garlic if it were not for the spicy notes of the bacon.
As non-drinkers it was nice to see a few interesting “mocktails” on the drinks menu (£6 each) though, annoyingly, there was no description about what each were. We very much enjoyed the “Elderflower Fizz” which was not overly sweet and was a nice accompaniment to the meal. Nicely as well, we were brought a container of tap water for the table without any fuss.
The staff were very friendly, and professional, taking time to talk with us despite being obviously very busy. The clean, well maintained toilets are upstairs and were as quirky as the rest of the restaurant interior with big old-fashioned clock faces at the top of the stairs.
Our relaxed early evening meal was quite good at a reasonable price if not exactly the most exciting food we have ever had - “It does what it says on the tin”.
Rating: “It is OK but I have some issues”
Review Date: 2026-01-17
Cuisine: American/British
Address: 13a High Ousegate, York YO1 8RZ ENGLAND
Public Transport: 
York
Location: North Yorkshire (England) - York
Map:
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Telephone: +44 (0) 1904 644080
URL: https://www.ateoclock.co.uk/