We all know that Mums generally lead a busy life and let's be honest many dads do as well. Recent research commissioned by Toby Carvery showed that most mums do not get to sit down on an evening until 8.07pm and I think on average this is probably about right, although some nights it is closer to 9pm!
It is for this reason that Toby Carvery offered my family and I to go along to our local restaurant (which in our case is Willingdon Drove, Eastbourne) on a week night and enjoy a meal that is cooked for us and involves no washing or clearing up. Result!
We booked a table using the online booking system, which is super easy and I have to confess that I have no idea you could book a table for Toby nowadays, as you never used to be able to. I was very aware from the start that the email confirmation (and reminder emailed to me the day before the reservation) stated that the table would only be held for 10 minutes from the reservation time and thus we arrived promptly.
Our table was set and waiting for us with menus on the table and the waiter came and greeted up promptly and offered to take a drinks order. The kids all ordered a refillable Pepsi as they love the super modern machine at our local Toby Carvery, this allows them to choose from drinks such as Pepsi, Diet Pepsi, Pepsi Max, Tango, Tango Apple or R White Lemonade. You can have the regular offerings that we all know and love or choose to have any of them with a splash of vanilla, strawberry, lime or cherry. What my kids love to do is have a bit of about 6 different drinks all in their glass and make a cocktail! lol I think at £2.10 for a refillable drink these are good value.
Literally as soon as we were seated our waiter offered for us to go up to the carvery if we were all having a carvery (which we were). I know from previous experience that when you order something from the menu they come and tell you once this is ready and at the carvery waiting for you and then all the family can go up and get food at the same time.
I have to confess that my family are not new Toby Carvery customers, we come to this restaurant often. In fact 21 years ago my husband and I met in Eastbourne and every Sunday afternoon we had a Toby Carvery together, although it was sited in the town centre back in those days. During our time together my husband has been a vegetarian for a few years and some might think that a Toby carvery is the last place you would visit but actually it is fab because you can have a meatless carvery for considerably less cost or four alternatives.
On this visit, at 6pm on a Wednesday night the restaurant was probably only one third full and we headed straight up to the carvery counter and had just 2 people in front of us. There was plenty of meat on the counter and it all looked fresh and succulent but if I'm honest the carvery area could have done with a tidy round as there was lots of fragments of meat on the hotplates. The carving chef was very friendly and chatted with our kids and then the vegetables had recently been replenished so there was lots of choice. There was sweetcorn, red cabbage, carrots, cauliflower cheese, peas, brussel sprouts, mash and roast potatoes.
Here is what Toby Carvery say about their carvery offering - All of our carveries offer the same classic menu all day, Monday to Saturday. To satisfy your carvery craving, choose from tender slices of beef, pork, turkey or honey-and-mustard-glazed gammon, all slow-cooked to succulent perfection. Then you've got our crispy, ruffled roasties to look forward to - flavoured with rosemary and thyme - along with fluffy wholegrain mustard mash and freshly prepared, unlimited veg. Why have five a day when you can have eight? And it wouldn't be a proper roast without a huge Yorkshire pud, stuffing and your pick of gravies and sauces. The price starts from £5.99 (depending where your Toby carvery is sited) and I think that is great value for all you can have as you can even go back up for more potatoes and vegetables if you fancy. The price does rise on a Sunday so you need to be aware of that before visiting.
As we were reviewing the food tonight we decided to try out the king size carvery, where you pay an extra £1.50 and get a second yorkshire pudding, 2 sausages and more meat. I have to confess my eyes were far bigger than my belly and I declined the second yorkshire and gave way the sausages to the kids, but you can see the amount of meat I got in one of the photos above - I had a piece of all four meats!
Talking of the kids, Toby suggest their kids menu is suitable for those aged 10 and under and the cost is £4.59 for a carvery main meal, but look at the size of a kids meal (below) - it looks like an adult one, doesn't it? That winter fruits crumble and custard is just £1.99 in the kids portion and it was enough to fill me!
We all enjoyed our meals, each of the meats was super. The beef is always tender but can be a bit fatty but the gammon and turkey in particular are really good value. We did feel the yorkshires had been under the holding lights too long today though as they had moved from being soft and fluffy to a very large crisp but this wasn't enough to upset our meal.
The puddings were good too, the kids all choose an adult pudding as a treat and they really could not eat the portions so luckily my husband had realised this and instead of ordering a dessert for himself he helped the kids. It was a shame they could not offer us the After Eight Munchies sundae or the apple and cinnamon crumble as both were sold out but our waiter did not know this and had to come back to our table twice to inform us.
We enjoyed our desserts and once finished I was asked if we wanted the bill and could I show him my voucher. I had mentioned at the beginning that I had a 20% off food of £15 or more when we first sat down. On that note it is worth signing up for emails from Toby as they often offer special deals.
I would say that a Toby Carvery is a great place to go for a family meal when you want something filing, healthy and that does not break the bank. Thank you Toby Carvery we really enjoyed ourselves tonight and you gave this Manic Mum a bit of a rest!
Although maybe I'm not as manic as I used to be as I took Toby's fun manic mum quiz on Facebook and it awarded me this badge below -
SPECIAL OFFER -
If you want to go along and enjoy a Toby carvery, they are delighted to offer all my readers a free sundae (any one of your choosing) when they order an adult main course. Just quote the code 6280 - 3902 - 8473 - 0812 between now and 31st January 2016 excluding Sundays and Bank Holidays. The offer must be shown at the time of ordering, it cannot be used in conjunction with any other offer and does not include the sharer Sundaes.
Disclosure: I received a voucher for £40 to help our family enjoy a meal at our local Toby Carvery. I have not been instructed what to write and I remain honest.
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