Sunday lunch at Mr Grundy's

We were meeting friends for lunch and needed to eat somewhere tasty that accommodated children and didn't serve carvery. Mr Grundy's has a reputation for good Sunday lunches and their beer garden is good enough for the kids to run around.

The website recommends that you book a table because their lunches are so popular. The power of words eh? There was only one other table in the restaurant section that was occupied, although I think another table filled up as we were leaving. To be fair there were a few other people dotted about who were tucking into their meals. The decor was also shabby; fittings in the bathroom were missing and outdated.


The menu was very basic which makes a pleasant change. The Sunday menu is a choice of beef, pork, chicken and for the adults, lamb shank. There was also a vegetarian lasagne option (& something else which escapes me at the moment). It arrived fairly promptly. Three of us ordered the lamb shank, two had the beef and the two youngest had chicken. The gravy was an inspid affair which seemed to serve all meats. The meat was served with roast potatoes, boiled potatoes, yorkshire puddings (good where they weren't burnt), carrots, frozen peas and sweetorn, boiled cabbage (think school dinners). I like my veg but this wasn't appealing. The roast potatoes were ok but as my husband said, so crispy that they were chewy. And one of his boiled potatoes was rotten all the way through. The beef wasn't up to much and the kids roast chicken turned out to be half a chicken breast that was so well done it was rubbery and difficult to chew. Portions were big and we didn't even opt for the Big Plate. The only good thing I think I can say was that the lamb shank was lovely and prices weren't too bad at £7.95 for adults and £3.95 for kids.


We did decide to have a pudding which were good traditional offerings; apple pie, spotted dick, chocolate fudge cake, jam roly poly, treacle sponge served with either cream, custard or ice cream . The puds went down well!


They did ask if everything was ok once we'd eaten but as it was pointed out, what could they do about it if we'd already paid upfront?


On the plus side, they now operate a micro brewery and they have 4 or 5 of their own beers on tap. These were good and went down well! So if you're looking for a decent pint in the sun you wouldn't do too badly there.


Disappointing and we won't be going there again. The search goes on.