We love dining out as a family and on Sunday last week we were kindly invited to review for the King & Miller pub/restaurant for lunch. The King & Miller (Retford) has recently reopened having undergone a huge makeover with a full refurbishment, new menu and over all new look as part of the 'Sizzling Pubs' group.
From looking at previous reviews, I knew that the King & Miller maybe didn't have the best rep and I was really interested to see how things had changed and if they were as good as we had hoped. This pub is part of the Sizzling group and having visited the Lincoln one a few days after its opening and not having a very successful visit, we were keen to give the Sizzling pubs another try and see if we could have a nice family meal and maybe even discover a new favourite.
With Adam working all week, we had to visit on a weekend and this Sunday was a very busy one for the pub and restaurant, with a couple of large parties to cater for as well as lots of kids and families. This isn't for everyone, but as a family with two small children, it's nice going somewhere where the kids can be present and make themselves known (slightly) without feeling like they aren't welcome or that we need to keep them quiet. Kids are very much welcome and there is a table with pens, pencils and paper to keep them entertained. There is also a grabby arcade machine which I'm not a huge fan of because the kids drive me nuts begging to have a go, that isn't really an issue but worth mentioning if you are likely to have a go, so remember some change!
We were seated, told where things were in the pub and offered a high chair for Soph, which of course she refuses until the waiter leaves our table. The decor inside and out was really nice, homely, relaxing and just felt like a really easy place to be.
We first looked at the kids menus and it was really nice to see some more interesting items for kids than the standard, with a 'make your own wrap' meal, spaghetti, rack of ribs and mini pizza. There was the usual chicken nugget type meals too which are always a good bet, as well as a decent selection of sides and veggies to go alongside. A kids meal of a main, pudding and drink is just £4.50 and kids again have a good choice on the drink front too.
The adult menu was huge, by this time and with the delicious smells in there we were really hungry and it was really tough deciding from the menu, wit the main thing I noticed being how cheap everything was! I hoped the price wouldn't reflect quality and by the look of the meals being served all around us this definitely didn't seem to be the case.
The bar has a decent range of drinks and ales and something I had never seen before which was Rose wine slushies! I just had to give one of those a try and also the mango fruit slushy too which the barmaid/manager(?) and I decided would make the perfect distraction for the kids to keep them from begging for wine slush.
The pub was really busy with a table of about 20 ordering before us. We weren't advised of any delay but were fully prepared to wait a long time given that it was a weekend and they obviously had their hands full in all areas of the pub. After just 20 minutes a waitress came to apologise for our wait and said it wouldn't be long, we were quite happy as we could see they were busy but it was nice to be kept in the loop and know our time was getting closer.
Food!
The food took just under 30 minutes which I thought was pretty good having worked in kitchens and knowing the stress a huge party can put on, let alone having every table completely full and a bar full of people. The kids food came first (always handy) and the portions were great. Alf ordered ribs which he has never had before and Soph opted for the highly safe option of a Margarita pizza, swapping the veggie sticks for chips.
Adam ordered a steak which we opted to arrive 'sizzling', with a side of onions rings. I ordered a burger because I am a huge burger fan and I think you can tell a lot about a place by their burgers! Mine was called the Skyscraper and it was just that, really impressive looking and smelling amazing. The steak was perfect, it arrived making a dramatic sizzling entrance and more than made up for our previous experience in Lincoln.
Puddings.
The puddings were exactly what we could have wished for, generous portions, freshly put together and delicious! My rather greedy trio of desserts (I was expecting to share) was really good and perfect if you can't quite decide what to go for. Adam's sundae was just epic, I have no idea how he fit that in after his whopping steak but he did so like a trooper. Needless to say the kids were very happy with their puddings, a bee made from ice cream/toppings for Soph and a 'make your own sundae' for Alf, with ample toppings! They even both had a whole bag of chocolate buttons which we took home for later, bonus.
Verdict
What we want from a meal is a family friendly place, with good service, tasty food that makes you feel full, great value for money and to leave feeling happy. The King & Miller fulfilled all our wants for a family meal out and if all the Sizzling Pubs serve food as good as theirs, we will certainly be making it a family favourite from now on! Thank you to everyone there for having us for our family feast, we certainly left happy and will be back.
Have you visited a Sizzling pub before?
Disclosure: We were invited for our meal (costs covered) in return for an honest review. All thoughts, words and images are ours and we can honestly say we enjoyed it all!
