We're big fans of a Sunday Roast here in the foodie family and there are some great places to get a great one in and around the city. So when I was invited to try out the Sunday Menu at the lovely Park Regis Hotel, this sounded like a promising Sunday and at £14.95 for 4 courses a pretty good deal too.
I'd not actually set foot in the hotel apart from to eat in the now closed Rofuto since the launch night, the decor is luxe and extravagant looking and although not necessarily my taste in interiors, it certainly is eye catching and spacious, set up on a mezzanine from the bar area below.
We ordered a couple of drinks and waited to to be told about how the buffet etc worked. This never really happened, so after about 10 minutes I wandered over to investigate. There was a soup station and salad bar, then a large carvery. I brought us back over a couple of bowls of soup and some bread that looked like the little baguettes you bake at home in the oven. There was no label or sign by the soup, and no waiters around to ask but by taste it was probably broccoli and stilton. It was actually quite a good soup and in retrospect, probably the best bit of the meal. No one came to clear our soup bowls, so we helped ourself to the salad bar - unfortunately quite an uninspiring selction and if I'm honest, I've had better at a Harvester.
Onwards and upwards to the carvery (with now soup bowls and salad plates stacked up on the side of the table) -it looked really promising, a choice of Beef, Turkey and Ham. A good choice of green veg as well as parsnips and carrots, large yorkeis and crispy looking roasties, as well as stuffing, pigs in blankets and a vat of gravy. It looked really good, but unfortunately didn't really quite live up to expectations. The meat itself was cooked pink, possibly even a bit too rare for me and even my carnivore blue steak eating hubby. The turkey was a bit better and I stole some off my 2 year olds plate. The green vegetables were good - not overcooked at all, and the roasted carrots were soft and caramelised. Yorkshire puddings were decent, stuffing hard as a rock and potatoes although crispy on the outside were undercooked and tasted just a little strange. So not terrible, just not brilliant either.
Desserts didn't fair much better - some rock hard brought in profiteroles and gateaux of the day didn't leave us begging for more. Imogens fruit salad was essentially some cut up melon. Just melon.
Service was pretty hit and miss through out the meal - pretty slow and needing a fair bit of prompting to clear plates and order more drinks.
I've read varying reviews of this Sunday lunch deal, all of which have some issues, and these issues seem to vary from meal to meal, so the fact remains, if you want a filling and good value sunday lunch and are willing to chance the issues, this may be the one for you.
Disclosure: I was invited to try out the Sunday lunch deal in return for an honest review .
