Mothers Day started off with Sue and Sam setting off to visit Sue's parents. She took my car as it's larger and easier for her parents to get in and out. They had to visit Spec Savers to pick up Sue's mum's new glasses and to go shopping at Morrisons.
They arrived back home early afternoon and Sue had kindly taken my car to Waves at Tesco for a car wash. Then she vacuumed and cleaned the interior for me. What a star. It had been badly in need of cleaning.
Sue opened her cards and presents from Sam and me and Christopher came to visit and we were all going out for a meal later. The consensus of opinion was that we would go for a carvery meal.
We drove out to Cribbs Causeway to the Preview Buffet Bar. This is predominantly a carvery restaurant, but the menu does have a few alternatives. We all decided to have carvery meals with Sue having the vegetarian nut roast.
Now, carvery meals are not exactly my favourite. I enjoy my Christmas roast dinner once a year, which I cook myself, agonising that everything should be cooked to perfection and that it all reaches the table piping hot. But that will do for me until the following Christmas.
I regard a carvery meal as bit of a cop out, in that it is so cheap and easy to roast some meat and potatoes and boil the life out of some poor vegetables. Crown carvery have got it right in that they charge a realistic £3.88, although I believe it rises to £6.99 on a Sunday. Here, at the Preview Buffet Bar, a carvery meal was £8.95 and for that money you can buy a good quality 'proper' meal elsewhere.
The meat was just about passable, the beef was certainly not pink in the middle. The roast potatoes were black, the veg was ............. I can't be bothered wasting my time writing any more words about it. It was not good. I saw people returning to their tables with plates piled high with a mountain of vegetables, which should have had a red light on the top to warn low flying aircraft. They really need to get out more often.
The consensus of opinion was to follow up with a dessert. We all opted for various ice cream based desserts, all priced at £3.95. Mine was chocolate ice cream with Maltesers, chocolate flake, chocolate sauce and bulked out with squirty cream. The ice cream was very low quality and tasted watery. I cannot remember having had such cheap ice cream in a restaurant. There is no excuse for this if they are charging £3.95 for the dessert.
We left and I made a mental note never to go there again. My dear wife deserves to be treated to something much better than this on Mother's Day. Having said that, no one else complained, so perhaps it's just me.
