My compliments to the Ding chef (Brewster's)

Member Name: silverstreak2

Product:	Brewster's
Date:	02/06/05 (458 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Wide choice of dishes

Disadvantages: Inadequately staffed, Shabby decor

My son recently celebrated his 9th birthday and, although he’d had a party with his friends the day before, my parents were visiting, so we decided to go out for an impromptu early evening meal. In addition to having two children who are quite poor eaters, my parents, who are in their 70s, are becoming increasingly fussy too, and won’t touch anything ‘foreign’ or ‘smothered in sauce’, so many of the restaurants in the area were quickly eliminated. We settled for Brewsters which we felt would be suitable for everyone, and where we could have a meal at a reasonable price. I had reservations though, because we’d been disappointed on our previous visit a year ago, but my parents had recently enjoyed a meal at their local branch, so we decided to give it another try.

Brewsters, owned by Whitbread, strikes you as being a pub which serves food rather than being a dedicated restaurant, and the whole thing is very informal in that you choose your own table, then go to the bar to order your food. There is a children’s play area adjacent to the dining area with CCTV screens positioned so that you can keep an eye on your children without having to keep leaving your seat. The indoor play area costs £2 per child, however, on this occasion our boys decided not to go in, preferring instead to use the outside play facilities.

We studied the menu and were quite impressed at the amount of choice there was. This was a definite improvement on last time, with a choice of eight single and two shared starters, with prices ranging from £2.50 for the soup, to £6.99 for the Combo Feast, a shared dish. Prawn cocktail, whitebait and tuna salad were some of the other items on offer.

Turning to the main courses, we were presented with a choice of eighteen general dishes, two types of burger, three kinds of steak and four ‘grills’. There was also a selection of lighter dishes and salads, along with four ‘tasty choices’, which represented the exotic end of the spectrum. Prices for the main courses ranged from £5.99 for items such as scampi and chips, liver and bacon, and Caesar salad, to £10.99 for the Stilton and peppercorn steak and for the mixed grill. To list every item on the menu would make this review tediously long, but to generalise, there was a good selection of meat, fish and salads, with six vegetarian dishes, in short, something for everyone. We four adults, choosing to bypass the starters, selected a mixed grill, scampi and chips, bbq chicken feast and sweet and sour king prawns.

We also chose a bottle of Rioja priced at £11.75, from a wine list containing eight whites, six reds and two sparkling wines, one of which was champagne, at £29.95. The highest and lowest prices for the remainder of the wines were £14.95 and £7.95 respectively, and surprisingly, the list was more imaginative than we had expected.

For the children, there were two separate menus, one for the under eights, at £3.99, and another for older children, at £4.99, both offering seven choices, including hot dog, hamburger, fish and chips, Yorkshire pudding with sausage, and chicken nuggets. There was also a salad, but, knowing children, I don’t suppose many chose this option. The ‘meal deal’ includes a soft drink and a choice of two desserts, being ice cream or banana and custard, and we considered this to be quite good value for money, provided they eat it of course.

We placed our order, and the wine and soft drinks were swiftly brought to the table. No airs and graces here, we weren’t asked if we wanted to taste the wine first, nor was it poured for us. Waiting for the food to arrive gave me the opportunity to take in our surroundings, which I’m afraid were not that great. The aim is obviously to convey a cosy, Olde Worlde look, with pseudo gas lamps and swirly, floral William Morris style patterns on the carpets and upholstery. Sadly though, the décor was looking rather tired and the seat covers were frayed, with the stuffing starting to appear in some cases. The paintwork was badly in need of a touch up and the whole place looked generally scruffy. There were a number of oriental looking vases next to Victorian style jugs and washbowls etc. on shelves, and whilst I’m no expert, the display probably owed more to a Sunday morning boot fair than to an antique shop.

The food arrived after 25 minutes, about the time it takes for the oven chips to heat up, and while it was well presented, adequately hot and perfectly edible, it was nothing out of the ordinary. I will say, though, that my prawns were indeed king prawns as the menu described, and the rice was fluffy and not overcooked. Some of the meat element of my husband's mixed grill was a little chewy and the bacon covering the chicken was a bit tough, but by and large, we couldn't justifiably have complained. The various sauces were supplied in small catering packs, but the vinegar came in one of those awkward pots with a stopper, a potential disaster where children are concerned. The children’s portions were quite large (from the cheaper menu) and the boys struggled to finish their meals, but amazingly, found room for an ice cream afterwards!

There were thirteen choices of dessert, from £3.35 to £4.99, which included some chocolatey dishes, cheesecake and apple pie, however all the adults except me (for research purposes only, of course) chose to eschew the tempting selection. My husband ordered the Belgian toffee waffle and vanilla ice cream for me, while taking the boys to the so-called ice cream factory, which was actually a none too clean soft ice cream dispenser, with three plastic canisters all containing Smarties, and all of which were broken. They ended up paying 20p each for a bag of seven M & M type sweets which was a bit of a rip off. After fifteen minutes, my waffle had not appeared, so we chased it up, and a further ten minutes passed before a rather wearisome member of staff arrived to tell us that there was a problem with the ice cream and would I like to choose something else at no extra cost? I declined the offer and we had the cost taken off the bill, which we had already paid.

Now, we were under no illusions as to what to expect from this kind of establishment, so I can’t really say that we came in for any surprises. There were four members of staff on duty that evening and they all looked and acted as though they’d rather be somewhere else. They were all very young, with the duty manager being no more than about 24, and I suspect that they are probably earning no more than the minimum wage, and receive minimal training, so it’s little wonder that they appear disinterested. When they first appeared, these types of eateries were innovative and just right for families with children; after all when I was a child, the nearest we got to being taken out for a meal was fish and chips in a seaside café at Southend; however I can’t help but feel that good service has been somewhat sacrificed in favour of commercial greed, and that the big companies are taking advantage of both staff and customers alike. On the basis of our experience, I’m sorry to say that there was nothing special about Brewsters which would make me want to return in the near future; there is more than enough good competition elsewhere.

Thank you for reading and for anybody who hasn’t worked out what the Ding chef referred to in the title is – it’s the person who puts the food in the microwave, then waits for it to go ‘Ding’, of course. (Complaints for that one will be redirected to my husband.)

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