I went for dinner with my mum at The Hainton pub in Grimsby, which is one of the Crown Carveries. I had not been there for at least ten years if not longer, as I have only recently moved back to the town but I remember going there occasionally as a child and my mum told me you could get a really bargainous roast dinner from there. It was quite similar to how I remembered it from my childhood.

=== Location ===

This particular Crown Carveries is easily reachable for anyone driving from Grimsby or Cleethorpes. It is on Weelsby Road, just past the Peak's Park Way and there is a moderate sized car park in front of the pub. When I went this evening there were plenty of spaces available. I can imagine there might be more competition for spaces on a Sunday lunch time but generally the parking spaces should be sufficient. I walked there and as the area around there is mainly residential I would think a lot of the customers probably walk there.

=== Atmosphere and decor ===

The atmosphere is very typical old pub style, I would say it looks a bit dated but it is clean and quite welcoming. When you enter the bar is in a room on the left, and you see there is a cash machine there which charges for withdrawals. There are signs around the bar explaining the meal options and also a sign stating if they don't ask if you want a kingsized meal, you get your meal free. They are currently advertising a night with a physic from Yorkshire which is not really my cup of tea but you can see that there are things going on there. They also hold a weekly pub quiz on Thursdays.

When you go through to the main seating area there are plenty of tables, with some at the back being on a slightly raised level. The bar seemed a bit dark to me, but the main seating area is lighter as a door was open on the side to let in some fresh air and there are enough windows.

It has quite a family atmosphere as there were lots of families with babies and small children there on a Saturday evening.

The carvery area on the far side of the room is warm, really well stocked with loads of food and manned by friendly staff, so this gives a good atmosphere.

=== Service ===

You order your meal and drinks at the bar. We ordered a carvery meal and glass of red wine each and were served really quickly as it was quite quiet, with no queue. As we were being served a bigger group came to the bar, so it wasn't completely empty! The bar staff was friendly and polite. When you order a carvery meal you get a paper ticket which you hand in to the server at the carvery area when getting your food.

At the carvery area, the server I had came across as quite jolly. First they offer you a yorkshire pudding, which I took as they are one of the best parts of a roast dinner in my view. They then ask you what you want for your meat option. I had to ask him what the choices were because I hadn't been for so long as was not totally sure how it worked and he explained it to me in a friendly way with a good attitude and a smile. I didn't have to queue for the food at all when I went, at about 6:30 pm on a Saturday.

When we had finished eating someone came to clear our plates and also did this in a friendly and chatty way, making a bit of small talk.

=== Food and drink ===

You can get the carvery meal in regular size or king size. I took a normal size and I was not totally sure of the difference, which I assume is just a bigger plate and more meat slices given to you, but when I approached the carvery I saw the hugest yorkshire puddings I have ever clapped eyes on so I assume these are for the kingsize meals! Normal carveries get a fairly standard yorkshire pudding which was not stingy in size and tasted good. You then have a choice of gammon, turkey, beef, sausage or chicken pie. If you want, you can have a bit of all the different meats e.g. try a bit of pork, turkey and beef but you can't mix and match the sausage and pie with these. I was a bit undecided but I decided to get the chicken pie option and my mum had turkey. You can serve yourself the vegetables and sides, which include sweetcorn, swede, peas, carrots, green beans, cauliflower cheese, mashed potato and roast potato. Sometimes they have others such as red cabbage, normal cabbage, sprouts, but they did not have those ones on my visit. There is also gravy, cranberry sauce and some other sauces available.

I made the mistake, which I'm sure lots of people do, of putting too many of the first vegetables on my plate and not leaving room for everything. The plate is normal sized and not oversized, so you have to make sure you leave enough room on it. You can get a really massive portion here if that's what you want, as the veg and potatoes are not limited at all and you serve yourself. There is no risk of going hungry!

The food was all hot and is kept well heated while it is in the carvery area waiting for you to serve yourself.

The pie I had was really nice - basically like home comfort food that you would normally want to eat in winter, but since the weather is how it is, I quite fancied it now! It is made in a big tray and cut into slices, so it is not an individual pie fully enclosed in pastry but just has pastry on the top and bottom, with quite a thick crust at the back, and a filling of creamy chicken.

My mum was happy with her turkey and I also tried a bit of it. It tasted good and not too dry as is sometimes the risk with turkey.

The wine was also okay - nothing amazing but perfectly fine for a house red wine. I don't actually even know what type of wine it was as my mum just said red wine and they gave us some with no questions of which one!

=== Nutrion ===

The Crown Carveries website allows you to check the nutritional information, calories, fat content etc of your meal if you wish to do so. I have just seen that the piece of chicken pie I ate has an absolutely massive 639 calories in it, so I would say this is a place to avoid if you are on a diet and I don't think I would make a regular habit of eating at the carvery having seen that! Once you start adding the potatoes, yorkshire pud etc I am sure this meal would contain all the calories you need for the entire day. The turkey contains much fewer calories at 168 calories per 100g so that is definitely the healthy option. The gammon is not much worse at 193 calories per 100g and the beef is 246 calories per 100g. I'm not sure how meaningful those figues are though as I have no idea how many grams are served up onto the plate.

You can obviously make it healthier if you want as things like the yorkshire pudding are optional and you can control how much potato and veg you want.

I don't think it is too unhealthy if it is a meal I only have occasionally.

=== Cost and times ===

The carvery is open from 11:00 am to 9:30 pm.

These carvery dinners are a massive bargain at £3.99 each! It is £1.50 extra for the kingsize. In total my mum paid £12 something for the two dinners and two glasses of wine (nice of my mum to treat me!) so this is really good at about £6 per head! Even twice that would have seemed reasonable for a dinner and a glass of wine in my opinion.

If you want a desert you can get two courses for £5.49.

On a Sunday lunch time the carvery costs £7.49 or £3.99 for kids.

I have to say the prices here are really good value.

=== Over all ===

It was a nice roast dinner for a really cheap price and I would be happy to have it again. Normally when I go out to eat a carvery isn't the first type of food that would come to mind, as I would usually think of Indian, Thai, Italian or something else first, but as comfort food once in a while I do love a roast and I could see myself going to a Crown Carvery again, maybe a couple of times a year, and I would recommend it.