Child friendly chow at Carluccios, (Carluccio's)

Member Name: fergusa

Product:	Carluccio's
Date:	08/06/09 (29 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Very Child friendly, Great food, Reasonably priced.

Disadvantages: Not widely across country.

We used to eat at Carluccios in Canary Wharf quite a lot, then we moved and had a baby and eating out stopped for a bit.

This weekend though we thought we'd treat ourselves and take a shopping trip to Tunbridge Wells, whilst there we stopped for lunch at Carluccios and I was really impresed with how family friendly it was. I never really paid any attention to this pre-baby, but it makes a huge difference to your experience (and that of other diners) if there is a little thought put into how families and non families can all eat happily amongst each other!

Firstly, we were greeted (after a smallish queue) by a vey professional and I must say quite handsome manager, who assured us that he had plenty of highchairs and showed us to an area towards the back of the restaurant which seemed to be the designated "small child" area. There was plenty of room for the highchair without fear of people tripping over baby and there was also room (away from the table) to park the buggy without having to collapse it.

This area had boxes of toys and drawing materials available and was also conveniently located to the baby change area.

Now, you may be thinking "but I don't want to sit in the Nursery section", we were happy to do so, but lots of parents, children and babies were sat in the general section aswell. I think they probably direct you to this area if you need a highchair, so if you have a small baby/toddler, but it's up to you.

The food was as consistently good as always. We had starters, (Mozzerella and tomato salad for Hubby, Calamari for me) Mains (Spaghetti alla vongole and Spicy sausage penne) a side salad, 2 glasses of wine and a bottle of Peroni lager. The bill before service came to £50 which I think is very reasonable. (Baby had food I had prepared already, not a problem for the restaurant).

Service was excellent, the handsome manager came by to check and chat at several convenient times and our waitress was efficient and pleasant. Food was served quickly but with a good gap between courses.

The restaurant was extremely busy, but it was a Saturday peak lunchtime and it didn't seem to affect service or detract from our enjoyment.

I used both the ladies toilet and the baby change, both of which were clean and serviced.

With the bill we were given 2 vouchers for a free bottle of wine with 2 main courses, valid till September. We'll definitely use these.

Summary: Top marks for a tasty lunch.