Sunday roast Toby Carvery

Crown vs. Toby?

Crown is cheaper (£4.29 for medium carvery, Mon-Sat, is a bargain, especially as you can (technically) have unlimited veg & potatoes). However, the meat portions are not particularly generous, and often one or more of the joints look unappetising. I would suggest the Half Roast Chicken at the same price, though it will involve a certain amount of de-boning.

My more limited experience of Toby is that the food is generally of a better quality than Crown, though it is £2 more per meal. I went to a Toby just before Christmas, and the Chef had already portioned out a number of servings of beef, which were quite generous (about 6 thick slices). The beef was juicy, although slightly too well cooked not to be chewy. The starter of Prawn & Crab Cocktail was poor (very little crab, and quite small overall).

I don't think either of them is near perfect. If you want maximum food for least money, the Chicken at Crown is a good bet. Otherwise, I think I probably prefer the slightly higher quality at Toby, though I'm not sure it is worth £2 extra.

I've found in more recent months Toby Carvery tend to fare better at their breakfast offerings instead of the meals in the afternoon/evening.

Interestingly enough Crown Carvery are also owned by Mitchell & Butlers whom also own Toby Carvery.

Quite a few Toby's near me, only one that i would recommend though. If you can find a Farmhouse Inns Carvery Pub, i feel these are far better than Toby's. Choice of size of carvery, starting at 4.95, new one opened near me recently, been 3 times now, excellent each time and good value for money for the medium plate at 6.95. Definitely no room for the ginormous Cakeaway desserts they do ! Plus they have a separate area for diners without children ! I have children but don't want to sit with a dozen 2 year olds when i eat out.

You can also get a carvery meal to takeaway.

http://www.farmhouseinns.co.uk/pubs

PasturesNew wrote: »

although they do a "meat free carvery" where you just get the veggies etc for £5.29 ("All your favourites from the carvery
deck - without the meat.").

On two occasions, this amounted to a plate of "roast" - ie deep fried potatoes and some kind of gravy for one of my lot.

They still charged full price.

We have a good Toby Carvery and I've been a very happy customer every time I've gone (in terms of food quality). I wouldn't expect 'haute cuisine' for £6.99 but its still delicious, never dried up and not watery like some places I've tried in the past. If anything was I'd ask for a replacement. One of the chefs did tell me that their carvery is one of the better ones, not all of them score so highly when reviewed/appraised. Its a nice treat for us and I always know we'll enjoy it. You get your food very quickly which is ideal for me (diabetic).

I have to be honest thought, I wouldn't go on a Sunday. I usually get some deal or other and always walk away wondering how they are making any money lol. My kids (who are both autistic and faddy eaters) adore the place.

We did go for Xmas dinner, which I did think was rather over priced (I'm mean, even though it was Xmas day and wage costs increase I still couldn't sit easy with nearly 10x what I normally pay for a meal). I've had worse Xmas meals but it still seemed over priced. For once I do have to say not all the starters were brilliant, and I couldn't really see where the extra money went, there wasn't much 'extra' about the meal. But I've had worse (particularly the last Xmas dinner I cooked myself for some reason it all went wrong after years of doing really nice ones, hence the reason for going to the Carvery lol). But its was £54 for an adult, so came to nearly £200 and I could almost buy a farm for that. I don't think we'll do it again.