I've been thinking about starting a Sunday Roast review series for a while. It's a topic I often see come up on our local Facebook group page and I find it interesting hearing people's opinions on where the best local roast can be found. It's definitely a subjective thing so I thought a detailed series of reviews with photos and our opinions could be useful for locals (and visitors) looking for a place to spend a lazy Sunday lunchtime enjoying a good roast. We've already sampled a few local Sunday Roasts which have been recommended to us and found varied options so depending on what you're after, there's bound to be one you'd enjoy.
The first to feature in my new series is Ringles Cross pub who invited us to review their Sunday Roast for a feature in my Uckfield News column as they are listed in the Uckfield Directory.
The first to feature in my new series is Ringles Cross pub who invited us to review their Sunday Roast for a feature in my Uckfield News column as they are listed in the Uckfield Directory.
We love going out for Sunday lunch because it means no time spent prepping and no clearing up! Perfect lazy Sunday territory. We went along to Ringles Cross and had a lovely meal and the twins loved playing in the play area at the back of the car park. You may have already seen their awesome climbing frame as I took a few photos of Priya's new dress there for our review of Honest Miracle.
We arrived at 12:30 and went to the bar before being shown to our reserved table. We were directed to the specials on a blackboard and menus on our table but we already knew we wanted the roasts. The options were gammon or beef and we opted for one of each and beef for the kids. Nik ordered at the bar, he had a pint of Harvey's and I had a glass of Malbec and milk for the kids. As they'd already seen the swings when we parked, the twins were desperate to get out and play so we said we'd just go to the swings while we waited for our food. Nik came out to join us but someone from the bar kindly came to fetch us when our food was ready which was pretty quickly.
It was great to have something to occupy the kids while waiting for our food, even though it wasn't a long wait. The climbing frame is impressive with lots of sections, the swings being Priya's favourite!
When we headed back inside, I was delighted to see a huge, fresh Yorkshire pudding on top of each of our plates! I love Yorkshires but sometimes they're too dry/overdone/cold having been prepped in advance for carveries. As the roasts are prepared to order, the Yorkshires are hot and still taste fresh. They were perfect with a crispy edge but a nice stodgy bottom. Yum!
As for the rest of the meals, we all had a good sized portion (the kids' Yorkshires were as big as ours!) with a couple of slices of meat, plenty of well cooked veg and a good puddle of gravy. We had carrots, cabbage and red cabbage, roast potatoes and what I'm pretty sure was mashed parsnip. They were all delicious and although the potatoes weren't as good as Nik's (not many are!), we really liked them.
The beef was well done but not dry, it was tender and very tasty. Nik's gammon was also good, not too salty and with a subtle smokey flavour. We were asked if we would like any extra sauces with our meal but I already had some horseradish and enough gravy so we were happy.
After dinner we asked if we could have dessert in the garden and they were happy to bring our desserts out which was great as the kids were able to play when they were done with their ice-cream, giving us a precious few minutes of peace to enjoy our own puds.
The kids had vanilla ice-cream, I had sticky toffee pudding with cream and Nik had the banoffee cookie cake. The portions were huge, we asked for 1 scoop only for the twins but Nik got two scoops with his banoffee thing and I had a jug of cream with my sticky toffee pud. The cookie cake was supposed to have a banoffee centre but had an overall banana flavour which we weren't overly keen on and it was quite sickly sweet but the sticky toffee pudding was LOVELY, moist and tasty with a good amount of sauce as well as cream.
The climbing frame has two picnic tables built in underneath which provides shaded areas for the kids to eat so it was more of an adventure for them to eat at their own table too.
Service was friendly and efficient, there were quite a few other diners including a small party but we were served quickly and asked if we were enjoying our food. The atmosphere was pleasant with the place being fairly busy. The Ringles is somewhere we'd happily spend an afternoon chilling out. The kids loved the play area and we managed to eat our dessert in peace. We could sit back and relax knowing they couldn't get out into the car park. We also found some brambles behind the climbing frame so the kids were delighted to get a second pudding!
Ringles Cross pub is clearly child friendly with such an awesome enclosed play area which is far away from the main pub area so we were less concerned about the kids disturbing other diners. Despite being far away at the back of the car park, they had no problem bringing our desserts out to us which made life much easier with the twins desperate to get back to the swings! There were just a few outdoor tables but plenty of shade available and lots of space for the kids to run about as well as climbing and swinging on the climbing frame. They have high chairs but don't have a changing table yet (something we've noticed in quite a few local places) but they do have plans to install one which is great. There's not much worse than having to kneel on a public toilet floor to change your baby, luckily we didn't need to this time.
The Sunday roasts are £9.95 and puddings were £4.50. They have an offer for kids to eat free with a paying adult at weekends too so it's really great value!
We've already said we'd go back for their roast again and we definitely want to try their pick 'n' mix burger menu, I fancy a burger with brie and bacon, we might actually go tonight before the Uckfield Carnival procession.
We arrived at 12:30 and went to the bar before being shown to our reserved table. We were directed to the specials on a blackboard and menus on our table but we already knew we wanted the roasts. The options were gammon or beef and we opted for one of each and beef for the kids. Nik ordered at the bar, he had a pint of Harvey's and I had a glass of Malbec and milk for the kids. As they'd already seen the swings when we parked, the twins were desperate to get out and play so we said we'd just go to the swings while we waited for our food. Nik came out to join us but someone from the bar kindly came to fetch us when our food was ready which was pretty quickly.
It was great to have something to occupy the kids while waiting for our food, even though it wasn't a long wait. The climbing frame is impressive with lots of sections, the swings being Priya's favourite!
When we headed back inside, I was delighted to see a huge, fresh Yorkshire pudding on top of each of our plates! I love Yorkshires but sometimes they're too dry/overdone/cold having been prepped in advance for carveries. As the roasts are prepared to order, the Yorkshires are hot and still taste fresh. They were perfect with a crispy edge but a nice stodgy bottom. Yum!
As for the rest of the meals, we all had a good sized portion (the kids' Yorkshires were as big as ours!) with a couple of slices of meat, plenty of well cooked veg and a good puddle of gravy. We had carrots, cabbage and red cabbage, roast potatoes and what I'm pretty sure was mashed parsnip. They were all delicious and although the potatoes weren't as good as Nik's (not many are!), we really liked them.
The beef was well done but not dry, it was tender and very tasty. Nik's gammon was also good, not too salty and with a subtle smokey flavour. We were asked if we would like any extra sauces with our meal but I already had some horseradish and enough gravy so we were happy.
After dinner we asked if we could have dessert in the garden and they were happy to bring our desserts out which was great as the kids were able to play when they were done with their ice-cream, giving us a precious few minutes of peace to enjoy our own puds.
The kids had vanilla ice-cream, I had sticky toffee pudding with cream and Nik had the banoffee cookie cake. The portions were huge, we asked for 1 scoop only for the twins but Nik got two scoops with his banoffee thing and I had a jug of cream with my sticky toffee pud. The cookie cake was supposed to have a banoffee centre but had an overall banana flavour which we weren't overly keen on and it was quite sickly sweet but the sticky toffee pudding was LOVELY, moist and tasty with a good amount of sauce as well as cream.
The climbing frame has two picnic tables built in underneath which provides shaded areas for the kids to eat so it was more of an adventure for them to eat at their own table too.
Service was friendly and efficient, there were quite a few other diners including a small party but we were served quickly and asked if we were enjoying our food. The atmosphere was pleasant with the place being fairly busy. The Ringles is somewhere we'd happily spend an afternoon chilling out. The kids loved the play area and we managed to eat our dessert in peace. We could sit back and relax knowing they couldn't get out into the car park. We also found some brambles behind the climbing frame so the kids were delighted to get a second pudding!
Ringles Cross pub is clearly child friendly with such an awesome enclosed play area which is far away from the main pub area so we were less concerned about the kids disturbing other diners. Despite being far away at the back of the car park, they had no problem bringing our desserts out to us which made life much easier with the twins desperate to get back to the swings! There were just a few outdoor tables but plenty of shade available and lots of space for the kids to run about as well as climbing and swinging on the climbing frame. They have high chairs but don't have a changing table yet (something we've noticed in quite a few local places) but they do have plans to install one which is great. There's not much worse than having to kneel on a public toilet floor to change your baby, luckily we didn't need to this time.
The Sunday roasts are £9.95 and puddings were £4.50. They have an offer for kids to eat free with a paying adult at weekends too so it's really great value!
We've already said we'd go back for their roast again and we definitely want to try their pick 'n' mix burger menu, I fancy a burger with brie and bacon, we might actually go tonight before the Uckfield Carnival procession.
Olive Dragonfly Rating - Ringles Cross Pub Sunday Lunch
Food & Drink - 8/10
Atmosphere - 8/10
Service - 9/10
Value - 10/10
Overall - 9/10
We received our lunch on the house in return for this review, as always all opinions are my own and honest.
2 comments:
Thanks for this! I was just searching for somewhere to have a roast today and this popped up! I'm going to book it.
Nicola
Ah, I'm so glad we could help Nicola! :) Let me know how you found it, I hope you had a nice lunch?
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