Toby Carvery

I find it slightly strange that other reviewers on this page have chosen to focus on a stag party (not really the venue's fault!) and a "long waite" (sic) caused by the chef creating a custom dish that actually sounded quite interesting!

I've visited the Kenton Bank Top Toby numerous times during the last 1-2 years with my family (elderly parents and two little boys). Although this value-for-money eatery is hardly the home of haute cuisine, it serves acceptable food that will appeal to most tastes, in reasonably ambient surroundings and with staff who are generally happy to help.

The Toby is handy for families with children. The food appeals to younger palates and you can often obtain a voucher that entitles the little dears to a free ice cream at the end of the meal.

The drink prices are reasonable, if not the lowest on the budget market.

Once when I visited, a main curry dish was missing from the usual weekday evening selection but I wouldn't castigate an establishment on the grounds of such a trivial oversight.

Toby - not just for mugs. :)

08.10.11 visted this pub today as had been before & had great meals during the week, We waited 55 minutes as it was busy but this was not a problem, We ordered the steak & ale pie which we had, had this on previous vists, The waitress told us there could be a futher waite as they were been cooked fresh,during this time as we were sitting we could see the floor manager directing staff and customer's to tables.

when the pies were ready we went up to carvery to collect them.

As I started to eat I had a spicey burning feeling in my mouth as did my husband,we asked the waitress about the pie's as in the past it had never tasted like this, she seemed taken aback when told & went to the kitchen to ask the staff,on her return she explained very well how the staff had run out of pie's that's why we had to waite, chef had made his own pie's from peppered steak, diced it & placed it in the dish with vegtables. Lovely if we had wanted this, we were also told that the peppered steak was used as chef had said that it was a better meat than the beef,good to know, still not what we ordered nor liked.

The waitress left us to speak to the floor manager who we saw disappear through the bar, after waiting 10 minutes we stood up to leave as no one was comming to apologies & we weren't going to eat, so my husband went to the bar to inform the staff that we would not be paying and left. Shame the chef got creative we used to like eating here, now we can't trust that the waite is worth the quality of the food sereved.

This restaurant itself was nice. We visited one Saturday lunchtime in early July. The food was good and the atmosphere inside was busy but not too busy that we had to wait too long in the queue for food. It was good value for money and I would certainly visit a Toby Carvery again but unfortunately due to the behaviour of other "customers" I would not go back to the Bank Top Toby Carvery in Kenton ever again and sadly I could not recommend it to anyone else. When we visited it was a Saturday lunchtime at around 12 noon. When we went in there was a large STAG PARTY of men outside. They were being really loud, shouting, laughing and swearing etc in the beer garden beside the front door. We had our two year old child with us and I felt a bit intimidated as we had to walk through them to get to the front door. They were VERY drunk and it wasn't just the odd mild swear word it was really bad swearing with loads of sexual references etc. When we left after our meal I could not believe my eyes. It was around 1pm on a bright sunny day. The Stag party were still there and their behaviour had got even worse. One of the stag party was sitting on the ground outside putting his fingers down his throat and vomiting everywhere just outside the front door of the restuarant. Another member of the group was being sick in one of the floral displays at the front door and the rest were even more drunk and loud than when we went in. This kind of behaviour is when you might expect to see in a busy city centre at 2am in the morning outside pubs and clubs but not outside a family restaurant in broad daylight. Worse still as we were leaving we noticed two other members of the STAG party urinating on people's cars in the carpark. It was a real disgrace. I am not against people enjoying themselves but the behaviour of these louts was just too much. The Toby carvery should ban Stag parties if they appear drunk so that everyone else can what the restaurant has to offer in peace.

Excellent value for money, good friendly service, well worth the visit for Sunday lunch. Be prepared to wait 45 minutes as this is a very hectic day. We also call in through the week when it is quiet. Occasionaly we have vouchers from a national newspaper. Ideal saving when this is for a family of four.