I called at Miller and Carter to celebrate my birthday, after a bad experience with their Manchester - King Street location, I decided to finally give them another chance due to an improved menu and the fact the Wilmslow location has always looked stunning in a grand old building with car park facilities, opposite the train station (Only 20-25 minutes into Manchester city centre!)
The staff were fantastic and always seemed happy to help, my group did get there a little early and they didn't mind sitting them down with drinks even an hour before I arrived and the table was booked for, obviously, they wouldn't be able to do this during peak/busy times but it was nice they offered this. I did mention it was my birthday on the reservation, they didn't seem to acknowledge that but it is easy to miss these things in the notes, and the staff did seem friendly so it likely was the case of forgetting rather than being malicious and not caring.
The restaurant had a relaxed, chilled and comfortable vibe, I loved sitting next to the radiator which was perfect on a cold winter's evening. My only criticism of the ambience was it was really dark, to the point where I had to lower my phone's screen brightness significantly as it was straining my eyes.
There was a lack of vegetarian options, so one of my guests who isn't a meat-lover had to settle for fish and chips for her main but she did enjoy it. On the other hand, the gluten-free menu had many choices, in terms of different steak, meat and fish dishes.
For my starter, I went for the scallops, I didn't enjoy the potatoes with this dish as they seemed to have something in them which meant they weren't as smooth as I would have liked my mashed potatoes, the scallops I didn't enjoy but I won't mark them down on that as this was the first time I ever tried scallops, and it'd be unfair otherwise.
I ordered a Long Island Ice Tea to drink, I love how unlike other places (some of them even charge double the price), it tasted so good, and it looked good,t this is down to using household names and good brands in the ice tea, including Kettel One Vodka, Bacardi Rum and Pepsi Max, considering this was £6.75 I was especially pleased, considering a week earlier I had paid double the price for an awful, bitter drink which was also supposed to be a Long Island Ice Tea, so they did a good job here.
I went for the chicken dish as my main course and I really enjoyed it, the chicken was cooked and seasoned perfectly, and I loved the dauphinoise potatoes, they were cooked perfectly again and this is such a simple dish but it seems to get right, I've had many issues where they were bland, greasy and inedible, sometimes even with hard potatoes from other restaurants or as a part of a ready meal, and that wasn't the case here. I would have liked more of them, as good as the chicken was I found there was too much chicken compared to the other parts of the menu. The gravy/dipping pot was nice, but it was rich so again I wouldn't want too much of it.
The food is a little high-end, but it was worth it to celebrate a special occasion, this isn't a typical restaurant to come to regularly though, but still with good quality food it is nice to come to, especially as the loyalty scheme makes it more affordable, just for downloading the app I was given a free glass of fizz (Normally £4.40) on my first visit.
It is also a shame that the chips/fries are fried in the same oil as gluten-containing items (some Miller and Carter locations have separate friers), it's so frustrating, as good as the dauphinoise potatoes are, I wouldn't really want them with a steak, it's a shame they haven't invested in a separate frier yet and I strongly hope they consider it in the future, due to the price of the steaks I really would expect to have chips with it really.
4* - I had a good dining experience, this is one of my favourite places to eat in Wilmslow, after having multiple bad dining experiences on my past visits to the Cheshire East town, it was refreshing to finally have an experience of good food on a trip to Wilmslow and I will look forward to returning, it restored my faith in Miller and Carter. read more