I have been cooped up in the apartment for awhile, so I suggested we get out for dinner this weekend... also tired of doing dishes! Mr. Snarky did some research and found The Toby Inn. If you haven't driven the road between Bolton and Edgworth, it may be a bit intimidating, not to mention the state of the road. Of course we were doing this at night in some pretty nasty rain and wind. I imagine during the summer or even during the day, the views from The Toby Inn are amazing. There is parking on both sides of the road and outdoor seating.
On their website, they recommended reservations, so we did make a reservation. I don't know if it was really needed because even though it was fairly busy, there were a fair number of tables that were empty with no reserved signs on them. When you enter there is a bar area with some seating for those either waiting or just wanting a drink. That area seems quite trendy. We were led through to the dining area with a table right next to the window. I am sure when there is light, it provides an amazing view! It certainly looked like there were a fair few couples having romantic dinners, although there were just as many groups and families enjoying their dinners as well.
There are specials, however, there are only two places they are written, so make sure to take a gander before you get to the table. The specials looked quite nice, but did seem in a different league from some of the dishes on the main menu. There is quite a variety of dishes on the menu, so it would be good for groups as there is something for everyone. There are usual pub dishes, pizza, a grill menu, and a number of seafood items on the specials menu. As we were looking at the menu, there were a couple of waitresses that stopped at our table to take our drink order... so it was a bit confusing as it was a different one each time.
For starters, I decided on one from the specials board: smoked haddock with poached egg. Mr. Snarky decided on the vegetable soup as he didn't want something that would fill him up since he decided on the Mixed Grill as a main. Mr. Snarky's vegetable soup came out first and it took a bit longer for my starter to come out. While we were waiting, Mr. Snarky pointed out that there seemed to be a lot of waitresses, making rounds around the dining room and they didn't seem to have enough to do, even though our dishes came out one by one instead of together. Eventually my starter came out and it looked quite nice. The haddock was a lovely thick piece on a bed of spinach. It was very nice. Mr. Snarky didn't say much about his vegetable soup, but did give me a taste of the homemade bread which he was questioning whether it was homemade or not. It tasted fine, but the consistency suggests that it wasn't kneaded enough or didn't have enough time to raise.
Between our dishes, we were discussing the feel of the place... couldn't quite pin down what they are going for, but I think Mr. Snarky described it best when he said it had a traditional feel about it. To be fair, with the waitresses constantly making rounds it felt a bit weird and while in theory it might be great, it didn't seem to be as organized as it could have been. Again, Mr. Snarky's Mixed Grill came out first... actually, the chips came first. A few minutes later, the rest of his food appeared. A few minutes later, my food appeared. It is just a strange method of bringing out the food, one by one as it is finished instead of waiting for the entire table to be finished.
The amount of food was quite generous, in fact I was struggling by the end of dinner and had to give dessert a miss. The lamb shank (called Lamb Henry on the menu) was very tender and delicious! I was a bit worried about the sauce, it was a red currant and mint sauce, but it was actually quite good. They did offer more mint sauce when they brought out my food, but I have never been a fan of mint sauce, so what was already in the sauce was enough. The one thing on my plate that I wasn't expecting and didn't particularly enjoy was the carrot mash. When I tasted it, I actually thought it was supposed to be Sweet Potato Mash. I think if they changed that, I would have eaten everything on the plate. However, I noticed others that had the carrot mash on their plate didn't eat it either.
Mr. Snarky's Mixed Grill looked like a proper meat feast with roasted tomatoes, a couple of button mushrooms, a fried egg, and of course the chips. I did have one of the chips and they were delicious. We did spend just under 50 quid on dinner (no alcohol) and did get a fair amount of food. Most of my food was really delicious and to be honest, I would really like to go back during the summer, sit outside, and enjoy the view. Oh... they don't take American Express cards, but they take everything else! read more
