The Sutton Park Hotel, Birmingham

Sutton Park Hotel is a pub/restaurant (not a hotel as the title would have your believe). It is part of the Sizzling pubs chain.

Sutton Park Hotel - The Essential Information

1 Boldmere Road
Sutton Coldfield
B73 5UY

0121 362 4951

This pub is in a good location near some shops. The website states that it is in easy reach of Wylde Green, Erdington and New Oscott. We entered through an entrance at the car park. A few tables are located outside which is ideal for warmer evenings. Inside the pub, the layout is good and it is definitely more pub like than it is restaurant like in my opinion. There are various seating options for different sized parties who are dining at more casual seating for those wishing to simply have a drink.

The pub has a pleasant decor with wooden beams and stained glass window panels. The tables were clean and the pub was spacious. The pub is all on the flat so disabled diners can move around freely. Children and babies are catered for. A few amusement machines were dotted around and televisions showing sports channels were present. The toilets were clean and well stocked. We did find the pub to be a little noisy and it was very much like a Wetherspoons type pub.

Food On Offer

The website www.sizzlingpubs.co.uk has the full menu as well as any special offers such as Curry Night and Grill Night. A well displayed menu was on our table and clearly showed all the dishes on offer and how much everything cost. The food on offers is varied compared to many pubs but the Wetherspoons theme is still very much present. The food is very cheap. Many dishes can be increased to kingsize dishes or you can simply opt for a regular sized portion. Chicken shaker bags are available.

• Starters priced from £1.50 to £5.99 - 10 options including garlic bread, breaded mushrooms and sharing platters.
• Main courses priced from £3.19 to £9.59 - over 25 options ranging from burgers, steaks, various pasta dishes and salads to Indian combos, pies, sausage and mash and fish and chips. There is something for everyone and a range of sides are available.
• Vegetarian dishes priced from £3.79 - vegetarians are catered for with dishes such as vegetable korma, Quorn chilli, Quorn fillets, veggie burger and also salad and pasta dishes.
• Light bites priced from £2.59 - jacket potatoes and baguettes.
• Childrens meals priced at £2.99 or £4.50 including a drink and dessert - lots of options including sausages, BBQ chicken and scampi with chips, jacket potato or mash. Children can also opt for sides and pasta dishes. Puddings including chocolate sponge, custard, ice cream or jelly.
• Desserts priced from 99p to £4.99 - sundaes, ice cream, lemon ice cream cake, treacle pudding and lots more.

Sutton Park Hotel also has a varied range of drinks like many other pubs. The bar is well stocked with beer, spirits and soft drinks. We found bottled beer and alcopops to be expensive (around £3.00 a bottle) but wine is priced from £6.29 per bottle. The pub has special drinks offers including 4 shots of Sours for £5.00. Soft drinks were around £2.00 a pint.

Service

We arrived at the Sutton Park Hotel around 6pm and were seated straight away. The restaurant was fairly busy and there weren't many staff on so we had quite a wait at the bar to order food. The staff were friendly though. Food should be ordered and paid for at the bar and this was an easy enough process. Our cuttlery and condiments were brought promptly but we found that the food was quite slow to come out and dirty plates took a while to be cleared due to the lack of staff on shift.

Our Meal

During our recent trip to Birmingham, we wished to eat out for dinner on the first and second evening. The Sutton Park Hotel was recommended by gingelou (thanks again) and we decided to eat here for dinner after our long journey from Scotland. Whilst we had the car with us, we chose to get a taxi so my brother in law could have a drink and this cost £8.00 from the Streetly area - quite expensive.

The restaurant itself looked attractive from the outside. We were all very hungry by the time we arrived so had a quick look at the menu and ordered our meals. We didn't have any vegetarians dining with us but we did have our son so can comment on the childrens meal. The food, overall, I would say was fine for the price but nothing particularly outstanding. If you are after cheap grub and a drink, then the Sutton Park Hotel is perfectly fine for this purpose.

My brother in law and his fiancee aren't big on starters but did order a portion of garlic bread. It was a little crisp around the edges but apparently tasted fine and kept them going until their main course arrived. I love starters and opted for a bowl of buffalo chicken wings (straight from the grill, tasty chicken wings served with a BBQ dipping sauce). I received around 8 chicken wings but cannot say I was impressed. Whilst thoroughly cooked, the wings were tiny and had barely any meat on them. The BBQ sauce was nice and rich but the chicken was a big let down and I didn't really enjoy it.

My sons meal was not brought with the starters but did arrive 10 minutes after we had finished our starters. He wanted sausage and chips and we requested no gravy. He enjoyed the chips but wasn't so keep on the plump sausages as they were a little overcooked. He refuses to eat anything that looks remotely overcooked. I was spoiled for choice with what to order but settled for the 8oz rump steak (seasoned with salt and pepper and char grilled to order. Served with seasoned chips, fried onions and half a grilled tomato). This was priced cheaply at £5.79 and whilst I found it to be a bit too char grilled, it was cooked to my liking inside and wasn't chewy or fatty. I added a pot of Jack Daniels sauce to my order which was absolutely delicious! The chips were very tasty - thick and nicely fluffy inside and the sides were fresh and flavoursome. I really enjoyed my main course.

My fiance decided he wanted the Angus ultimate burger - a king size portion (burger with grilled bacon, melted cheese, BBQ sauce and onion rings) - this was served with chips. His burger was huge and there were two burgers in the bun. He couldn't finish it all but did enjoy it. It was priced well at £8.29 and the meat quality was excellent. My brother in law opted for a chicken tikka masala at £5.99 which was served with naan and rice. His portion was huge and enjoyed very much. He confirmed the sauce to be full of flavour and the rice fluffy and moist. My sister in law opted for a regular cheeseburger with chips priced at £4.29. She commented that the meat was nice but the bun was a little too hard for her liking. She had some coleslaw as a side and found it to be fresh and tasty.

Both myself and my sister in law opted for desserts and we had to go up and order them at the bar. Our son had ice cream included in his meal and it was the cheap, yellow ice cream but he enjoyed it. I personally fancied the sundae which contained Crunchie, Curly Wurly and Dairy Milk pieces but worried I may be ill afterwards so settled for the bramley apple pie at £2.99. Whilst I received a good sized portion, I found the base of the apple pie to be non existant. The apples pieces were lovely and sweet as was the cream and the portion was a pleasant way to finish my meal.

My sister in law decided to try the Millionaire shortbread cake with cream priced at £2.79. She really enjoyed this. It looked lovely and resembled a slice of cheesecake with various layers including caramel ice cream, chocolate ice cream and toffee sauce on a biscuit base. We all commented that the food, on the whole, was fine but nothing amazing. We did leave full up and managed to work some of it off during a 3 mile walk that evening!

Conclusion

I believe we spent around £65.00 in total in the Sutton Park Hotel. This included two starters, four main courses, two desserts, a childrens meal, two sides, two soft drinks and around 6 bottles of alcohol. This is a fair price for we got. If in the area again, I would happily pop in here for a cheap bite to eat but not for a special occasion or anything.

Overall 4 stars - cheap grub but not without its minor faults.

Thanks for reading :)