A couple of weeks back we'd arranged to drop my mum and dad off at the theatre in Birmingham so they didn't have to drive. Birmingham is a good 50 minute drive so we decided that whilst they spent a couple of hours seeing a show (Blues Brothers) we'd find a nice restaurant for a bite to eat. We finally settled on Miller and Carter in the Mailbox as it had some good reviews.
Our order was swiftly taken and we didn't have to wait too long for food which was good as I starving. We ordered the baked camembert sharing starter and also the baked cheddar mushrooms (cheese fest going on!)
Mr C tucked into the mushrooms first only to find they were cold. You can see from the photo below that cheese hadn't even been melted, the bowl was even cold! We informed our waiter who apologised and took them away. Surely the chef or even the waiter could see they were not cooked properly? He returned five or so minutes later with a bowl of proper melted cheesy mushrooms, and hooray they were hot.
Whilst we were waiting we made a start on the camembert. This wasn't wonderfully hot either which was really disappointing. Surely something 'baked' in a hot oven must come out of the oven HOT. I'm a real stickler for hot food, it has to be hot for me to enjoy it but we decided to just dig in and eat it as we only had limited time, oh yeah, and I was hungry.
The trio of breads and the plum chutney were delicious.
Oh yeah just look at all that gooey-ness!
I wanted the samphire salmon for my main but they'd run out so I opted for the beer battered cod, I didn't really fancy anything else for some reason and neither of us were in the mood for steak. Mr C chose the chilli, garlic and rosemary sea bass.
My fish looked a little anaemic but was tasty and I polished it all off. Mr C said his fish was slightly overcooked but enjoyed it. It came with crushed potatoes under the fish but then strangely there was just one whole new potato that sat on the side. Why would you put one measly spud on the plate? Did they just forget to crush that one? Who knows.
Mr C ordered a second espresso which we had to chase twice and I ordered another regular glass of wine. They brought me a large, which of course I was charged for.
We didn't bother with dessert as we were quite full after all the bread and cheese.
We waddled out of the restaurant and back through the mailbox to the car. I had to drop these photos in as I hope they'll make you laugh as much as they do me, although you probably had to be there to really see how funny it was.
They're obviously doing some work around the mailbox stores and there's various artwork and advertising posters adoring the walls so Mr C couldn't resist acting like a bit of an idiot, posing like a model, hmmmm........don't call us, we'll call you!!!
The funniest ones were the homestyle posters on the walls. They were at waist level so he couldn't resist acting like a fool, pretending he was in the house sitting on the stool........
........and on the chair. I howled so much at this one because it really looks like he's sitting down in that home!!!
After giggling around like a pair of teenagers we went to collect my parents and head home.
It was nice to get out on a 'kind of' date night as we've not done that for so long, it's just a shame the food wasn't the best, kind of disappointing. I wish it could have been a better review but I have to be honest.
Have you visited the restaurants in the Mailbox? Which one is your favourite?
I haven't been to the Mailbox but I've wanted to go, however after reading this I think this restaurant needs to work on their customer service! Doesn't sound like a great experience although I was drooling at the baked Camembert... Yum. Xx
ReplyDeleteSarah | seriouslyshallow.co.uk
Yes, it's a shame really, we still had a good night though xx
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