It was a busy time for dining out that weekend, to celebrate yet another family Birthday we were invited to go to Taybarns for Sunday lunch last Sunday (25th April), I've only every been once before and my overwhelming memory was the disgusting Tomato sauce they use, upon first tasting it I thought it was off, second taste confirmed that it was not off, just rank!
Anyway I decided on this occasion I would steer clear of the tomato sauce and so I was looking forward to going again to see what had changed in the 18 months since I'd previously been. Taybarn's in Coventry is located on the Cross Point Business Park, at Junction 2 of the M6 right next to the Showcase cinema. That means its easy to get to with plenty of free parking, just what you need for a leisurely Sunday lunch.
What I do like about Taybarns is the distinctive building, it's nice to see something that doesn't look like it was designed by Lego engineers to be installed in 20 minutes from a flat pack and looks well built. The actual decor inside is quite nice as well and it is fairly well laid out, if not a little cramped in terms of the sheer number of tables they have shoe horned into the building, it seems a bit over the top to have quite this many tables, especially as for a lot of our meal the section where we were seated was only about 60% full at most. The other thing that I like is that the front of house staff seem incredibly friendly, always willing to help and look after any issues you may have. Some of the staff behind the counter could do with learning a thing of two from the front of house staff.
Upon arrival the staff were welcoming, although we did queue for about 10 minutes to get served at the tills and be allowed into the dining area, there were only a few people in front of us and the place wasn't full by any means, so I'm not sure why this was. What wasn't quite as welcoming was the smell of grease in the entrance area, the smell was overwhelming and made me feel quite sick which somewhat killed my appetite.
We were seated at the far end of the seating area in a quiet section, as we had prebooked a table (normally you just pick a table), it was away from the chaotic main area and I actually quite liked this quieter area, it made the place feel a lot smaller than it actually is and quieter, although there is no getting away from the background hum of activity and canteen like atmosphere.
The selection is great and really cannot be faulted, from a salad bar to a full roast dinner and most things in between, they had burgers, several types of curry, roast chicken pieces, soup and bread rolls, and a selection of 4 or 5 desserts including some kind of sponge pudding, Carrot Cake, Chocolate cake and Cheese cake (they are big on cakes it would seem), and all the extras to go with them like cream, ice-cream, custard and chocolate sauce.
The issue here is quality, I decided as it was Sunday lunchtime I would go for the roast dinner, I had Turkey, there were 2 meats and I think the other one was gammon, there was a selection of a bout 4 vegetables, including cauliflower cheese, carrots, as well as roast potatoes, new potatoes and Yorkshire puddings, plus other things I forget. The moment I tasted the first mouthful I was transported back 25 years to school dinners, that's the quality level you are getting from most things here, and so please go with that in mind. The selection is varied but the quality never gets above school canteen levels in any area. Whilst you may say well what's wrong with that I should remind you that if you took a family of 4, with 2 children under 10 you would be paying out around £26 plus drinks for Sunday lunch, this doesn't sound very cheap to me, especially with the quality of food on offer.
Pricing is £8.92 per head for adults, plus £2 for your soft drink (with unlimited refills)at Sunday lunch times, pricing in the day time in the week is less, but so is the selection and evening pricing is different again, check before going.
In summary I don't think I'd go back again in a hurry, food never gets above canteen standards, looks freshly cooked but I'd guess most of it was frozen to start with, mixed staff performance - those behind the counter were generally poor. So if your appetite is big and your expectations on food standard not high then this could be your ideal venue, if you want quality cooked food at a good price then I'd look elsewhere.
So the scores are as follows:
Service 2/5 (10 minute wait on arriving & mixed staff performance)
Speed 2.5/5 (dishes often empty on buffet)
Food 2.5/5 (canteen style at best)
Price/Value 3/5 (definitely a quantity over quality offering)
Front of house appearance 4.5/5
Accessibility 4/5
Overall: 18.5/30
So if you want to check them out you can find them all their details at:
http://www.taybarns.com/home/location-finder/restaurants/coventry
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