Table Table The Hunsworth Bradford Review
Table Table: The Hunsworth
Bradford
Reviewed by Pamela Wright
Today we went to eat at The Hunsworth – just off the M606 roundabout in Cleckheaton, Bradford. I called the pub about 11am this morning on the off chance to see if I could reserve a table for 7 people for 3pm, they didn’t have any tables at that time but said they could fit us it at 2:30pm if that was suitable. I was quite impressed that we could reserve a table especially with it being a Sunday and close to Christmas as we have tried to reserve tables in the past at other pubs/restaurants and been told no.
When we pulled into the carpark I noticed that it was next to a hotel, my heart sank as I automatically link hotels next to pubs as cheap cheerful quick table turn around places.
When we got inside the pub I was really surprised – I had quickly looked at them on the website to get an idea of the type of food they offered and what times it was served etc… – its advertised as a family pub so I excepted it to be “okay” but when we walked inside I was really shocked as the pub was really lovely. We were immediately greeted by a member of staff who asked if we had reserved a table – I told her we had but we were 20 minutes early – she asked us to wait a minute and checked – she came back and told us the table was clear but they were just making it up so if we would like to wait in the bar area she will come and let us know when it was ready. We were literally sat for no more than 5 minutes when she came to show us to our table.
The area we were seated in was really lovely – the pub is quite open but also has smaller cordoned off booths which make you feel like you have your own little room without being cut off from the other people – we had what felt like our own room with a big round table and 7 seats – my eldest said she felt posh. We were asked if this table was okay, once we told her yes she said that Dan would be looking after us and would be over in a minute to take our drink orders.
Dan turned up introduced himself and took our drinks order. He told us about the different menu options available as they were running a carvery, a Christmas menu and their normal menu, he returned with our drinks and asked if we were ready to order our food which we were.
I ordered a chicken burger meal (£9.79) my meat loving husband ordered the mixed grill (£13.99), we ordered 5 children’s meals – they were £3.99 each which include a starter and main or a main and dessert, the main comes with 2 side options, we went for 2 x burger, chips & coleslaw, 1 x spaghetti bolognaise, chips and garlic bread, 1 x pizza, chips and coleslaw & 1 x burger, chips and beans. From ordering food to it being served was just under 20 minutes which was quite good really as the pub looked quite full. When the food came out we were told to be “careful” with the plates as they may be hot – I touched the plates and they were warm enough to keep the food warn but not hot enough to burn any little fingers (which makes a nice change as a few pubs bring out scolding hot plates with children’s meals which have clearly just come out a microwave or been sat on a hot plate keeping warm).
I didn’t really expect much from the children’s meals at that price but I was really shocked when they came out as they had gone to the same effort for them as they had with the adults meals and they weren’t the usually tiny portions we have been served in the past as other pubs (I think our 3 year old twins could have shared 1 children’s meal between them) – the spaghetti bolognaise came in its own dish with the chips/garlic bread separate, I had a taste of one of the burgers and they were really nice – I would have ordered one for myself if I had known they would be that nice, they were nothing like the cheap stuff I have seen my children be served in the past. My eldest ordered the pizza and I expected some cheap looking microwave thing to come out on her plate but it looked lovely like it had been freshly made and she said it tasted ace. My husband really enjoyed his mixed grill (which came with peppercorn sauce as standard and not as an extra) and my chicken burger was really lovely too (I’m quite fussy with my chicken).
When we had finished they cleared the table and asked us if we would like any desserts or coffee – we ordered some sundae’s for the children, I asked if I could be cheeky and order a 99p children’s sundae for myself. We ordered 3 of the chocolate brownie sundaes and 3 of the sweet sundaes. They were out within minutes. When they came out the chocolate ones came out in a sundae dish which we expected but although the sweet sundaes came out in the same dish, they came with 3 little dishes on the side with different toppings so they could make their own – my 3 eldest loved these.
The whole bill came to £58.82 which also included 5 orange cordials, 2 pints of lager and 1 pint of lager shandy.
With a big family it’s hard trying to find places to take the children where we can all go to eat and please everyone without breaking the bank. I’m definitely a firm believer that you get what you pay for but eating out at The Hunsworth today has shown me that you can actually find places to eat that are affordable without sacrificing on quality. This will definitely be on my list of family friendly places to eat in future. The menu is quite impressive to say that they also offer a full carvery option too. We have been to pubs that do carvery and pubs that do a set menu and to say that this pub offers both options it runs extremely well and efficiently.
The only negative (and it’s not really a negative to be honest) if that the pictures of the food on the menus don’t do them justice and don’t come close to showing how nice the quality of the food that is served actually is.
This has to be one of the few places we have eaten that the food actually looks better when served than it does in the pictures.
Rating: 5+/5 
For more information, to view menus or to book a table at The Hunsworth click here.
