Exterior of Miller & Carter Harrow

After having heard good things about Miller & Carter Steakhouse, most notably from Brogan Tate through her YouTube channel, her Instagram and her blog as well as another blogger called Emma from Ellemmablog (both visited their local Miller & Carter in Bournemouth on separate occasions), I decided to give it a try myself upon finding that my nearest branch is in Harrow in spite of it being quite some distance and two bus rides from where I live. Since I moved to my own flat I have eaten out less often than I used to due to cooking more of my own meals but with my 30th birthday coming up I decided to treat myself and book a table for lunchtime to try their fixed price lunch menu (2 courses for £10.95 or 3 courses for £13.95).

The menu including the fixed price lunchtime selection

I arrived a few minutes late for my reservation due to having been shopping to kill some time but when I was greeted by a waitress and I informed her of my reservation, she said I could sit anywhere since the restaurant wasn’t too busy (due to the fact it was a Friday lunchtime). I sat at a small table opposite the kitchen where the food was being served from. Shortly after I was seated I was greeted by my waiter who was friendly and endearing if a little inattentive at first and almost immediately took my order. I opted for the baked cheddar mushrooms as my starter, the steak and melted cheese brioche (with a £2.00 supplement) as my main, the Silverpail ice cream and home baked cookie for dessert and Diet Coke to drink.

Left: The kitchen was opposite my table. Right: Me looking at the menu.

Clockwise from top left: Silver bull sculpture beside my table; framed prints of bulls; black bull sculpture; me inside the ladies’ toilets.

The decor of the restaurant was very stylish and I liked the cow and bull-themed sculptures and artwork that adorned it. Even the toilets looked smart and were also clean. The ambience was cosy but I could easily hear other people’s conversations and laughter due to my suspected hyperacousis (sensitive hearing) as part of my autism but the background music wasn’t too loud and my seat was more comfortable than I thought it would be. My Diet Coke was already on the table when I returned to my table from the toilets. While I waited for my food to arrive I opened my birthday card from my grandad (I know it said 17th May on the envelope but I opened it early so sorry Grandad!) and it came with a gift card from the Co-Op, which was super generous of him to give it to me since my flat is above a Co-Op so thank you Grandad.

Left: Me raising my own toast to my soon-to-be 30th birthday. Right: My birthday card and Co-Op gift card from my grandad.

My starter arrived shortly after my drink arrived. It was piping hot, the mushrooms were well cooked and the cheese and the sauce was very tasty although the garlic ciabatta it came with was slightly burnt on one end.

Baked cheddar mushrooms

My main course also came quite quickly. I asked for the steak in my brioche to be cooked well done and although it was cooked to my liking there wasn’t as much of it in the brioche bun as I expected but at least it was delicious as were the onion loaf and the cheese. The skin-on fries were absolutely amazing but unfortunately my main cooled down quite quickly and I put it down to the air conditioning being on.

Steak and melted cheese brioche

I waited quite a while for the waiter to take my dessert order but at least it gave me a chance for my starter and main to digest. When he took my order I was only going to have the double chocolate ice cream with my cookie but because he said the dessert came with a free scoop I opted for one scoop each of double chocolate, strawberry and vanilla. The cookie and double chocolate ice cream were very chocolatey while the vanilla ice cream was lovely and creamy; however the strawberry ice cream didn’t taste quite as nice. The dessert was also drizzled with chocolate sauce. After my meal it took quite a while for a server to to take my payment and he walked away while I had the card reader in hand but returned when my payment was complete

.Cookie with Silverpail double chocolate, vanilla and strawberry ice creams

Overall in spite of the service slowing down after finishing my main course, another waitress laughing as she randomly came to my table to check the candle holder on my table (I wasn’t best amused by this) and the other diners around me reporting missing side orders to servers I enjoyed my food for the most part as well as the ambience and the decor of the restaurant. I might visit this restaurant again in the future.

Brogan’s Miller & Carter review: http://www.brogantatexo.co.uk/2017/04/miller-carter-review-bh2-leisure.html

Emma’s Miller & Carter review: http://ellemma.com/beauty/raise-the-steaks-review-of-miller-and-carter-bournemouth/