Review of 'Miller & Carter Steakhouse (Crewe)'
It was my birthday and, as per custom, it was up to me to decide where I wanted to eat. Leaving this somewhat to the last minute and swayed by recent conversations regarding not having had a steak for quite some time I opted for a local restaurant that we pass regularly driving from our town to nearby Crewe: Miller & Carter. Well, to be sure, it is a chain with 126 restaurants in the UK (mostly in England) but it fits the bill as a steakhouse…I am not one who believes that steak is the be-all and end-all of fine dining nor do we often seek it out preferring instead to dine on chicken or pork but I do enjoy a well prepared steak.
Our local branch is in the middle of a small grove of trees off the Nantwich road midway between Nantwich and Crewe. It very much has the vibe of a gastro-pub but in a slightly more regimented way with it's standard (chain) menu. There is a large bar near the main entrance but the rest of the space is divided into separate dining areas. On a raining, dull Sunday evening it was not terribly busy and, offered our choice of table we chose one in the front window overlooking…the car park.
We were given two menus to pick from, the standard menu and the “Sunday Set Menu” (£35.50 for three courses). A brief look at both showed that most of what we wanted would be covered by the set menu so chose from there. It is divided into “Starters”, “The Steak Experience” (common to all of their menus), “Mains” and, of course, “Desserts”. There are some supplements here and, of course, alcohol suggestions. They also have a “Sharing Board” at £67.95 each but we gave that a miss (basically, a Sunday roast with all the trimmings).
To start I opted for the “Salt & Pepper Calamari” (“Crispy fried squid, oak-smoked garlic & lemon aioli dip”), being a sucker for well prepared calamari. In this case, it was well prepared, not over fried, quite tender (not chewy) though the portion was quite small looking at bit sparse on the plate. I did not get any smoky flavour from the dip but was a nice accompaniment.
My companion opted for the (slightly) heathier “Spiced Cauliflower Wings” (“Asian-style, crispy fried, spiced cauliflower, Som Tam dipping sauce”) which she found quite tasty - Not overcooked, still a bit crunchy, beautifully spiced and full of flavour.
We both opted for “The Steak Experience” as our main, being, of course, in a steakhouse. This is what Miller & Carter have to say about this: “All of our steaks are served with parsley butter (+50kcal) or our signature butter (+48kcal), balsamic-glazed tomato*, onion loaf, your choice of steak sauce, lettuce wedge dressing and side.” The lettuce wedge was a quarter head of lettuce and quite tasty with my opting for a “garlic mayonnaise & Grana Padano” dressing while my companion opted for the lighter “classic vinaigrette” (there were also “bacon & honey mustard”, “long Clawson stilton & blue cheese” and “spicy burnt chili & crispy onions”). I could have done with a bit more dressing but otherwise quite nice indeed.
There were a number of choices for the steak and we both opted for the “50 day aged ribeye 8oz” (for completeness, the other options were “30 Day Aged Rump 9oz (GF)”, “50 Day Aged Sirloin 8oz (GF)”, “30 Day Aged Fillet 8oz (GF)” (£8 supplement), “30 Day Aged Sirloin 12oz (GF)” (£8 supplement) and “30 Day Aged Ribeye 12oz (GF)” (£8 supplement). They also advised as to the best way the steak should be served, I opted for “medium rare” despite being told the best was “medium”, choosing to air on the side of caution (sometimes a medium can be WAY over-done). For the sauce we both chose the “three peppercorn sauce” which was, surprisingly, very bland being more cream than pepper with little kick. The other sauces we could have picked were “beef dripping sauce”, “stilton & white port sauce”, “rich red wine sauce”, and “bone marrow béarnaise”.
The steak was tender and very juicy as well as cooked exactly to what we had specified. It was slightly chewy but this is to be expected and my companion had to slice away a bit of extra sinew as she really dislikes the texture. The “signature” butter (we ignored the parsley butter) added a good amount of moisture to the steak but not much flavour which was fine by me - I wanted to really taste the meat. The thin slice of “onion loaf” on the side was quite nice, crunchy on the outside and VERY soft on the inside with not a huge amount of onion flavour, more mellow. The token sprigs of watercress and thin slide of (cooked) tomato just balanced the look of the plate but did not really add anything else.
For our sides, I chose “sauteed greens & chantenay carrots” which were extraordinarily bland, boiled and boring while my companion went for “seasoned fries” which were quite large but NOT seasoned however they were crunchy on the outside and fluffy on the inside which is really what you want. Both were good sized portions.
For the dessert option we went for the rather daunting sounding “Carter's Signature Chocolate Bar Sharing Dessert” (£4 supplement per person) described as “Indulgent gold-dusted chocolate bar filled with rich chocolate ganache, smooth salted caramel & a crunchy biscuit crumb served with hot fudge sauce, fresh blueberries & strawberries and brûlée-glazed banana and your choice of two scoops of ice cream or sorbet. Serves two.” Yeah, they were not kidding. It was MASSIVE, served chilled on a wooden board with a slightly over-dramatic steak knife for portioning. We opted for a scope of both raspberry sorbet and honeycomb ice cream on the side. It was, of course, incredibly rich, full of dark chocolate with the occasional salted caramel to provide a break from the chocolate. Initially cold it quickly warmed up and became a bit more liquid-y but still tasted quite nice.
For completeness, the other dessert options were “lemon tart”, “double Belgian chocolate brownie”, “sticky toffee pudding” (natch), “caramel biscuit torte” and “Miller's cheese selection” (£2.50 supplement).
Neither of us really drink (myself not at all, my companion only rarely) so it was nice their cocktail menu had non-alcoholic options with my companion opting for a “elderflower & strawberry spritz” (refreshing, quite light and served in a large glass) and I had the “forest mojito” which was more sour than anything else and not terribly nice.
At about £90 for the two of us (without tip) it was quite reasonable for the large amount of food we had. It was nice having so many options but it did make ordering a bit of an event but it was nice to see that even with this each component was prepared properly and tasted quite good. I will say we were VERY full after the meal and perhaps will chose slightly LESS next time. The service was very friendly and helpful throughout the evening largely leaving us alone to enjoy our meal, only appearing when necessary but never letting us wait too long.
Quite a nice birthday meal. “Miller & Carter Steakhouse” does it what is says on the tin - Decent steaks, nice options, good prices and pleasant service.
Rating: “Nearly perfect, but not quite”
Review Date: 2025-10-26
Cuisine: American/British
Address: Nantwich Rd, Cheshire, Crewe CW2 6PB ENGLAND
Location: Cheshire (England) - Crewe
Map:
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Telephone: +44 (0) 1270 662326
URL: https://www.millerandcarter.co.uk/restaurants/north-west/millerandcartercrewe/