katygriff has been thanked 3 times for this contribution
"I was sitting there with a few of my friends last night and we decided that we really fancied going out for a meal as we had not treated ourselves for quite a while. So with that in mind we set out to find somewhere and we finally decided on the Dog and Doublet which is a very nice country restaurant. There is a nice atmosphere, nice surroundings and good food on offer here so we all really enjoyed it and would revisit soon and here is why.
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The Dog and Doublet:
From the outside it does look like a nice country inn and it does so on the inside to. It is a pub / restaurant I would say and it also does offer hotel rooms but as we have only eaten there I will just be reviewing the restaurant part of it.
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Where is it?
The dog and doublet is located in the heart of Staffordshire at the following address;
Sandon,
Staffordshire,
ST18 0DJ.
It is pretty easy to find as it is on the a51 in Staffordshire which is quite a main road and provides good access to Stafford, Lichfield, Cannock, Stoke on Trent and many other places.
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Location:
This place is very nicely located in the very picturesque place of Sandon. In Sandon you can find a very nice stately home called Sandon Hall which I have been to a wedding there and it was really stunning. There are a lot of walks around if you do not care for them you can always visit some of the towns nearby where you will find a whole host of attractions such as in Stafford or Stoke.
It really is beautiful here and you can even sit outside and look out onto green grass and the canal which you can often spot lovely barges going past.
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Parking:
The car park is huge and last night the place was so full and still I found a place to park so I cannot imagine you would ever have any problems. The car park is easy to spot and looks out onto the fields nearby with the entrance just being a few moments away.
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Outside Appearance:
When you are driving up to the Dog and Doublet you can tell you are going to a very nice place as it looks stunning from the outside. What I think it looks like is a very posh country restaurant and it does look very inviting. It is a very nice building which is made to look quite old and by the entrance there is a huge glass window that you can see inside the restaurant. I have to say the window does look very impressive and offers great views outside if you do get to sit there.
As I have said above Sandon is very pretty so the views are spectacular.
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Inside Appearance:
When you walk inside it has a very warm and cosy feel which is nice and you instantly feel relaxed. We walked in and all of the staff were having a chat to us and saying hello and we were taken to our seats straight away. The decoration is quite low key and it is nice that there is a real fire in there for those winter months. The bar area is clean and well stocked which is always a good sign and everywhere just looks very inviting.
There are seats to your left as you walk in and then just passed the bar there are some more which is where we sat and it was very warm there as it was right by the kitchens which I did take a peek in and they looked lovely and clean which is good. I am nosy and always like to see what the kitchens are like. You even go into the toilets and they are spotless and just very nice.
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Drinks:
They have a very good range of drinks as everything we asked for was on the menu. I took a look behind the bar and they were well stocked. The prices were quite standard with my lemonade coming to about £1.50 and a pint of beer coming to £2.80 which is not bad at all.
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Food:
Now for those of you who like your Sunday meals they do a pretty impressive carvery every day of the week but it is between certain times so you may have to phone up and ask. Now other food as I am not a big fan of carvery they have a very good selection indeed including starters, mains and those all important puddings.
Now I am not a fan of starters as I like saving myself for the pudding but they did have nice things such as prawns and smoked salmon and melon which all sounded lovely. The prices were around the £4 mark and I saw the table next to us have a starter and they did look like good portions so my advice is not to go mad.
Then the selection of main courses is brilliant. I had a really nice burger which is quite boring but then my friend had sizzling Japanese chicken which looked and smelled so delicious I wish I had tried it. Then somebody else had Thai fish cakes which were divine and then my fiancé had lasagne which looked yummy. They do a lot of side orders if you want at about £3 but the mains ranged from £6 for my burger to £10 for the chicken.
Now never one to resist a pudding I had to have one and again we all had different things. They were all £3.95 each just to let you know. The selections we chose were apple pie and custard, sticky toffee pudding and custard, chocolate fudge cake and custard and also Amerton farm ice-cream which is from this lovely farm down the road. They were all so nice we could have licked the plates.
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Verdict:
We had a lovely time here and I would definitely come again. The drinks and food were well priced and good sizes so you didn't leave hungry at all and the atmosphere made you feel at home which was nice. I did ask about the rooms and a standard is £50 in the week and £70 at weekends if you would like to know. If I ever stay I will let you know what it is like for accommodation but eating is top notch.
;)
