 The Hare & Hounds 
What A Wacky Pub!
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Recommendation added: 05/07/2006 11:09
By: dewberry (YSUK rating +825)dewberry has been thanked 16 times for this contribution
"Yesterday evening was so hot and sticky that we simply couldn't sit in the house any longer, so we decided to try out a new pub and Wacky Warehouse which I'd spotted a couple of weeks ago.
The Hare & Hounds in Minworth, Sutton Coldfield has just about everything you could want to find in a pub. While the kids took full advantage of their hours play in the Wacky, me and Mark had a meal sitting outside so we could still keep an eye on the kids.
The Wacky Warehouse is a huge building located separately from the pub, it's spotlessly clean with the biggest ball pool I've seen in a Wacky – and as a mum of two believe me I've visited a fair few! The staff in here are lovely, with personalities which really suit working with kids. Nothing seemed too much trouble for them; from my daughter asking for change to buy sweets from the machine to another little boy who was in a panic because he'd 'lost' his mum.
The Hare & Hounds pub itself is massive; it's one long room which is non smoking at one end for diners and a smoking area at the other, although you're welcome to eat in the smoking area too. The décor is lovely, much of it was obscured with England flags last night (bit late…) but it's definitely a light and airy pub decorated in a nice mixture of pale and bright colours. Tables are spaced well, with wide aisles between them making it simple to cross from one side of the pub to another without bumping into and elbowing other visitors.
The Hare & Hounds runs the 'Eat Out Without Splashing Out' two for one promotion, which basically means that when you order two meals you'll get the cheapest one free. This is a brilliant offer, as it means eating a meal with my partner usually costs under £10 which is a bargain compared to many other pubs in the area where I expect to pay around £25 for meals alone.
I ate a Giant Sausage Filled Yorkie which was absolutely delicious. The homemade Yorkshire pudding was light and not greasy at all, while the three large sausages nested inside were of excellent quality and very tasty. This was served with a pile of chips which, again, weren't greasy and perfect for dipping in the rich meaty gravy inside my Yorkie. Mark ate Smothered Chicken which was a chicken breast topped with bacon and a beautifully light melted cheese. He said how good his meal was although he did comment that the cheesy sauce was extremely oily – which being a bloke he wasn't concerned about in the slightest!
The menu is extensive, consisting of mainly chicken and fish dishes although steak and burgers feature quite prominently on the menu. Prices are very good with the majority of meals costing around the £8 mark with just a few choices being priced at over £10 – the most expensive item on the menu is a whopping plate of meat called Surf, Turf & Turf. The bloke sitting next to me had one of these meals and it literally is a plate of steak, chicken, pork, prawns and loads more which I couldn't quite see! It looked yummy though and well worth the £13.95 price.
Desserts are standard pub fare; apple pie and custard, ice cream, chocolate gateau etc… To be honest if you've munched your way through a Hare & Hounds meal you're probably not going to have a lot of room left for pudding, although they do look lovely.
To go with your meal on a hot and sweaty day, you need an ice cold lager. The Hare & Hounds have a brilliant selection of bottled and draught lagers, beer and cider. I opted for the Carling Extra Cold and it was chilled to perfection, with a dash of lime it really quenched my thirst. Also available is a very good wine list, branded spirits and alcopops all at average prices for a pub in this area. Soft drinks are available for the kids at hugely inflated prices (as per usual), being £1.60 for a small glass of Coke and nearly 2 quid for a large one. Take your own. <grin!>
We stayed in the pub and beer garden for around 2 hours and it cost us just over £35, which included our meals, entrance into the Wacky for the kids and drinks. This is reasonable I thought as a recent visit to a pub just down the road from the Hare & Hounds resulted in us spending almost £60 and that was without Wacky admission.
Both the pub and the Wacky are designed to be accessible to disabled visitors. A small part of the pub is up a couple of steps, but the majority is at ground level so you'll definitely get a seat without struggling up stairs. There are a fair amount of disabled car parking spaces which are located near to the entrance of the pub and also two disabled toilets which are spacious and easy to get to.
To visit the Hare & Hounds you really need to go by car as it's out of the way from any public transport. Drive into Sutton Coldfield and follow the A38 Thimble End Road which is signposted 'Minworth', the A38 will rename itself Webster Way and then Walmly Ash Road. Follow this until you reach a large roundabout; take the turning signposted A4097 Kingsbury Road and the Hare & Hounds is roughly a five minute drive away on your left.
Hare & Hounds
Kingsbury Road
Minworth
Sutton Coldfield
B76 9DD
Tel: 0121 351 1712"
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