Blackberry Jack Sizzling Pubs | Review

[Ad- gifted experience] After a major refurbishment, we all were invited to The Blackberry Jack pub in St Albans. We always enjoy a classic British pub meal and there is always something for everyone, from the youngest picky eater to our adult pallet. As we’ve not been to Blackberry Jack, we aren’t really sure what the pub looked like before the refurbishment, but when we went, everything seemed very clean and quirky. We sat at a big, oval table with different colours painted onto various bits of the wood. Each of our chairs were a different design, giving a really quirky feel to the place.

The car park is actually at the back of the restaurant, meaning we entered through the back, which was a bit confusing for first-time visitors, but someone quickly noticed us and helped us to our table. Like most pubs, we ordered at the bar and items were delivered to our table. The Sizzling Pubs have an app that you can install and download so that you can order from your table, but by the looks of things, Blackberry Jack wasn’t on the app at the time that we went (probably due to the refurbish) so we just ordered at the bar. There are a good amount of variety on the menu, as well as a children’s menu and a children’s dessert menu. We were also given some colouring sheets for the younger kids, which was fun.

The atmosphere at the Blackberry Jack was very nice. There were a lot of families there, as well as regulars who clearly are there often. The bartenders seemed to know everyone and the atmosphere was busy and happy. We watched some people try and fail at the claw machine, as well as a family win at the slot machine right by the bar area. Despite being busy, the staff was very friendly and accommodating as well as a good part attentive.

Halloumi Fries, Chicken Wings, Nachos, Fried Mushrooms & Stuffed Potato Skins

Blackberry Jack had a deal on apps, so we got a bunch of apps for the table to share. The halloumi fries were beautifully crispy and went well with their dipping sauce (sweet chilli, classic) which felt like a good fried dish. The chicken wings contained a good amount of heat so it wasn’t for the children really, with a blue cheese sauce to balance it out. The nachos were pretty good, with a lot of salsa and toppings – which is very good as it’s always a pain when there isn’t much nacho toppings on the nachos. The two favourites of the appetisers seemed to be the fried mushrooms and stuffed potato skins. Jupiter loves fried mushrooms and this dish was a lot of them along with a side of BBQ sauce. They were crispy and juicy – a delicious treat. The stuffed potato skins come in a variety of different stuffings, but we picked beef chilli which was very good, slightly spicy, and nice inside their potato skin shell. Everyone seemed to enjoy these small nibbles, which were spread across the table before our food came. They all were as expected at a pub.

Fried Brie and Cranberry Sauce

One of the appetisers we chose was from the manager’s special menu, which was printed out and placed on our table. This smaller menu of specials is quite interesting and not often seen at pubs (especially pubs seeming to be in a chain) so we got some fried brie and cranberry sauce. Dann is a big fan of brie and Amelia loves cranberry, so we figured this would be a hit. Unfortunately, the brie wasn’t really prevalent in the fried shell, meaning when you bit into it, there wasn’t much there. The cranberry sauce was lovely, and if the brie had held up to frying, we are sure this would have been a great little dish, but as is, it seemed like a special that wouldn’t make it on the regular menu.

Chicken Nuggets, Full English Breakfast and Pizza

Off of the children’s menu, Robin ordered the chicken nuggets with mash potatoes and peas. This was a good size for her, as the menu specified an under 5s area for younger children and an over 5s area for older children. She seemed happy with her meal as a whole, and it was really reasonably priced too. Amelia got a full English breakfast which came with all the fixing from hash browns to beans. Her egg was cooked well and her meal was devoured by her. Kai got a pizza and salad – and he even ate the salad, which was a big positive. The pizza was just cheese, but he was very happy with it. Again, Amelia and Kai’s dishes were a good size for their age, which was very nice to see, so they finished all of it.

Pepper Jack Cheese and Mushroom Chicken

Jupiter got the Pepper Jack Cheese and Mushroom Chicken dish as her main, with mash, peas and a brandy sauce. It was very delicious, with the big bit of cheesy mushroom on top. The chicken was cooked perfectly for her, with the gravy tasting so much of mushroom. A good mushroom gravy is often hard to come by – this one was very nice. We wish that it had more gravy for the amount of potatoes on there, but that’s probably a preference as we really enjoyed the gravy. The peas were okay, but Jupiter isn’t a big fan of peas and they weren’t meant to be the real star anyway. It’s a great main, overall, and one that we’d order again.

Lemon Peri-Peri Chicken Skewers

As Dann is allergic to onions, he got the Lemon Peri-Peri Chicken Skewers from their skillets menu, without the skillet and onions. This dish normally comes on a bed of onions, but Blackberry Jack was great about Dann’s allergy and were able to completely plate the dish without the use of any onions. His chicken skewers were succulent and abundant, the peppers were lovely, and the seasoning over all was great. The peri-peri sauce was much hotter than expected, not so much lemon and herb, which was fine by us as we do enjoy something spicy, but it is worth noting that it’s much spicier than Nandos.

Drinks

I guess we should start off with drinks! Dann got a rum and coke, followed by a coke, while Jupiter got a purple rain. Both of the cocktails were great, especially for the price. They do a two cocktails for the price of one deal, which seems good, as well as pitchers which are reasonably priced. As apart of the kid’s meals, Kai got a lemonade while Robin and Amelia got some fruit shooters. At the end of our meal, Dann got an espresso for dessert, which was good too.

Build your own Sundae, Strawberry Sundae & Oreo Sundae

The adults opted out of dessert as we had our fill in small plates and our main meal, but the children each wanted a little something sweet to polish off their meal. Amelia ordered a build your own Sundae, which was a pretty fun idea. She had vanilla ice cream, white chocolate buttons, milk chocolate buttons, strawberries and chocolate syrup, which she used to decorate her sundae herself. Robin went for a strawberry sundae, which came with vanilla ice cream, a wafer, and tons of whipped cream. Both of these were off of the children’s menu and were included in their meal. Kai, on the other hand, ordered a huge Oreo sundae from the adult’s menu, which contained loads of Oreo, a flake, a wafer, and vanilla ice cream. They all enjoyed their desserts and we thought Amelia’s was really fun.

Though I wish the mobile app had worked at the pub, that’s my only complaint. As stated before, the atmosphere was great, the food came out within a reasonable amount of time and we all liked the idea of manager specials. The refurbishment left the building looking quirky and sleek, and the staff seem to really take note of their customers and interact with them well. If you are in the area, the Blackberry Jack is a great place for a family meal.

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