REVIEW: Family Friendly Giraffe Restaurant

 Giraffe is a chain of family friendly restaurants that offer a varied menu, fantastic facilities and outstanding customer service. Being a family ourselves we are now only able to go to restaurants that welcome children, which giraffe certainly does.

We were invited to visit The Centre MK branch of giraffe and were greeted by welcoming staff and a beautifully laid table with activities for Isabella too. I can't get used to having a high chair at our table - how is Isabella old enough to be sitting in one already?! Though she obviously can't draw herself yet, the colouring sheet provided my husband with entertainment and Isabella was fascinated by his colouring.

 

 

The restaurant was buzzing with a family friendly environment, which really appealed to me because there's nothing worse than walking into a quiet restaurant with a baby! Babies just don't stay quiet for long. Unfortunatly it's popularity did mean there were people queued outside waiting for a table, so if you're heading to The Centre MK and want to visit giraffe then I'd recommend booking a table in advance.

 

The menu has dishes from all over the world, so there's something for everyone. I was especially impressed with the wide range of vegetarian choices on the menu. Usually I'm faced with one or two options, but there were multiple delicious choices that I found really hard to choose between. I was debating between the no bun falafel burger with quinoa salad or veggie brunch or a range of small plates. There are a lot of suitable choices if you are trying to make healthy choices - you can have burgers without the bun or chips, salads, smaller plates, sharing platters, sorbets and smoothies. 

 

But if you fancy a treat there's also plenty of choice - burgers, curries, full brunch, enchiladas, quesadilla and luxurious chocolate desserts. There is also a children's menu with lots of tasty sounding child friendly meals. Isabella is far too young to enjoy the children's menu, but she did guzzle down apple and mango puree instead!

The customer service was outstanding during our visit, we were greeted with a warm welcome and nothing was too much for the staff. Our table was next to the door and we saw how consistent the service was - our waitress checked everything was ok just the right amount of times. It's a fine balance between too much questioning and having to wait for ages but the staff had that balance just right. 

 

The range of drinks is vast - from cocktails to smoothies to mocktails to hot drinks to soft drinks! My husband had their still lemonade with mint, which was incredible and highly recommended. I can't wait to be able to have cocktails again, as the Mojito caught my eye but for now I enjoyed a cup of Yorkshire tea, so rock and roll. 

 

 

To start we had their Nachos Nirvana (without meat or vegetarian chilli) to share and the guacamole was the star of the dish. I've never had sweetcorn in a guacamole before, but it was such a tasty addition and the level of spice of the nachos was just right for us. 

 

My husband followed with a Mexican Chicken Burger, which comes with guacamole, chorizo, manchego cheese, mixed leaves, roasted corn and a tomato relish. He said the combination of flavours were delicious, if not a bit tricky too eat! I finally decided on a couple of small plates, including the Halloumi Skewers with a courgette, pea and mint salad and the Mini Mezze of  falafels, tabbouleh, tzatziki, smokey red pepper and current relish. If you're a halloumi fan then the skewers are a must, the combination of the fresh salad with the warm cheese was lovely. The Mini Mezze was full of flavour too, though because the falafels were warmed but then put with the cold sauces and tabbouleh they had really cooled down by the time I ate them. It's also worth baring in mind that some of the small plates don't come with any bread, so you may want to order some. I had a plate of small pitta breads, which were the ideal accompaniment for the dishes I'd ordered. 

 

Finally we somehow fitted in dessert - for my husband it was a rocky road sundae and for me it was a chocolate tart with ice-cream. I can't recommend the chocolate tart enough, so creamy and smooth while the ice-cream didn't make it too heavy. Yummy! 

 To find out where your nearest giraffe restaurant is click here. They're all over the United Kingdom - from Aberdeen to Bournemouth to Cambridge to Manchester. 

Have you visited a giraffe restaurant before?

Feel free to leave a comment :)

Helen x

*Our lunch was complimentary. 

As always all opinions are my own and completely honest.