NEVER again! What a fiasco...

Took my 13yo kid, she's never had roast lamb, she wanted to try it.

Choices were roast beef, yorkshire pud & mixed veg or leg of lamb with mint sauce etc.

So I get a pint of decent beer, kid has a coke & we attempt to order...

Kid asks for the roast beef/yorkshire etc
Soup or salad to start?
Soup
ok, & what about you?
Both please
ok, soup or salad with the roast beef?
salad
& what would you like with the lamb?
Nothing, I just want some lamb with my roast beef
We can't do that
Why not?
You have to order a full lunch
I just did & I'd like a side order of lamb with it
We can't do that
Why not?
It wil confuse the kitchen staff
They can't do a side of lamb?
No, you have to order the full meal
ok, fine, no lamb

& no horseradish please
It comes seperate
Fine, just leave it seperately on the counter in the kitchen, neither of us like it.
But it's in a seperate bowl...

(really? it's this frigging difficult to order food in this establishment???)

When lunch arrived I wish I HAD ordered two full meals. I've never in my life polished off a "full trad sunday roast" in 4 minutes.
ONE (rubber) yorkshire?? I like an entire plateload, 6-8, with onion gravy etc.. then the rest of the meal on another plate.
3 slices of carrot, each about 1/16in thick. I think they fed everyone in the pub with the same carrot.
1 piece of cauli, 2 pieces of broccoli
.. & a heap of soggy roast spuds that tasted like chips.

Couldn't order any extras at all, NO sides....

110 mile round trip for that? Been about 10 years since I had a meal at a British pub/restaurant. I think I can safely say I'll probably die of old age before I attempt such an exercise iin futility again..

If I knew where it was, I'd definitely avoid that pub.
Or I'd order the lamb... that might have been better!

You could get a cook book out and try making it yourself

Wouldn't be much use, no where around here sells lamb...

Huh? Where in the world do you live that doesn't sell lamb?

Actually you are contradicting yourself because if the pub were offering lamb, then it is being sold there.

Lamb is pretty hard to find round here, too. When you do find it, it costs a fortune.

However, there's a few Mexican carnicerias on the way into town, so I'm thinking of exploring those...

Lamb is available here but it is expensive as well.

I don't care for leg of lamb but love a rack of lamb. At $8 a pound, not often that we have that.

I'm in Calif, High Desert area. I'm NOT driving 50+ miles down the hill to LA just to go shopping for a piece of meat.

When we were kids tuesday night dinner was always a half shoulder of lamb because it was cheap cheap cheap. Here it'll run $30-40 so its gone from poor mans dinner to special treat I'm sure it goes back to the days when the Texan cattlemen tried to run the sheepherders out of the state claiming the sheep ruined the grazing lands for proper cattle!

You didn't have the lamb did you?

So do it yourself is still an option.

60 miles isn't considered local to non Americans.

Have to say, getting decent lamb is pretty tricky, there's quite a bit that's tough NZ bit of stringy rubbish around...Trader Joes ain't to bad, but it's a tad pricey.

Really hard to find it out where the folks live, little easier where we were living in Maine.

Shanks and manky thin cuts of a chop the size of a little finger are around a lot in Hannafords though.

Do miss a decent leg of roast lamb...we just stick to doing roast chickens

Wasn't saying he had to drive 60 miles to grocery shop. There must be markets in his local area. Why would they not sell lamb? What about a local butcher.

Actually my local boozer is about 70 miles away...

They don't stock it.