Family Fun at Prezzo with the La Famiglia sharing dish

We love eating out. But eating out comes with its challenges for our family. Will J cope with trying out a new restaurant? Will Miss T eat more than her usual one mouthful? Will the place be child friendly? Will there be enough choices that our family will like? Will there be too many choices leaving us confused?

And we each get something different out of the experience of dining out. For mum it's the luxury of not having to cook or wash up, for Dad it's bonding time with the whole family, for J it's being able to eat a massive dinner, for D it's being allowed a fizzy drink, and for Miss T it's dessert!

So one sunny Sunday afternoon to celebrate the end of half-term, we headed to our local Prezzo in Tunbridge Wells, Kent. There are over 280 Prezzo Restaurants around the UK so there's bound to be one near you.

We had told the kids that even though there is a great kids menu (love the fact they actually do two portion sizes for the kids menu - a children's menu and a tot's menu to cater for all sizes of appetite) that this time they were not getting to choose their own meal but we were going to have fun sharing one giant bowl of pasta. The #PrezzoLaFamiglia experience!

There are 4 different La Famiglia pasta dishes available; Penne Arrabiata, Spaghetti Bolognese, Spaghetti Carbonara and Penne Alla Rusticana. We chose the Penne Alla Rusticana which is a chicken and pasta dish with peppers and pancetta and it was huge!

The garlic pizza breads were pretty epic too. They were quite possibly the best garlic bread we have ever tasted with tangy caramelised onion and mozarella.

J's recurring question was "Can I have more?" and as there was so much of both the garlic bread and the penne the answer was "yes".

When I asked D if he thought the garlic bread was nice he responded with "No. It's delicious!"

And Miss T was also asking if she could have more "dalek bread" - I think she might have Doctor Who on the brain at the moment as we've been talking about it so much lately.

We were all definitely impressed with the portion size. Officially serves 4 although there was plenty for all 5 of us. Miss T never eats a huge amount and it normally feels wasteful getting her a meal of her own when we eat out so the La Famiglia experience really was the perfect solution to this as she could eat less and J could eat more until we were all full.

As we ate we joked about how J was like a human vacuum cleaner eating up anything and everything that others couldn't manage. Miss T was like a little squirrel with a small appetite who preferred to save some food for later. We couldn't quite decide whether D was like a keen puppy who was always there at the table as soon as food appeared wanting a taste of whatever was available, or more like a bumble bee buzzing flower to flower grazing little but often all day long.

Between us we did manage to polish off that gigantic bowl of pasta and those 2 epic sized pizza garlic breads.

On a practical note, the service was speedy. Which is great when dining with hungry kids with little patience. Sometimes restaurants make the mistake of thinking that being 'family friendly' means having highchairs and a baby changing room (Prezzo had both these) but we've found it's more about friendly welcoming staff, with a positive attitude and prompt service.

Kids are always keen to get their desserts quickly and it was literally just a matter of minutes at Prezzo. We were impressed!

The Tunbridge Wells Prezzo has a bright and airy feel to it, letting in loads of natural light. Perfect for those instagram snaps.

Another practical touch was the coat hooks I spotted around the restaurant. This is less relevant this time of year but a bug-bear of mine in winter months when we unpeel layers of jumpers and coats when dining out only to have to pile them up on our seats. It was great to see coat hooks. It made me happy.

The menu is varied and they regularly have great offers. We would totally recommend giving the La Famiglia pasta sharing dish a try next time you're visiting Prezzo. It is super-great value and super-fun too!

Here are a few more thoughts caught on video...


This post is an entry for the BritMums #PrezzoLaFamiglia Challenge, sponsored by Prezzo. 

Disclosure: We were kindly sent a voucher as part of the Britmums/Prezzo #PrezzoLaFamiglia campaign to cover the cost of the La Famiglia pasta dish, 2 large garlic pizza breads, 4 soft drinks and 4 ice creams. Thank you - we had a fabulous meal at our local Prezzo.