Family-friendly carvery pub does its job.. but I wasn’t nuts about it

There is usually only one way to finish a day out at the seaside… with a good old fish supper.

But after a few hours on a windswept Ardrossan beach, Pub Spy decided to give the chippy a swerve and head for the bar.

The Red Squirrel pub in Stevenston is less than a mile away and is so big you can’t miss it from the road.

The large playpark in the garden was the sign that this was a family- friendly chain pub (run by Marston’s) with the obligatory carvery.

But, to be fair, the warm and welcoming interior and attentive staff managed to win us over.

The bar is vast with plenty of space and, because we arrived in the late afternoon, it was not too busy, noisy or messy – something that every chain pub ggeared for families can suffer from. Surprisingly, i t ’ s got a pretty extensive gin menu and the bar is stocked with decent ales, draught beers and good wines.

Their cocktail list isn’t bad, either. The rhubarb gin and Fever Tree tonic went down well.

Like all these pubs, there is a menu for everything, from kids’ meals to vegan dishes.

There is even a detai led carvery menu and fami ly banquet deal where you can feed two adults and two kids for just £20. But the carvery is probably the main draw.

Much of the rest of the food is American style, with ribs, burgers, nachos and spicy chicken but there’s also a decent set of pub classics cooked using local ingredients. Their lasagne was pretty good and the grilled meat as tasty as it would be in a mid-priced restaurant.

But all those menus and offers – from curry and steak nights to burger and wrap days – make it seem more complicated than it needs to be.

So the Red Squirrel is what you’d expect: Nothing to rave about… or complain about. But we should have kept it simple and headed for that chippy.