During our pretty awesome stay at Alton Towers CBeebies Hotel and visit to Splash Landings thanks to Konfidence,
The Rollercoaster Restaurant was opened in 2016 and promises a truly unique dining experience thanks to its unique meal delivery method, rollercoaster tracks situated around the ceiling of the venue and being delivered to its table destination thanks to its final twisting finale on each of the tables.
Open both during theme park times as well as after the park closes, means it offers both lunch time and evening dining food options as well as the all important kids menu’s, drinks and more.
Although we had watched a couple of youtube video’s prior to our visit we were still unsure of what to expect when we arrived but both children and us were amazed by the 400m of track all above our heads, which includes two gravity defying loop-the-loops, a labyrinth of turns, tornado spirals and giant 26ft drops before reaching diners… the practical Dad in me was keen to see if your meal turned up like my stomach can sometimes feel after a visit on Oblivion… thankfully it didn’t as I’ll explain further on.
Ordering the meals is also a unique process… it’s done via a tablet device. Each guest is seated around 12 chair tables with the centrepiece being the a spiral rollercoaster track of which ends your meals journey. Each seat is the name of a rollercoaster at Alton Towers and I was Rita for the night…not for the first time ;-). Using the tablet you select your seat name/number and proceed to browse through the menu choosing what you’d like to eat, adding any special requirements before submitting it to the kitchen for cooking and finally passing it to your family members to they can choose their own choices too.
Following a short wait, your meals then coming whizzing around the Rollercoaster tracks before resting in your tables centrepiece track ready for you to complete your plate. Your meal comes down in multiple parts, for example, Mrs F’s steak, chips, peppercorn sauce came down in 2 separate carriages with the steak coming down on its own followed by a bowl of chips and peppercorn sauce in a sealed pot inside the chip pot thus not to mix with your chips. Each part comes with a sealed larger lid on top just to make sure you don’t end up with a steak on your head (I can think of worser things) and then plates are available to empty your food carriages onto and to tuck in.
As much as the fascination of the Rollercoaster Restaurant is great, the key thing is the taste and quality of the food so I’m pleased to report a great result here too. Mrs F had steak, I had the Wicker Man Stack whilst both children opted for Chicken Strips (standard). All meals were cooked just how we had requested them, tasted fantastic and were all devoured by everyone. We also ordered several starters (mozzarella sticks, pork scratchings and garlic bread and these were also all enjoyed too. We ended the meal with a joint dessert (we were stuffed by then) so opted for the Salted Caramel Brownie and despite Mrs F and I managing to get barely a spoon each before the kids nailed it, the dessert was the icing on the cake.
All the staff were really friendly, explaining to ordering process, asking our children about their day and highlights and the atmosphere was calm and welcoming compared to the hustle and bustle of the theme park. The prices are pretty reasonable too and its well worth a look, even if you were initially considering ordering from one of the parks many fast food outlets. Its also a great place to host a unique birthday party, a celebration or even an after hours meal as there is no need for a theme park ticket if you choose the latter.
Bookings are essential to avoid disappointment and the restaurant is accessed via an alternative entrance once the park is closed so you don’t need to walk a distance… although considering the amount of food we ate, a long walk wouldn’t be a bad thing 😉
Negatives, I’m struggling to find some… there were a couple of items out of stock on the menu, mainly the beverages, which I guess is just down to demand. There’s also the fact I wasn’t a fan of the mood lighting there, mainly more of a frustration to the ‘instagram like’ photo’s I wanted to take although the purple/pink lightening was hampering the sheer beauty of the venue and meals.
We managed to roll ourselves out of the truly unique venue with our bellies full and happy. It won’t be our last visit to the Alton Towers Rollercoaster Restaurant as H is already saying its a contender for his next birthday party…
If you’ve got any questions about the restaurant, the food or anything else, pop them in the comments below and I’ll be sure to answer them.
Until next time
NB: We were provided with a complimentary meal at the Rollercoaster Restaurant in exchange for an honest review, all opinions are our own.