#PrezzoLaFamiglia | A (Non Stressful) Family Meal Out | Britmums

#PrezzoLaFamiglia | A (Non Stressful) Family Meal Out | Britmums

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

No matter how hard I’ve tried with my kids, they aren’t the best at mealtimes. We’ve always made them sit to the table from weaning age onwards, but they seem to fidget so much, and find any excuse not to eat what I’ve cooked for them.

I feel bad saying this, but for this reason, we often avoid taking them for meals out, as it usually ends in tears (mine) and fighting (them). They can never agree what they want to eat, and whatever one has, the other always wants it. That, and eating out with three children costs an absolute fortune.

When we were invited by Britmums to go along to our local Prezzo restaurant and try out their new La Famiglia sharing pasta bowl, I loved the idea – although I was slightly nervous as to how we would pull it off. We decided to book at Prezzo in Yate for lunch, as come tea time, tiredness always ensues, and the whinging and whining hits an all time high. For anyone that hasn’t been before, Prezzo is a restaurant chain, that has over 280 restaurants over the U.K – the setting of each one is different, ranging from old libraries to habour side eateries.

 

I needn’t have worried as from the moment we were seated by a very pleasant and helpful waiter, the kids were given colouring sheets and crayons which they straight away got started on. I had a quick glance over the menu – which looked amazing – me and Ell definitely need to come back for a date night, but obviously we focused on the La Famiglia options on the menu.

The idea behind the La Famiglia sharing bowl, is that it is aimed at families sitting around the table sharing a bowl of delicious food – it is big enough to feed four people – although there were obviously five of us, there would’ve easily been enough for four adults – the sharing bowl size was incredibly generous. The La Famiglia bowl comes in 4 variations – Penne Arrabiata, Spaghetti Bolognese, Spaghetti Carbonara and Penne Alla Rusticana – we went for the last option.

We also had two garlic breads to share – possibly the best garlic bread I’ve tasted in a long time – the kids loved it – as Ollie said ‘it looked like a pizza’ . Obviously that was a winner in their books.

When the waiter brought out the pasta bowl, the kids eyes lit up. It looked scrummy, and even more so when the waiter grated fresh cheese on to the top of it. A large serving spoon was provided and we set about dishing it up between the five of us. Myself and Ell both had generous portions, as did the kids, and there was plenty left over for seconds. The Penne Alla Rusticana that we went for had chicken, peppers, pancetta and rosemary in a creamy sauce – it was delicious. 

As you can see, not a morsel was wasted – and this never happens in our family – it was possibly the first time I had heard zero complaints about a meal – I’m not sure what this says about my cooking though?! I have never been so stuffed in a restaurant before – admittedly I ate more than I usually would’ve, but the beauty of the sharing bowl is that we could have as much as we liked.

This is great for kids that are fussy on portion sizes – I try not over face my kids with plates full of food as it puts them off from the get go. Ell will always have eyes bigger than his belly – and will always inhale everyone’s left overs. Its funny when I dish out food as we seem to have a ‘Goldilocks and the three bears’ situation going on – Daddy, mummy and Baby sized portions – its funny how our ‘sharing personalities’ come into play! As a baby Ollie would hate it if you tried to eat his leftovers – even if he wasn’t eating it, but luckily he was happy to share the bowl of pasta and the garlic bread – no chance with pudding though. Obviously once we had finished the meal, the kids had left enough room for ice-cream (naturally) and they had a choice of two scoops – between them they tried the strawberry, chocolate and vanilla. Myself and Ell tried the gelato and sorbet – it was incredible.  There is always a happy face when there is ice cream involved!

It was so lovely to go out and have a stress free meal with the children – it is so important to be able to spend time as a family as we don’t always get to do that very often, (as with any large families who have a busy calendar) and I think the La Famiglia sharing bowl was the perfect way to do it. Having a huge bowl of pasta in the middle of the table, and everyone getting to share it certainly adds to the theatre of dining out with the family, and made for a very enjoyable and stress free (and affordable) meal.

Another thing I loved was because we were all sharing, there was no fights over who was eating what, and it meant we had time to enjoy being together as a family, without anyone else told off through gritted teeth – any parent will understand what I’m talking about here!

We will definitely be going back to Prezzo again, and maybe trying a different variation of the La Famiglia sharing bowl. I’d like too say a huge thank you to Prezzo Yate for wonderful, friendly and helpful service, and to Britmums for allowing us to enjoy a lovely family meal together.

We also made a little video of our days and our time and experience at Prezzo – you can have a watch here…

Disclaimer: We were given a voucher to try Prezzo’s La Famiglia sharing bowl with drinks, sides and dessert, but all opinions and photographs are 100% my own.

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1 Comment

  1. June 14, 2017 / 11:40 am

    Looks like a really happy family meal – commenting for myself and on behalf of BritMums and thanking you for taking part.

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