Restaurant Review: Shepherds Arms, Thorndon

Food: 9/10
Ambience: 7/10
Overall Rating: 8/10
Cost: $90 for three including dessert and drinks
Kid Friendly?: Definitely. Space to move around, great kids menu. Just be careful if the fire is lit as there is no guard.

The day after I finished my last university assessment, we headed out to dinner to celebrate. Its my job to pick restaurants, because being Gluten Free can make it difficult, especially when I also dont eat nuts and dont really like seafood!

Seriously decadent. Wow.

The online menu for the Shepherds Arms showed a great selection of meals, with several options for me to pick from, which was great. Parking was awful, even at 5:15pm on a Wednesday, but the restaurant was quiet as we got in before the rush (the joy of dinner out with a toddler who usually eats before 6).

We opted to skip starters, because there was nothing that appealed, and I've been craving Garlic Bread so much lately that I would have caved and glutened myself had Mark got a loaf.

I chose the Pork Ribs, while Mark had the beef burger. We got LJ a bowl of potato and gravy, with the expectation he would just have some of everything else we had on our plates, which he did.

The ribs were flavourful and yummy, and the half serve was HUGE. Marks burger was also significant in size, needing major deconstruction to eat.

Dessert-wise, nothing was marked on the menu as GF, but the lovely waitress (who was absolutely charmed by LJ) conferred with the chef and informed me that the chocolate mousse was GF (as I expected it should be). So I had that, while Mark had the crumble and LJ had a kids sundae.

Two courses, everything scrummy, done and dusted and home by just after 7pm. Perfect family dining, and I reckon it might become our go-to restaurant with all the options it has for me.


Link to menu