When we go on holiday the last thing I want to do is cook. The most I ever do on a holiday like this is make breakfast and lunch, but always tend to have dinner out. Parkdean Vauxhall Holiday Park has quite a few different options for food, and is very much like a food market.
The majority of the food vendors can be found in ‘The Hub’, a sort of corridor where each has it’s own window to order from. You can order from the Parkdean app as well, either to be delivered to a table or to your accommodation.
Joe’s American Grill
We tried Joe’s American Grill early on in our holiday, as burgers are usually an easy and good choice for all of us. We had been playing Fairground Golf in Hat Tricks sports bar so this is where we chose to eat. We would have liked to have ordered on the app however, due to not being able to change things e.g ask for a plain burger, I ordered from the window and took it back with me.
Not being too adventurous, we all went for The Joe Burger, which is a smash burger, costing £8.79. We paid an extra £3 each to make it meal, meaning we got chips and a drink with the burger. For £11.79, this was pretty good value for a holiday park, especially as you could have a smaller version of loaded fries with the burger too.
We only waited around 5-10 minutes for the food and it was cooked there while I was waiting. The walk to Hat Tricks was only a few minutes away so the food was hot still when I got there.
All of the meals were a great size, and definitely enough for us. The burger itself was quite thin, only being a 4oz burger, but it was plenty big enough. You can go up to a double burger for £2 extra too if you’re feeling really hungry. We all really enjoyed the burgers and couldn’t have asked for more.
Joe’s American Grill also have children’s options, hot dogs and loaded fries.
Pizza Box
There’s no chain option at Parkdean when it comes to pizza but instead you can order from Pizza Box, the on site pizza place. The menu isn’t massive, but that’s definitely not a bad thing. Instead of having loads of different pizzas to choose from, there’s only 7 on the menu, and there’s no options to create your own. There are only 2 sides available too, which are Tater Tots and Popcorn chicken.
Being used to somewhere like Papa John’s, I always have high expectations for pizza while we’re on holiday. Pizza Box did not disappoint. The large Margherita pizza was ideal for the 3 of us, especially as we had sides and chicken to share as well from other places. It was really fresh and hot when it arrived, and the crust was amazing too.
A family deal is available, but it consisted of 2 large pizzas, 2 small pizza, 2 sides of Tater Tots and 4 soft drinks, which was just too much for us. This would have cost £45.99.
Thunderbird Chicken
Originally, we were not going to try the food from Thunderbird Chicken. However, once we realised that you can order from more than one place at once, we decided to have a bit of a random food dinner.
On this menu you can expect the likes of wings in different coatings. wraps, burgers and a chicken strips, as well as children’s meals and sides. That makes the menu sound quite big but it really isn’t. There’s enough to choose from without it being too much.
The chicken was really hot and fresh, with a delicious crispy coating. We went for 7 strips between us, and they came with 2 different dips. You can choose these when you order and there’s a mix like mayo, ketchup, BBQ and Chipuffalo.
We had a few different sides from Thunderbird Chicken, as well as the strips. The skin on fries were much nicer than those we had from Joe’s American Grill and the Tater Tots were also delicious.
Fish and Chippery
Fish and Chippery is the one place at Parkdean we didn’t really fancy eating at. Here you’ll find chippy favourites such as cod, fishcakes, sausages and pies, as well as chicken nuggets and sides like mushy peas and pickled eggs.
The main reason we didn’t eat here really is that they don’t offer haddock. I know this isn’t a big deal for most people but it’s what I like from a chippy. The other food options at Parkdean appealed to us more on this occasion.
We did order 1 portion of chips one evening, which were really nice. They were quite fat chips, but still not real ‘chippy’ chips in my eyes. I asked for salt and vinegar on them and while there was plenty (maybe too much) salt, there was hardly any vinegar. Still, they were nice and made a change from fries which the other places offer.
Boathouse Restaurant
Being someone who likes to try out as many food options as possible, we made time to eat at The Boathouse Restaurant. We chose a day where there was £5 off the grill menu after 4pm, so we could save a bit of money.
Although we chose the grill menu, there are lots of options for food here. The many has sections for burgers, classic pub style meals, sharing boards etc. There’s a bit of something for everyone and there’s quite a lot to choose from.
We’d expected to restaurant to be really busy for the grill night offer but there’s plenty of seating and it wasn’t that busy at all. Of course, this might depend on the time of year you go. Between us, we chose gammon and a half chicken meal.
We didn’t have to wait too long for the food; only about 15 minutes which we were happy with. The meals were quite large and you really get good value for money epecially when the offer is on. Although the above picture of the chicken meal shows a fried egg, this was actually from the gammon but we swapped around a bit.
As well as serving meals for dinner, The Boathouse also has a lunch menu, and both an adult and children’s breakfast menu. We didn’t get to use the restaurant at this time but you can find the menus below.
Scoops
If you fancy a sweet treat during your holiday then Scoops is the place to go. Here you can get ice cream, bubble waffles, sundaes and crepes. There’s quite a lot of choice though, so make sure you study the menu beforehand so you know what you want to order.
Between us, we tried a bubble waffle, crepe and a sundae. For all 3, the cost was around £18. There are deals such as 2 bubble waffles for £12 or 2 sundaes for £10 so you can save money if you all want the same thing.
Out of the 3 things we ordered, the sundae definitely seemed to be the biggest but we were all happy with what we ordered. I especially liked the bubble waffle, which came with 2 scoops of ice cream, whipped cream, a sauce and a topping.
Ordering on the Parkdean App
One of the biggest problems we found is that you’re not able to change anything. We’re a family of fussy eaters and not being able to make a change such as, a plain burger, for example, is a big deal for us. Where the app is supposed to make things easier and more convenient, we didn’t find this was the case for us at all.
Another thing is that if you order from multiple places at the same time, it comes when it’s ready and therefore, not all together. This could be an issue if you all want to eat together or have ordered bits for everyone from different menus.
