30 Sep 2026
There is a dramatic twist ending when James Cameron visits the city centre steakhouse…
There is a positive and a negative side to Miller & Carter setting up shop in the old library building on Victoria Street. The positive is that it saved me from any more questionable nights at O’Neill’s, the previous occupant (especially around St Patrick’s Day). The negative is that it takes away the reason for visiting their other location, at the Bull Inn in Wheathampstead, a lovely old riverside pub with some of the only parking spaces in the village.
M&C are certainly good at choosing venues, as the building containing their St Albans branch is rather more impressive than the current library in the Maltings. Built in 1911 with money donated by American robber baron Andrew Carnegie (who I didn’t know was so passionate about literacy in St Albans), the ornate space has been transformed in the style of a classic New York steakhouse, with gold surfaces and bull emblems everywhere. In fact the classiness of the space can be at odds with the effort put in by most of the diners, but that I suppose is the curse of the chain restaurant.
We were there on a Thursday night to take advantage of their mid-week set menu (available Wednesday to Friday, which is stretching mid-week somewhat), however the menus featuring the deals were not forthcoming and we had to ask for them.
This deal is so good they really don’t want you to have it (more on this later). At its core it is three courses for £36.50, however there are Subway-levels of customisability, some of which feature additional charges so you could be paying up to £50 if you were going for full-on luxury.
We were able to be relatively restrained, and went basic for all but one of our choices, but it still felt like a treat. Our starters were not too heavy but full of flavour, and got us suitably excited for the meal to come. Soy & Mirin Pork Belly was long juicy strips of charred meat, smoky on a crunchy slaw with the zing of fresh lime. It came with one of my favourite Thai sauces, here called Crying Tiger sauce but forever known to me as ‘Why, Tiger Cry?’ after a particularly poorly translated takeaway menu. This is rich and fruity, and all those flavours create a real mouth party dish.
Burrata, by contrast, was all fresh creaminess. This was kept from being cloying by some acidic tomatoes and basil leaves bursting with flavour. A simple dish, but with quality ingredients it absolutely delivered.
The main dining room is dominated by the pass, so as we waited for our mains we could observe the other dishes going out with a mixture of hope and envy. We did not have too long to wait, in fact they arrived before our starters were cleared away creating a bit of confusion and dish juggling.
We had no cause to regret our choices when they were presented to us, though. Miller & Carter describe this as the ‘Steak Experience’, and there certainly is a lot going on. As well as the main event there is whichever side you chose, an onion loaf, a tomato and some watercress, a little pan of your chosen sauce and a wedge of lettuce covered in something. If you have decision paralysis this is not the place for you, as there are many opportunities to make decisions that you later regret (much like in the O’Neill’s days).
The steak itself was absolutely fantastic. I went for the 50-day aged sirloin, whereas my companion went for the similarly aged ribeye, and both came with a lovely pat of their signature butter. The meat was juicy, tender and plentiful. This is kind of to be expected, you wouldn’t last long as a steak house if you couldn’t cook a decent steak, but it is still far from universal.
Now, to the sides. The onion loaf was a great discovery, like a big onion hash brown. The tomato had a balsamic glaze that took it straight from pointless to a valuable addition to the meal.
I had my wedge of lettuce covered in blue cheese sauce and stilton, and it proved that if you cover anything with blue cheese sauce and stilton it becomes fantastic. By having a dining companion also experiencing the steak experience I was able to compare my choices with theirs, and for lettuce covering I definitely picked the winner.
He definitely won the sides and sauce battle though. I went for the Cafe De Paris Butter Sauce, which was somewhat reminiscent of a mediocre stroganoff. I kept it away from the steak which had no need of it, and instead used it to dip my chips in until I realised that they also tasted better without it. Another black mark for the French.
These chips were the sole item we paid a surcharge for (a hefty £1) and were supposedly triple-cooked but I found this hard to believe. They didn’t have much flavour on their own, and were floury on the inside without being crispy on the exterior, and at the end of the day were not much more than standard chunky chips.
The fries gave a better showing, having something of McDonald’s about them but superior even to that. Even these were not universally crispy, though. The sauce was that classic steak companion, peppercorn, and it got exactly the right balance of pepperiness and creaminess, elevating everything it came into contact with. We also received steak knives so substantial I worried about it being given to my teenage son.
Unfortunately he refused to join me on Carter’s Signature Chocolate Bar Dessert, which was only available as a sharing option. Apparently just me reading out the description was enough to make him feel nauseous from the sweetness of the language. Instead I went for the relative lightness of a lemon tart. This had a great sherbetty zing, but conversely could have done with a bit more sweetness. It was also served with both raspberry sorbet and whipped cream, a combination that didn’t quite work for me.
Having denied me the Chocolate Bar Dessert my companion went instead for a not particularly insubstantial Sticky Toffee Pudding. Again I think he got the best of this round (making the final score 3-1 for those counting), as it had all the sweetness without being too cloying. This was served with some spot on ice cream and caramel sauce.
Drink options were plentiful, and the bar itself is a wonder to behold. There is Peroni, Madri and Neck Oil on tap, a long wine list and a happy hour for cocktails. They advertised a Birthday Cake Martini which particularly intrigued me, but instead we finished off with some fresh mint tea, spot on with a biscuit curl and served in a very stylish teapot.
Food service was very prompt, we were never long without something to munch on, but servers were not always present when you wanted anything else, such as the bill, and we had to ask twice for tap water which seems fairly standard these days.
As we were walking home afterwards it started to strike me that the bill had actually been fairly hefty considering the deal we had gone for, and when I got home and was able to check properly I realised that they hadn’t actually taken this into account. I should have noticed this at the restaurant, but this was a bit of a case of ‘be careful what you wish for’.
I have often been known to complain about being presented with the bill and then the server disappears for a far longer time than it takes to verify it, whereas in this case the card machine was already present and ready to go when I got it, meaning I only gave it a cursory glance to see if a tip was included. The couple of pints I’d had probably didn’t help either.
They were suitably apologetic and I was able to get the money back, but it involved a phone call, an e-mail and then having to go back into the restaurant a few days later. This was quite a lot of faff for an amount of money that was just about, but only just about, worth it.
Was Miller & Carter worth the faff, then? The first thing to say is it is not in the same league as Prime, so if your budget can stretch to that then the choice is clear. There aren’t many vegan or vegetarian options, but really I can’t think of many vegans who would enjoy being surrounded by so much copious cow flesh.
If you want to do something fairly celebratory, say to treat a mid-tier relative who you are generally well-disposed to, then why not. It feels suitably opulent, they do very good steak and when the deal is applied it is pretty good value. Just make sure you check your bill afterwards.
