The Deacon — Restaurant in Borough of Fylde

Booked well in advance to enjoy our Christmas Day dinner, paid the deposit and was expecting to pay the rest after our meal. Received an email 4 days before asking to pay the balance, I kindly rejected this and what a great decision that was (read on).

We arrived on Christmas day at 1.50pm ready for our sitting at 2pm. On arrival we were informed they are running about 20-30 minutes behind and we can enjoy a drink in the bar. This was fine, we understood these things happen especially on Christmas day.

The venue started to get busier and before long, the small bar area was rammed with others waiting for their table. At 2:30pm, I asked again about our table and was told it won't be too long. This went on a further hour more and at which point I snapped as most of those that had come in after us were seated and at least enjoying first course.

Within about a minute, we were shown to a small high table, I'm the bar area. Table unstable and had to wait for someone to put a wedge under one side at the bottom.

3:40pm we get given some bread and told starters are on their way. Looking around the room, more and more were calling the manager over. 4pm I'd had enough, called the manager over to explain at this point it was 2 hours past our sit time and we hadn't even had a starter. Absolutely no compassion given and instead went on to tell us he was 2 kitchen staff down (not my problem). There were about 5-6 staff working the bar (most stood around with nothing to do), why the manager didn't have the common sense to send staff to the kitchen to help is perplexing. I told the manager, "go and get my £40 deposit out of the till now", to which he did. Not once did he apologise, not even offered a complimentary drink!! (Spent £58 at the bar waiting to sit down). We left and went home, hungry!!

Christmas day dinner well and truly ruined, something we had both been really looking forward too. The Deacon need to work on customer service, because there was most definitely not this day. I have always enjoyed the place, but I'll never eat here again now. I've kept this review honest and believe me there is so much more I could have said. The whole day was a shambles and I'll definitely never return for a special meal. This place has seriously gone down over the last year, such a shame too as it was one of the best places to eat...

Unfortunately my experience of The Deacon was memorable for the wrong reason’s, the main culprit being the front of house, David Vickers. The service from the waiter was excellent, he was polite and pleasant. Whilst my food was good, my wife’s Sunday lunch roast beef was very poor. She couldn’t manage to cut in to the beef, she had to tear pieces off. It was very chewy and not edible. When we had finished our meals, the waiter enquired, how was your food? I explained very disappointing. The waiter’s response was…. I’m tired of apologising for the kitchen! As a way of compensation the optional service charge of 10% was removed! We then witnessed appalling behaviour from David Vickers towards another customer. He observed, which when I confronted him he denied, a customer enter the restaurant who was obviously drunk and it was evident the customer had learning difficulties. In his full view he allowed the bar staff to serve the customer 2 pints for his own consumption. Once served at the bar, the customer sat at a table briefly, before the security, at the request of David Vickers, transferred his alcohol in to plastic glasses and took the customer to sit at one of outside tables in the rain. We then overheard David Vickers mocking the customer to a table of customers and as he left the table I challenged him on his actions. David Vickers denied all the accusations I put to him, his behaviour was arrogant and in denial. When I asked for his name, he replied you don’t need to know my name. I later sourced it from the internet. As we left the restaurant my wife said to him….. you showed total disrespect for the customer, your behaviour wasn’t very Christian like. His response was as to walk away laughing while saying………… Good job I’m not a Christian then. I will avoid The Deacon as long as David Vickers is a...

A great place for lunch or dinner in St. Annes.

Relatively new establishment opened in 2017 in an old banking building. Great seating outside as well as in their conservatory. The selection of beverages here (especially the Gin) is fantastic. I highly recommend their own Deacon ale and lager. Wine list is also well rounded.

As for food. For starters we had the squid, mussels (even though it's a main it makes a great starter) and the breadboard. The squid was nothing special but I can only blame how difficult it is to get squid in the area. The mussels were fantastic, served with crusty bread and fries. Fresh, well cooked and a beautiful sauce. The bread board was hearty, with a good amount of bread and various dips.

As for mains. I had the fillet steak with garlic and shallot butter. The beef was fresh, well cooked and well seasoned. The dry age process is really noticable. However the slight astringent flavour told me that beef wasn't from the best of pastures but good nonetheless. Came with fries and a side salad which we also good.

The sticky braised beef was well seasoned and hearty, though a little dry in some areas with was good overall and I would probably order this for lunch or an early evening dinner. Side was truffle and parmesan chips, for some reason one of them was dead cold but the rest were hot. Strange anomaly but acceptable.

Pesto Gnocchi was great, very light and silky gnocchi with a fantastic sauce, plenty of flavour and perfect for vegetarians. Portion was a little small I think but still good.

Dessert was the vegan brownie, good but nothing to write home about. Sorbet and mixed nuts were good but too much going on if the brownie was the real star of the show.

Service was fantastic and staff were very friendly. Would...