The Alma Inn — Restaurant in Borough of Pendle

We did not stop in the hotel, but merely visited The Alama for a meal.It ticked all the boxes right from the moment when we walked through the door. The receptionist, (bearing in mind that this is a hotel as well as a pub/restaurant) went out of her way to show us to our pre-booked table. She offered to bring us drinks, but I preferred instead to select from the array of hand pulled real ales and having made my selection, the girl behind the bar insisted on bringing my drinks to the table, instead of me having to hang around whilst she pulled the beer. I was already thinking that this is a business that puts the customer first.

We were joined by our friends, who again had super table service with pre-meal drinks and we all ordered our meals. There was a slight delay before the meals appeared, but more of this later.

My wife and I selected brill. I had never eaten this fish before and it was beautiful cooked and well presented.

We had the usually convivial evening with good food and good wine and we were fortunate to be joined in the bar by the head chef. I had enjoyed the meal so much that I went over to her (yes, the head chef is a woman) to express my appreciation of her culinary skills and she explained that they do not buy in partially pre-cooked or pre-prepared meals which are such a feature of modern day pub catering, but that they cook everything from scratch. This perhaps why there was a slight, but not untoward delay, in us having to wait for our meal.

So, what more can you ask for? Excellent service from all of the staff. A good selection of beers and fine wines and food cooked to your requirements from scratch.

I know what you are thinking. Food and service like this must cost a fortune. But that is not the case. Of course, you can eat cheaper and if you are hungry, MacDonald's will satisfy your needs, but if you want a dining experience and particularly if you enjoy fish, I can make no higher recommendation than visiting The Alma. For myself and my wife, this pub ticked all the boxes, from the quality of the service, to the friendliness of the staff and to the quality of the food.

I live reasonably locally and I shall certainly be returning again. I do hope that when I do so, they continue to live up to the high standard of service that I have...

Dined here recently with my wife. Booking seemed fine and noted allergens on online form. Besides the nearby country views, the good experience ended there. It's unfortunate to post this but hopefully management as well as other potential customers are made aware, especially on some allergen concerns.

Firstly ordered drinks, gin and tonic and a coke. I inquired to the size relating to the £3 coke (volume wasn't listed) but didn't get an answer until served a 300ml glass of coke (quarter of it being ice and no bottle). Gin and tonic however was fine.

Not to be disappointed, we went straight to mains and ordered battered fish and chips, and a 12oz on the bone medium rare 28 day matured steak and chips. Arrived reasonably on time, but the steak was rare rather than medium rare, heavily peppered, discoloured grey, not cooked consistently on both sides, and tasteless. For £25 I expected alot more. And discovered my chips had been cooked with a hair in them.

I also checked the menu for desserts and the chocolate fondant on the menu was listed as gluten free and vegan. However when I was looking at the allergen list this actually had listed wheat/gluten and egg allergens in the dish. Whether the main menu or the allergen menu was correct the waiter couldn't say. A couple of other items on the menu were listed differently in the allergen menu as well. For example, the "lamb cutlets" on the main menu turned out being the "Persian cutlets", listed next to the "lamb cutlets" in the allergen menu, which had different allergens between them, certainly causing confusion. This I do feel is a major concern for allergen sufferers or those following a diet, should they take the main menu as verbatim.

The service was disappointing as well. Besides not knowing the table numbers and sometimes asking the person behind the bar which table had ordered what they had in their hands at the time, it didn't feel welcoming, and overheard them refer to my table as "the weird table" (likely referring to my food allergens). Wouldn't normally bother with such a small thing as used to it but overall since the meal was thoroughly unenjoyable it did not add to the experience.

I wish anyone looking for a meal in the area to visit the Black Lanes End...

This is a lovely country pub and felt very cosy. The staff were very friendly, attentive and polite. Service was a little slow despite it not looking very busy but perhaps the kitchen wasn't well staffed. Lovely place but my problem was the food. I wouldn't go as far as to say it was poor, but it was very disappointing. I had a goan vegetable curry, the rice was well cooked had some coconut flavour but hadn't been cooked with salt. The vegetables were cooked well, not mushy and not raw but the 'gravy' of the curry wasn't much more than a very mildly spiced tomato soup. There was a lack of depth of flavour and it didn't resemble a curry at all, nothing like something you would get in Goa. The flat bread which came with it was pretty much cardboard. The portion was a food size and I think that part of the meal was good value for money. The dessert I had, the chocolate fondant was really not good. I substituted vanilla ice cream for salted caramel, this was tasty and I was pleased this request was accommodated. However, the fondant I think was probably cooked at too high a temperature. Whilst it was impressive they had cooked it to order, the edges were caught and there was just a tiny trickle of liquid filling which, rather than chocolate sauce was definitely raw cake batter. The pudding taste as though it was made with milk chocolate instead of dark, completely lacked flavour and had an odd texture (overcooked?!) There was a tiny amount of caramel sauce, the best thing about the dessert and there should have more of this please! So overall a pleasant experience but sadly food was distinctly lacking. Soft drinks are also very expensive. Since when was half a pint of...