The Whitchaff Inn — Restaurant in Borough of Rossendale

Had been planning to visit for a while after reading the positive reviews online and visiting their website. However, our visit failed to live up to our expectations. Food average. Nice interior but, despite the splendid looking radiators, the room we were in was very cold. But by far the worst part of the experience was the service..

There were a few customers in when we arrived but I would doubt that it was even close to half full. We found a table just past the bar. 3 other tables occupied with 7 people in this area so this section was not over busy.

The menu looked impressive with a good range of choices plus a specials menu. This is one of the things that had motivated us to visit. Prices were not the cheapest but fairly competitive with other establishments. But drinks prices were expensive. A pint of Beira Moretti was £6,.50. Guest IPA £6.40. Guinness £6.00. At least my pint of lime and soda was not bad at £2.60. I went for the Chilli and Garlic Chicken with rice.from the Specials menu. My brother ordered steak pie with chips and mushy pies from the regular menu.

The food was at best average. Nothing major wrong with it but, at the same time, nothing to get over excited about. Based on other reviews we really did expect better. My chicken although tasty was very tough and chewy. I struggled to cut some of it. I did mention this to one of the servers when she came to clear the table and, for the only time in our visit, we were asked if everything was alright. She did say she would let the chef know.

At this point I would have expected us to be asked if we wanted anything else or at least if we wanted to see the dessert menu. There were at least 4, maybe 5, people serving but no one came over to ask. We decided to wait just to see if any of them would come over as we did want to order desserts and coffees. After a good 20 minutes we gave up and decided to leave.

I don't really think it’s appropriate to be shouting out across a room or waving one’s arms about to attract attention. In a place such as this the staff really should be more attentive and checking up on their customers. My brother went to the bar and got the bill. We paid in full without leaving any gratuity. Probably only the second established we have visited in the last few years where we felt the service didn’t warrant a tip.

We won’t be returning. There are plenty of other places where your custom is appreciated and they at least try to enhance your dining experience by providing a reasonable level of service. Service here was about on a level that you would expect in a fast food establishment. And the food just wasn’t anything memorable or good enough to have you rushing back. Overall, and I’m sad to say this, our experience was a major...

We dined here in June and I forgot to leave feedback.

Food was lovely, can’t fault it and reasonable prices.

Service was very good, the girls were friendly and attentive, however the communication was non existent.

We booked over the phone for 6 adults and 3 young children to celebrate a birthday and enjoy a lovely family occasion.

We all sat at a table not quite big enough and ordered drinks and sat there drinking and chatting, it was very relaxed, 15 minutes later a couple left the table next to us and apologised to us, and we were all unsure why, (we didn’t know there was a time limit) the staff then pushed the other table up to ours and brought the menus and set the tables.

After we’d had several drinks, eaten our starters and mains a member of staff came up and advised we had 10 minutes left at the table and then asked if we wanted any deserts, we were all going to order deserts and drinks but we just ordered an ice cream cone for the eldest child as we didn’t have time for anything else.

We quickly drank our drinks and vacated our table not wanting to get in the way of the next guests.

We then had to queue at the bar to pay the bill, and after waiting some time I asked a passing waitress for our bill.

I offered feedback to the manager, I said that we should have been advised on the call that we had 2 hours, we’d have been better prepared, I also said that to be asked if we wanted deserts with only 10 minutes left was not acceptable, and to then have to queue at the bar to pay our bill wasn’t acceptable, even though we spent not far off £200 it was clear the feedback fell on deaf ears as the managers face and response told me she wasn’t bothered.

It’s a shame that a great pub with great food can’t do the basics and communicate very well.

I’d recommend it but be aware of the time limit, I won’t be...

Booked a table for 7pm but table wasn’t ready until 7:45pm. We then didn’t get our food until 8:20pm. In the meantime a member of staff tried to take away my glass which wasn’t empty. I ordered medium rare sirloin steak but it was bordering on well done and was tough. Presentation of my meal looked like it had been thrown on the plate. The chips were nice though 😊 I ate most of my meal as I was very hungry by the time I got it and I didn’t want to have to wait for a replacement or go elsewhere as we needed to get home to our puppy. When the waitress collected our plates we were asked if everything was ok so I was honest and said that my steak was tough. She spoke to her manager, came back with a dessert menu and offered us free desserts. I said we didn’t want desserts so she just said, “sorry about that “ and started to walk away!!!!! I said, “Is that it?” So she said she would speak to her manager again. The outcome was that they knocked off the price of two drinks. They said they couldn’t knock off the price of my meal as I had eaten most of it. I explained that we had waited an hour and 20 minutes, I was very hungry and we weren’t expecting to be out for so long as we had to get home. The food wasn’t inedible, just nowhere near as good as it should have been. Also several children were being allowed to run around the restaurant, chasing each other, which, in my mind is wrong from more than one aspect. It’s a shame as we used to enjoy eating at The Whitchaff previously. In my opinion it isn’t anywhere near as good as it used to be. We won’t...