The Old Bank — Restaurant in Carlisle

For my first visit to The Old Bank, I was impressed despite it being a bit of a hectic occasion…

I was here as part of a stag party so had pre-booked what we were having to eat (more on that later)

Firstly, we were sat by the door as soon as you go in so I didn’t get to see much of the building apart from the first room as you enter but I think this place is actually quite large from what I could see.

The decor is the first thing that hits you as you walk in, there’s colour, ornaments and interesting tidbits in every nook and cranny!

We had to go to the bar to order our drinks - I’m not sure if this is just because there was so many of us or if this is standard in The Old Bank, it definitely made things easier for our party as we were paying separately for everything but it would be a bit annoying on something intimate like a date night - There was also a bit of noise from glass being thrown away at the bar but it wasn’t anything crazy or overly annoying, just loud when it happened.

The food arrived quickly, I ordered the OB southern fried chicken kebab with BBQ crinkle fries, sriracha coleslaw and “OB House Gravy”

The BBQ crinkle fries were absolutely divine, I’d return just for another portion of them!

The chicken looked great and was really crispy (just how I like it), it just slightly lacked in flavour for me unfortunately, it needed a bit more seasoning for the taste to live up to how it looked.

The OB House Gravy was lovely, the chicken was much more flavoursome after dipping it in this, there was plenty of it too… I didn’t have to ask for more which is always good.

I wasn’t overly keen on the coleslaw but I don’t like sriracha sauce so it was never going to be my favourite - I imagine it’s a lovely concoction for anyone who likes the two!

The staff all seemed friendly and they were on hand if we needed anything whilst juggling all their other guests at the same time.

I’ll definitely return on a quieter occasion to fully experience The Old Bank, I think my partner will really enjoy the place.

I highly recommend The Old Bank to anyone looking for somewhere in the city centre which is a bit quirky with a good menu, friendly staff, oh and super...

4th October 2025 were booked in arrived on time but a large group were in and Obviously did not want to leave when they were meant to . Staff poor at dealing with this and we along with several other couples had to wait 20 minutes before tables cleared and cleaned . During this time I asked for a drink but the waitress wasn’t very clued up and the gin and tonic I ordered she was going to put cola in it !! When it did Come it was drowned in tonic with no taste of gin . This was replaced by a manager .we were looking forward to a great meal as reviews were great what we got was not the best .we ordered a pie which sounded fabulous it came with mash carrots and a sauce all of these were good but the pie was small the pastry dry and the crust burnt and the filling almost non existent very disappointing. We did order a sweet my wife had sticky toffee pudding which she said was excellent and I had a run and raisin dish with banana. It has some sort of pastry as part of it which was not great I found the raisins and the banana but no a taste that would suggest any rum had been In it . Overall I appreciate the place was very busy and the group of approximately 30 persons who overstayed their time had caused problems and maybe we suffered as a result of this but this was a special meal for my wife’s birthday and it was not a...

Service was rubbish, staff unprofessional and food mediocre! Best Sunday Lunch in Carlisle? Yeah whatever you think! Utter rubbish.

Upon reading the response I will now add my explanation to the response. We were not asked once if we were or did enjoy our food. The place was fairly busy and you were not there. I also will add that there was no male staff the whole time I was there. I will not be emailing you and I did mention to your waitress when paying about the food and she shrugged her shoulders. Maybe I should have left an in depth review first but I was merely making remarks instead of a long winded review. As you will see I have left many reviews and only a few 1 stars that is because I am honest when leaving them and please don’t accuse me of leaving a false review. That itself is extremely unprofessional and shows in the way you run your business. Lastly if you would not mind me providing you with evidence you were not there. You say you were working when I dined? Sorry but as a police inspector I always look further into things. Apparently when I dined you were at Disney World, Facebook is a great thing for...