San Marino — Restaurant in England

I was so excited to be going to this restaurant. We live in Preston and our friends wanted to try as the menu sounded amazing! We got seated in the downstairs window area and had an amazing view. We ordered and the starters arrived which were very nice so it was a really good start, drinks were super slow throughout which started to get a bit frustrating and I had asked for a napkin or coaster as my drink kept dripping on my dress, this didn't arrive but no big deal. I ordered the steak and lobster, my partner ordered the paella and the couple we were with also ordered steak and steak and lobster. Mains arrived we had ordered some red wine, my friend sat without a fork for what seemed like forever the eventually the waiter brought a fork, still no wine. Half way through our steak, wine arrived but no.glasses, finished the steak and the glasses arrived. I mentioned it to the floor manager and he apologised and said he would take something off the bill. I thought at this stage things would improve so we drank our wine and chatted and waited for the dessert menu.......let's just say this never happened. We got totally forgotten. We asked a waitress for some more drinks which took ages to come and then as she was clearing the next tables plates she dropped them on the floor and the sauce off the plate went all over my partner, the table and the window! Totally the icing on the cake 🤦🏻‍♀️ so by this time I expected the manager or someone to come and help the poor girl and nothing. She cleared up as best as she could but there was sauce all over the floor and our table. At this point I went to find a manager as I was literally worried someone would slip, (my partner was in the toilets trying to clean his top!) The manager gave us two rounds of free drinks and took 15% off the bill so he did deal with our complaint however even his response wasn't great and for over £200 with the free drinks and the discount really didn't seem like an experience I would want to do again! Service was probably the worst I have ever had which is a shame as the food had so much potential. So...

I booked a table for Wed 4th August for 3 people at 7.30pm. I had made this booking the week before. On arrival I gave the floor manager the name the booking was under and there was no recollection of it. He asked " was it a table for 4 and it had been changed to three ? "we answered no. He then took us to a table (without an apology) and we ordered our food. Starters and mains arrived on time and food as usual was very good. We ordered wine with our meal (not our ususual one as it was no longer on the wine list). We waited half an hour for our desserts (all ice creams). We had to ask a waitress as we thought they had forgotton. At the end of the meal on checking the bill, we noticed that we had been charged £27.95 for the wine we originally wanted but was no longer on the wine list, instead of our chosen one which was priced at £17.95. We called the floor manager over and explained this to him. He took the bill away & the waitress brought over a new bill....there was no apology . When we left, the foor manager was at the reception desk with his back to us, and did not even turn around to say good night. We have been coming to this Restaurant for many years. We live in Belmont village and consider ourselves very lucky to have such a good restaurant on our doorstep. One of our party had to travelled from Warrington as he also thinks very highly of this establishment. We were extremely dissapointed with the service which is...

My wife and I both agree - our meal was as close to perfection as we have known in decades of dining out. Stunning food. From the soup of the day (chicken & celery) and Fegatini (chicken livers) through the fillet steak and Venison and limoncello Cheesecake, every item of food was faultless. The best roast potatoes, veg cooked to perfection. My wife had her fillet medium to well done, yet the knife still sliced through with ease. The pepperiest sauce ever. My venison was cooked like I've never seen before, diagonal cuts on surface allowing the whiskey cream sauce to infuse (?) into the meat. I have cooked chicken livers myself for years, Hungarian style with butter, oil & herbs, yet these here were as good as mine :) ! If not better. I've never tasted a sauce like it - divine! The kind of meal where each mouthful was relished, and we are still smiling the morning after. Great views while dining, price as expected for such quality. The owner (and chef!) must be a secret Michelin Star Holder I wouldn't wonder. The Manager very affable and obviously proud of his role. 2 very minor and somewhat petty points make the overall score 98/100 or 9.8/10 or for google star rating 4.9/5 - but nothing is ever total perfection. The San Marino however, is as close as it has ever been for us. Wonderful. Will...