Sheila's Cottage — Restaurant in England

We've stayed in Ambleside three times now and always look for somewhere different to eat out in the evening. This time the name of Sheila's Cottage cropped up and, reading good reviews for it, we decided to give it a go. One of the other main points that attracted us was that dogs were welcome.

We were given a warm welcome and shown to a table for two with enough space for our rather elderly greyhound. She, too, received a wonderful welcome and we perused the menu to see what we would eat. There was no pressure to decide and we both chose the Moroccan Vegetable Terrine with a starter of olives to share.

Service was very efficient and the shared starters of Italian Olives were quickly consumed. The Tagine proved to be very tasty and nice and light to eat. All washed down with a lovely glass of wine. Although it was quiet when we called in, the restaurant filled up by the time we had finished our meal.

When in Ambleside again, we shall certainly be sure to call in again and try other items on the menu....

We've been here many times in the past. However, the service is clearly going downhill. We were booked in at 8.15, we arrived on time and from the minute we walked in we were made to feel like an inconvenience. The food was as lovely as ever, but the atmosphere was lacking. Waitresses were doing shots, moaning in the vicinity of us and other customers, several of which had to go and pay at the till as no one attended to their table for long periods of time. We ordered dessert and our waitress made it clear we weren't welcome. Her attitude was disgraceful as a representative for the restaurant. At 2120 we were the last couple in the place and the sense that they wanted us to leave was overwhelming, there was banging and clattering of dishes and trays, candles and lights extinguished and chairs moved. We asked for a break between main and dessert only to be met with an eye roll. We left a low tip which was for the chefs alone as the food was still to the same standard. Probably won't...

In honesty, we stumbled across this place, but what a treat that we did! Extremely welcoming staff, cosy atmosphere, friendly fellow diners (making a fuss of our dogs! 🙂). We all had the battered haddock, chips, mushy peas and tartare sauce. All the food was fantastic. However, for me, the absolite star of the show was the mushy peas!!! They were that good I had to ask how they were made, and a chap came over personally and told me the 'secret recipe' ( I'm not telling you...you'll have to go and find out for yourselves). I genuinely think I could eat a bowl of them, all to myself. The fish was battered and cooked to perfection, and the chips were crunchy and fluffy inside. Amazing! The staff were brilliant, serving time was excellent...and a special mention for the immaculate, if a little on the small side, gent's toilets. So, so clean. Rare to find these days. Overall, the whole outfit should be very proud of themselves. Great effort...