The Brownlow Inn — Restaurant in England

For a long story short- this was an amazing experience here today. For the long story: please note before I start with this review, I have been in the hospitality industry 8 years and managed my own bistro pub for a long time, and 2 of the other friends I came here today with are extremely snobby eaters and complain about everything. Me and 3 others came here today as a walk in (which is very unlike us as we always book) but it was a Monday early evening so hoped it would be fine. As soon as we walked through the doors were were greeted with extremely friendly smiles from the staff, we were seated instantly in a lovely Resturant area, as walking through the rest of the staff also greeted us with warm smiles which is lovely to see! We ordered 4 starters and 4 mains. Two of our party are gluten free which obviously is very annoying for anyone in the food industry. The team were all very knowledgeable about the menu, able to tell us all the specials with no relay from a note pad (telling me a successful brief had been done before the shift) and we were always greeted and approached with smiles. Being gluten free there is definitely worries about the food we digest but the waitresses today all very much reassured us and triple checked with the chefs etc. when our starters came which was two breaded Brie and two special ham hocks with crispy cheese and potato cake, we all groaned in pleasure! We mentioned throughout the table that this is not going to be topped by our mains…. Until it was!! For our mains we ordered a beef stroganoff, a beef pie and 2 ribeye steaks. These were fantastic and we would have been happy to pay double. We all were extremely surprised that the food was just this good. The peppercorn sauce with the steak was the best I’ve ever eaten and trust me I’ve ordered a steak here and there in the past. We couldn’t believe that the chips were homemade! As soon as it was put on our table, we all mentioned this about the chips. I have never seen a ribeye be as thick as this ribeye I had here today.

We as a collective group didn’t eat much unfortunately due to being hanging out of our backsides, but my golly we definitely enjoyed it.

Three of us had a rhubarb and ginger gin and lemonade, and again we all drink a LOT of gin, and spoke throughout the table about how this is a lovely gin and definitely better than Whitley Niel.. low and behold when asked what gin this was is WAS Whitley Neil so it must’ve been the lemonade which made it taste so good… I would say it was a freshly cleaned soft drinks pump or something as it was so crisp.

I hope this shows how fantastic our experience has been and we will definitely be back and be recommending to others. This was given to be by a recommendation and it’s probably the best recommendation I’ve ever been given.

Thank you all for our fantastic experience and hope our tip shows our gratitude. We look forward to coming...

Never reviewed the Brownlow before this time it deserves a special mention. Sadly for all the wrong reasons. We've been to the Brownlow before even though I live 60 also miles away in Nottinghamshire but we took a relative who eats there two three times a year. We did not make any complaints about the food or the service at the time simply because we did not want to upset the 86 year-old relative. However when we arrived we were probably only the second table to be seated and others were following in fairly quickly although it never really got super busy as it was Tuesday lunch. The food let's just start with the main thing the chips were awful dry overdone overcooked crispy fleshless offerings and I had a fish of which there were two options small and large 8 95 and 1395 so I opted for the £8.95 version... it was very small alligood dealers that was batter. However my mushy peas were ok. The chips were the same on everybody's plate and my father-in-law had salmon which was just about ok the best meal of the three was our relatives who had piri piri chicken which she enjoyed very much indeed. The puddings were nice and well presented The service however was a completely different thing we did have one young lady who served as extremely well and what everybody was pleasant even Joe video which is unusual as we have been before and even gotten into an argument but as I said this time pleasant enough but we will not giving good attention at all. Once the young lady had moved on to other tables it all went downhill. We were passed by many times including at one point the lady in charge past our table and said oh have you finished we said yes she said I'll get those in the moment and walked off again even though her hands were empty and she could have just taken the stuff away but she was too interested in her little iPad. Anyway I ordered a drink halfway through the meal and I had to chase that up and when it came to pudding we will never offered a menu we had to ask after about 10 minutes of being ignored and then we were served by two young gentleman who bought the puddings and didn't bring any cutlery. Totally didn't really enjoy the meal and the service was looking for somewhere that is not a cheap lunch. Not by any means and for that price that should be plenty of good service smiles and attention to detail. Not to mention those chips!! It was just not an enjoyable experience I'm one of those " let's not go there again" types. We said this before about the Brownlow but didn't stick to it and allowed her to book it again but it really isn't worth what was paid. So we'll be looking for alternative in the Stoke area because we clearly need one. Sad really because I like independent places and I like the village pub of which...

We arrived full of hope and left full of regret (and possibly oil).

The curry was an enigma — it had all the excitement of boiled wallpaper paste and about as much flavour. The naan bread was cremated beyond recognition and so salty it could season the Dead Sea. The chips tasted like they’d been fried in last year’s oil, and the onion rings… well, let’s just say I’ve had better meals in hospital cafeterias.

The fish was so greasy it could’ve slipped off the plate and escaped on its own. My son’s chicken burger was cooked to the texture of a rubber toy — I half expected him to start throwing it for the dog. The bread roll was so stale it should’ve come with a health warning. The kebab was dry enough to start a drought, and the pie sat sadly in a puddle of green mush that once identified as peas.

Now, I’ll admit — I have high standards because I always cook from fresh, use the best ingredients, and actually taste and check everything I make. So maybe that’s why this meal offended me on a spiritual level.

Then the grand finale: the £20 “cake surcharge.” Yes, twenty pounds to sing Happy Birthday and present a 12-year-old with his own cake. Who knew joy now came with a service charge?

Now, credit where it’s due — the staff were absolutely lovely. Truly wonderful people doing their best to serve chaos with a smile. They were polite, patient, and clearly deserve a pay rise (or at least therapy). If there were Oscars for bravery in the face of terrible food, they’d sweep the awards.

As for the owner — the less said the better. Imagine a pantomime villain who’s traded his evil laugh for a calculator and a surcharge list. “Boo! Hiss!” doesn’t quite cover it. To be fair, he has described himself in a review as a “good-looking slim millionaire,” which is absolutely hilarious — because after this meal, the only thing slim around here was the chance of us ever coming back.

And this isn’t even the first time he’s upset us. On our last visit, he actually shouted at us because our baby dared to make a noise — yes, a baby doing what babies do. You’d think a man so self-proclaimedly charming could handle the sound of a giggle, but apparently not. We should’ve taken that as the red flag it clearly was.

I’ll give them this: consistency is key, and this place is consistently disappointing. Between the limp food, frosty management, and saintly staff, I think it’s safe to say our custom is gone for good.

While I draw breath, I’ll be sharing this culinary horror story far and wide. May the locals be braver (and...