The Shakespeare Inn (Accommodation And Eatery) — Restaurant in England

We were coming to the Lakes on holiday and decided to book dinner in advance at The Shakespere Inn, and we booked dinner for two evenings. Our choice of eatery was driven by reviews on Trip Advisor. On viewing the website for The Shakespeare Inn, we noticed that they were asking customers to book in advance, and to give contact details, which is what we did.

Parking is a bit of an issue, and I do not think that I would fancy getting my wide car through the archway of the pub. It also appears that this area is being used for social distancing and queuing to get into the pub. You can park in the bus parking section outside of the pub, after 6pm, for free. We donned our face coverings and entered the pub.

On entering we were warmly greeted and asked if we had a reservation, which we did, and we were shown to a table at the front of the pub. This table was quite high with bench seating at one side and two chairs at the other side. I found this seating arrangement quite uncomfortable for eating, and it would have been better suited to drinking. The atmosphere in the pub is warm and welcoming with a good mix of local people and “newbies”. The staff also seemed to be happy and walked around looking happy and smiling.

On being seated we had a very thorough explanation of how social distancing was practiced at the pub, and there is a one way system which is enforced and everyone adheres to. You are expected to wear a mask if walking around the pub, but you are okay not wearing a mask whilst seated at the table. The staff had obviously been well trained and drilled in this, and this level of staff training could be seen in the operation of the establishment. The staff will bring your drinks to the table on a tray, but you will need to take them off the tray, and this is the same drill for the cutlery that you use.

We ordered our drinks, which were fairly reasonably priced, although as with all pubs, I do have an issue with pubs charging £3 for a pint of cola, but soft drinks provide the highest GP in pubs these days. Fosters is charged at £4 per pint and £3.60 for a bottle of Desparados.

When it came to the starters I opted for the smoked mackerel pate, which was smooth and mixed with brunoise of cucumber and pepper. On the side of the plate was some large crutons. My two sons chose to have the sausage and black pudding roll and the dough balls in garlic butter. We did find out that the dough balls are actually infused with the garlic butter rather than having a small ramekin of garlic butter on the side of your plate. Pate was charged at £5.95, sausage and black pudding roll was charged at £5.95 and the dough balls charged at £4.95.

Our main courses were served, and I chose the Whitby Scampi, which came with tartare sauce, chips and a small salad garnish. I found this to be pretty much standard pub fayre, but everything was well cooked, the food was well presented and tasted good. My sons plummed for the Shakey Lamb and the Fish n Chips. The lamb tasted good and fell off the bone. The fish n chips were a little disappointing as the size of the fish was quite small, but to compensate there was some density to the fish. This was served with chips and a small salad garnish. In all the main course was quite acceptable and we all left clean plates. The Whitby Scampi was charged at £11.95, the Shakey Lamb was charged at £15.95 and the Fish n Chips were charged at £12.95.

We also had desserts, in which I went for the hot waffles and my eldest son chose the chocolate fudge cake. Both desserts were well presented and tasted good. Chocolate fudge cake was charged at £4.95 and the hot waffles were charged at £4.95.

The overall bill came to £93.40 for three of us, but a quarter of that represented drinks. As card is preferred to cash we felt unable to leave a tip under the current COVID-19 circumstances, as we had no option during the card transaction. We would have been happy to leave 10%

I would certainly recommend this eatery to...

What an amazing place, this is the second time I have stayed here with a friend. We love it here the staff are so warm and welcoming and so are David and Lynne the owners.

Our room is beautiful, clean and warm. Fresh towels, clean beds and lovely gestures with chocolates and little bottles of toiletries perfect for a few days away and very comfortable.

Breakfast has an amazing selection from continental to cooked. Beautiful local produce used for the cooked breakfast, the breakfast staff make sure that you are well catered for to set you off on a day of adventures and keeping you going until lunch time.

When I stay here I never eat anywhere else for my evening meal as there is such a lovely choice including vegetarian and vegan options. Some of the best food I have eaten, leaves you feeling warm and full, something to suit everyone.

All the staff at The Shakespeare Inn are very warm, friendly and welcoming from the moment you arrive to the moment you leave.. you can have some lovely conversations with them all the staff team are a credit to David and Lynne.

David and Lynne What a lovely couple, The Shakespeare Inn is a credit to them, you can see the love and passion they have for the place and I am sure it will only go from strength to strength as each year passes. Thank you for making it such a pleasure to come and stay with you. And we will look forward to our visit next year and many more visits after...

Please don’t waste your money here! Absolutely terrible food, and the manager/ owner Lee has a condescending and patronising attitude.

We were on a family holiday and booked a table for 15 people on a Saturday night. We were asked to provide a pre-order, which is completely understandable for such a large table. Out of the 15 meals, not one of them was right.

The chicken burger had no sauce, it was supposed to have a lemon mayo and chilli jam, the mac and cheese came out of the kitchen without any of the toppings that were advertised, the gravy for the pie, and the curry sauce for the fish and chips was brought up 15 minutes after the rest of the food… the list goes on and on.

We believe that none of the food we were served was in fact ‘home made’, and when the issues were highlighted to Lee, he was extremely rude and refused to apologise or offer a solution, and instead decided to blame us for his mistakes.

Please don’t bother, spend your money elsewhere as this is the worst meal I’ve ever been served. I’ve also never been spoken to in such a disrespectful manner as a paying customer, the whole family were very upset about this incident for the rest of the evening.

Please...