The Sun Inn — Restaurant in England

The worst place my party and I ate at during our travels through Scotland and England, and they were up against a café at a zoo!

TLDR: Awful food, terrible service, and a pub that seems to cater to the extremely judgemental locals, but doesn't give a damn about visitors. Don't trust the reviews by the locals who think Liverpool is "too far for us folk."

Oh lord, where to begin. We walked in, and it felt like a scene from a Western were the music stops and the local folk stare down the newcomers. The lady serving us seemed nice enough (at first), but we found it odd that our drink order was taken before we were seated, as we had booked a table. Menu looked good, I checked the GF options... all seemed to be going great. And then it began...

We waited about half an hour in a mostly empty restaurant section to even order. The lady took our order and rushed it into the kitchen. 15 minutes later, we got told that the option I had picked was no longer available, as they'd run out of all of it and gave me another menu. OK, no problem. 10 minutes later, she came back to see what I wanted. I ordered, only for her to come back (again) and tell me the chips were not GF, nor was the mash, when I asked if I could have that, and my only option was a jacket potato. That's fine. My wife ordered the pie of the day, and my MIL order a chicken burger.

Our food arrived, and... oh dear. My steak had no seasoning, at all, and was undercooked. My MILs burger started disintegrating as soon as she picked it up. And it seemed that the salt that was meant for my steak somehow made its way into my wife's pie, as it was basically a salt lick for horses.

Not once did the staff check on us to see if the food was OK, or to see if we wanted any more drinks, or anything. When we were finished, the lady came over and asked if we were done, we said yes, and she left us to go and ask another table of locals if they were done and clear their table, ask if they wanted dessert, deliver them the dessert menu, explain the options, and then come back to clear our table, not once asking if everything was ok, how was the food, or anything. Just "pay at the bar when you're ready." So, off I went to pay, only to be told they couldn't print a receipt and I just had to pay what they told me. All while being stared at by the locals as though I had four faces, six wings, and had just told them to "Be not afraid."

Honestly, if you're visiting the area, just go to...

We stayed here for 2 nights during the week (Wednesday and Thursday), using a Buy-a-Gift voucher we had been given for Christmas.

I'm really pleased we found this place. We were greeted by a lovely member of staff who ended up serving us for the 2 nights we were there.

The room we stayed in (standard double) was lovely and clean. A decent size too. The flat screen TV was large enough to watch clearly from the bed - I'm guessing it was a 32" screen or similar. The shower room was modern and clean.

We spent a decent amount of time in the room watching TV etc, but it was the bar and restaurant that really impressed us.

Firstly the drinks. We're both fans of Guinness, and the draft Guinness at The Sun is well kept. We also tried the Madri lager, a flavoured gin and tonic, and a bottle of Malbec wine.

Secondly the food. Wow. On our first night, it was theme night, and the theme was "Winter Warmers". We both opted for the home-made steak pie, with chips and veg. Absolutely delicious. Really good-sized portions too. On our second night, the full menu was available. I chose the steak and chips, while the Mrs chose one of the Chinese-style dishes (chicken in honey/chilli sauce). My porterhouse was lovely, but my wife's meal was amazing. I continually found myself using my chips to pinch the sauce from her plate.

On atmosphere - it was pretty good both nights. Wednesday is the ladies' darts night, and Thursday is the men's darts. Both nights the pub was fairly busy, with a friendly atmosphere. We both felt completely welcomed.

The owners and the staff who work here are lovely, they really made us welcome, and I have promised one of the owners that we will return in future, bringing our kids with us next time. Thanks for...

A pint, starter, and main for £30, accompanied with a fantastic atmosphere.

After descending from the summit of Scafell, I found myself in dire need of a meal and a pint. Almost two hours of searching later, having dismissed other pubs and restaurants for limited menu choices (or for being too posh for a sweaty hiker!), I stumbled across the chilled out but accomodating Sun Inn!

With front pub and rear restaurant areas, I could quite easily have dressed up and brought a lady for a date night in the restaurant area. Seating my less presentable self in the pub however was hassle free and I enjoyed a sofa in the corner near the darts board and TV after being served a decent pint by a bartender most amicable.

The most splendid garlic mushrooms starter, which was served to me by lovely waiting staff who later checked up on me, truly put me in the mood for some good food. But I wasn't prepared for the showstopper of a sizzler which was the salt and pepper chicken, with vegetables cooked aldente to perfection!

If you're in the area and feeling thirsty or peckish (or just in the mood for a game of darts!), swing by...