The Whitakers Arms — Restaurant in Hyndburn

Further edit...

Have been twice this weekend... service seriously dropped. Over an hour wait on Saturday due to a power cut in the kitchen, which the owners weren't told about for 30 minutes. When the food finally arrived, the curry was tepid, the pie crust was so tough you couldn't get a fork in it, the veg was only just warm and we were very unimpressed. Vanessa went out of her way to fix things by giving us a full refund and inviting us to Sunday lunch the next day "on the house." We went back the next day and the burger was dry and again we waited an hour for food, and again there was an excuse, this time of a large party that had arrived. Staff told us we couldn't order dessert when we went to the bar to order, and had to be corrected by another member of staff, and empty glasses on the table were left when plates were removed. I assume one member of staff was new because she was wandering around looking like she didn't know what she was doing and didn't seem very friendly.

Unfortunately this means of 4 visits we only had 1 good experience. We have now been recommended other eateries in town and won't be returning to this place. Very disappointed.

edit I'm delighted to say we've been back to the Whitakers Arms recently, and it couldn't have been more different. Vanessa was dashing around, and they seemed to be a little short staffed, but everyone was friendly, cheerful, and helpful, and happy to take a moment to chat. The food seemed to take no time at all to arrive and was really delicious. It brings me genuine delight to say that this visit has us talking about making it our regular and even braving the pub quiz at some point. Jamie, Vanessa and team, thanks for a lovely evening and great food. See you soon.

Original review from Sept 2024...

They were having a bad day when we went. They stopped serving food just after we arrived on Sunday afternoon, our original order wasnt availabe because they didnt uave the ingredients in, there was no mango chutney with our curry and poppadom no bread and butter with the fish platter, and we waited ages for the food to be served, and were asked twice if we wanted a table. There were only 2 bar staff on duty and they were clearly frazzled. They had to deal with a group of drunks that had to be poured into a taxi after deciding to use the beer garden as a toilet. I felt so sorry for them and it wasn't a great introduction to what we hope will be our new local. We did get profuse (and embarrassed) apologies and are prepared to give them a chance to redeem themselves. When we do, I'll be more than happy to update the review. In the meantime I can only say that it's a good job we weren't...

Awful. Such a shame as the whole area has high hopes for this pub. But after our experience, I think if only fair to leave this review so that people don’t waste their hard earned money on a meal here. We were a booked table. On arrival, we weren’t shown to our table, just told…your table is that one in there. We ordered at 19:15 and our food arrived at 20:45. An hour and a half later. We received no apology for the wait and even less of an apology for the food which was near next to inedible. When the landlady came over to ask how our meal was (she had seen how long our wait was), we were politely truthful but we were told ‘Well what can you expect when you’re paying these prices, it’s not to everyone’s palate and it’s not Wetherspoons’ 😂. It seemed the landlady wanted an argument and had every excuse under the sun..albeit they were as dreadful as the food and service. 2 of our table also felt ill after dining. I would really not like to think about the state of their kitchen. Don’t think teething issues covers this, nor the 12 people in the dining room or the price we were paying could excuse how utterly terrible the meal and welcome was. Will never eat here ever again and urge everybody else not to. Anyone leaving glowing reviews clearly hasn’t eaten here. (The photos online are also food from the previous owners, not the current menu, so...

We have eaten here quite regular but our recent visit will be our last. My husband ordered the bacon and cheese burger, it looked good when it arrived but when he started to eat it the fat from the burger dripped everywhere not just a bit it was pouring out. We called Vanessa over who looked at it and said leave it with me and went off to the kitchen. She came back with a side plate and was going to take the burger back and get another one cooked, she was going to leave the fries to go cold, we refused. She couldnt see that this was wrong. We asked for a refund which she said they dont normally do refunds but seeing as we are regulars she would. She brought the money over I told her I didnt want my meal as I was put off it with my husband not having anything to eat. She walked away and left my plate on the table. As we were finishing our drinks she came over and apologised for our meal and offered a free meal for both of us next time as long as we did not leave a bad review but thinking about it I decided to post this as people should know what happened. The place was very quiet I wonder if they are struggling. We will not be...