Red Dog Saloon Liverpool — Restaurant in Liverpool

Me and three others went on a Monday and booked in for 3pm. The Restaurant itself is really beautiful, I love the decor and gothic architecture. There is an accessible toilet upstairs, and the bathrooms downstairs are gendered despite being individual rooms.

We had all been very much looking forward to this place after seeing loads of tiktok’s about it but it unfortunately did not live up to the hype.

We ordered the Kentucky Platter for 3 which was £95.70 and not worth it. For that price, each individual gets: a burger or sandwich of their choice, 1 pork rib, 1/3 of a beef rib, 1 slice of brisket, 1 sausage each. The platter also came with 1 garlic mayo dip for 3 people, 2 round pickles slices, a small mac and cheese bowl, and one sad tablespoon of coleslaw all BETWEEN 3 people. The burger i selected was rather bland, the brisket was just okay over half of the single slice I had was pure fat, the pork rib was good and well seasoned, the beef short rib was tiny: as we only got one split between 3 people we had a singular bite each but the bite i had was nice, the sausage was great but disappointingly the best part the menu where we all looked forward to the slow cooked meats.

Overall the platter was decent but really overpriced for what we got. The burgers you do get with the platter are pre cut in half presumably to fill the tray up as it’s basically empty without them, so they were going cold really quickly, the brisket had a nice flavour but was tough. My burger was bland and medium well in one spot and very rare on another when I’d asked for medium.

Service wise, the two wait staff we had did a pretty good job, they both seemed pretty new to it so I can’t fault them for that. We were however given 2 plates for 4 people and had to ask for more, and had to ask for the mac and cheese that was forgotten, and at one point none of them were walking around so we had to go to the bar to reorder drinks.

Overall I’m disappointed. This place didn’t live up to the online hype, I’m unsure if those videos were planned by the restaurants, the Liverpool location is a dud, or we went on a bad day. The latter of which is inexcusable when you’re paying £170 for dinner. I’ll also add that it was quiet when we went in. And yes- there is an option to complain to wait staff, but when you’re with friends there’s only so much you can do this without souring the mood. It also took over 50 minutes for the food to arrive. A 10% service charge upon a very overpriced meal is also added without asking, which 100% will not go to the service staff. Despite other people being there, it felt awkward to be there. There was no music or background sound so you felt like you could hear everyone else’s conversations.

I don’t think it’s worth going out of your way for or the price for the particular experience that I had. The whole “expectations vs reality” is really a factor here. I think if the platter’s value for money was better or that it listed on the menu that an individual gets: 1 burger 1 pork rib 1 sausage 1/3 beef short rib 0.6 of a pickle slice 1/3 tablespoon of coleslaw 2-3 tablespoons of mac and cheese for £32.50, I would've picked something else as the sandwiches and burgers alone seemed like much better value but I suppose the online appeal of these platters is where they make their money.

I’d be open to trying other locations such as the London one, but it won’t be very...

I was really looking forward to eating here, but was beyond disappointed in what turned out to be one of the worst dining experiences of my life.

When my partner and I arrived at the time of our confirmed booking, the place was obviously overbooked and overflowing with people. We were asked to go to the bar and get a drink because there would be "a few minutes' wait" for a table to clear up. Since we don't drink alcohol, we just ended up standing in front of the bar watching the staff scramble around for a total of 35 minutes.

Once a table finally cleared, a clumsy (or untrained) waitress led us there without saying a word. The table we were given was dirty, sticky, and directly beneath a loud speaker that was blasting Christmas music. We asked the staff if they could lower the volume of the music, and we were told that "they'd see what they can do" - which turned out to be nothing. At this point it was clear that the service quality would be nothing short of terrible for the rest of the night.

We ordered a couple of cokes (which by the way were not even listed on the menu, just like all of the soft drinks), a variety of meat dishes, and a portion of fries. It took 40 minutes for the most bland and poorly cooked food I have ever seen in my life to arrive at the table.

Let's break down the details of the dishes we had the misfortune of trying. The fries were one of the few items that had an ounce of seasoning, but they were also sad and soggy, as if they were cooked in cold or old oil, or sat under the hot lights for too long before being served. The brisket was a disgusting blob of insipid, unrendered, and untrimmed fat. We literally could not swallow it because it felt like we were chewing beef fat flavoured chewing gum. The flavourless St. Louis ribs, albeit tender on one side, were dry and chewy on the inner side, where the membrane that was not removed turned into a hard, unedible sheet. The chicken wings were absolutely drowning in grease - again, probably because they were fried in cold or old oil. The hot link sausage - the saving grace. It was the only item that had any resemblance of smokey flavour and proper seasoning (I can only assume because it was outsourced and not made in-house).

I am beyond appalled as to how a restaurant that prides in specialising in Texan barbecue could serve such flavourless and poorly prepared dishes, especially at the high price point they are being sold at. There was a clear lack of skill, experience, or care in the kitchen staff which was glaringly reflected in the quality of the food.

Considering the value of the raw ingredients, which I admit were of decent quality, I cannot excuse the insane prices on the menu. The meat prices I would understand - if the dishes were cooked properly - but the drinks? £4.75 for a coke (which again, is NOT listed on the menu) off the bar mixers is a robbery in broad dailight. What is that, a 2000%+ markup? Not to mention the 10% "discretionary" surcharge for the terrible service we received, which bumped our bill to over £70 for: 2 cokes, 4 pork ribs, 1 sausage, 3 thin (1/4 inch) slices of brisket, 1/4 lb of chicken wings, and a cup of fries.

A true shame. The decor and atmosphere were promising, but the Red Dog Saloon failed to deliver....

Where to even start? I had a table booked for 5.15, we arrived on time, our table wasn't ready, it was my partners birthday and spoilt the element of surprise for his balloon.we waited for 10 minutes until our table was ready.

We ordered drinks and the server had brought 2 diet cokes instead of 1 diet and 1 full fat. I caught the attention of our server, she barely spoke any English and could understand what I was saying 4 times!

We are ABIT greedy and 3 of us fancied the sharing platter for 2, but eat it for 1 (what can we say we like our food). So that would be 3 different sharing platters for 3 people. Upon looking at the price it's seemed a reasonable price and something we would have all enjoyed there and taken some home to snack on later in the night. The server again didn't understand what I was saying and was confused. Once we established what we were asking, she wrote down our order and then told us that the price on the menu for the platters were 'per person' so instead of a platter being £35 it was £70! On the menu it is not very clearly and is very misleading, you can only order for a minimum of 2 people so why not just put the price as £70 to start with? My partner and I ordered the new York platter between us in the end and our friend only got 3 chicken tenders. We were all disgusted over this price, and the menu being so poorly written, which other reviews also highlighted how this was very misleading! Anyway our food came, and the size of the platter compared to the price was an absolute rip off!! The platter consists of 2 burgers, 6 wings, 5 pork belly bites (tiny may I add) and 4 thin slices of brisket, that was it, no fries, they had to be ordered separately. I was go smacked £70 it was not worth it at all!!!

I'm addition, We had cupcakes I had made for my partner's birthday, for the server to bring out and sing happy birthday. No she never did this the brought the cakes out with the candles lit, but never sung happy birthday! Which was pretty underwhelming, especially for a 30th birthday.

The atmosphere was awful as the music was far too loud then the band came to set up for the 9pm show, they were doing mic tests ect, and made 2 of my friends feel over stimulated due to their sensitivity the high pitched mic static.

Finally after waiting ages to get the servers attention, we asked for the bill, we wanted to check over the and work out how much we spent individually, so we could sort out payment ect. They automatically added a 10% service charge! Now I like tipping but it all depends on how the service and food was, and on this occasion I did not feel like a £21 tip was worth it at all!! We gave £5 in the end as I personally do feel compelled to leave a small tip, but not £21!! To consolidate every the overall night was ruined from the start, the food was overpriced, service was terrible and atmosphere was non existent. I will not be returning again! I can recommend for anyone to go anywhere else similar to here go to Hickorys smokehouse instead of here, the portion sizes are a lot bigger, the staff are a lot nicer, the atmosphere is better, they make a big fuss for special occasions and overall Hickorys is a lot nicer than red dogs. Ruined my partners...