What's Cooking — Restaurant in Liverpool

The good: View is lovely especially in the evening sitting outside when the fairy lights on the pillars are lit and reflect upon the water. It can however be a bit chilly as it was for us...it is however shared by all the restaurants here and we ended up wishing we'd picked another one. They have wooden booths in which to eat however contrary to what others have said these were entirely unheated and we were therefore chilly. Also smokers at neighbouring tables meant we were stuck passively breathing cigarette smoke for much of the time. Unintended side effect of the smoking ban I suppose, we were glad when some chain smoking people at a neighboring table moved on.

Food etc: Mediocre food at comparatively expensive prices - the garlic bread is simply on chiabata bread despite being similar price to what you might pay for a large garlic pizza bread elsewhere (felt vastly overpriced). No option to order it without cheese if, like me you don't like cheese. Southern fried chicken goujons were dry and the coating was pretty uninspiring - not quite sure what it was as didn't appear bread crumb based. Didn't finish them anyway. Thin crispy french fries were good. Biscoff freakshake a little bit of a disappointment having tried my fair share of biscoff shakes etc at different places this one unfortunately ranks worse. £2.30 also only gets a pathetically small half pint of pepsi. A little effort was made delivering the food on wooden platters presentation wise... but the food itself was pretty underwhelming. Wouldn't go back on the basis of the food.

Service: So I asked for my garlic bread without cheese, which meant I had to complete order on the website via QR code then find a server and physically tell them how I wanted the food...and cross my fingers it would work... I also asked for our food all together as the only starter we'd offered was garlic bread and only one of our party had ordered it ..they gave us the garlic bread without cheese, as requested, but on its own and the rest of the party basically had to watch one person eat before being served their own food. The freskshake came with only one spoon to eat the cream despite being offered by a couple (so usually they'd give you two) and no straw whatsoever with it...we had to use the one from the tiny pepsi, they also forgot to bring enough cutlery, gave us only one sachet of ketchup initially and were generally inattentive.

One positive thing to say. Despite the drink being pathetically small they gave us a proper old school plastic straw. That was, at least, very much appreciated given it's almost impossible not to get these horrible paper ones that go soggy these days....shame they didn't give us any straw with our milkshake. Wish more places would could still do this but the rules against single use plastics seem to have stopped almost everywhere doing it.

Overall I wish I'd picked any of the other places along the docks and won't be going back here. Neither the food nor the service was great and our bill was almost the same as we paid at the amazing and more upmarket feeling Indian place Mowgli's a couple of days before.

This is drastically overpriced and not tremendously good pub food with poor service. Everyone can have an off day service wise of course. For the first time in a long time we didn't tip.

My suggestion -...

A table was booked prior to eating. The food was average not worth the price it costs. It was ridiculously expensive for what you got. Plus when the bill arrived their was an additional 10% service charge added on. When this was queried and asked where this was stated on the menus or on the website, I was told quite rudely by the annoying waiter that they had to make a living? I thought salaries were paid for that. The service charge didn't seem optional as it was simply just added on to the bill without prior warning. Whilst I don't mind giving a tip and in fact always do, I think this should be asked for not automatically taken. I offer a service to my patients, so with that said I could charge them an additional 10% every time they required treatment. The service charge was paid with nothing else said. On leaving the bar/grill the waiter was waving cash in front of my face. When I asked what he was doing he said he was returning the charge that I didn't want to pay. So not only rude but condescending. Safe to say we will NOT be returning. I had four tiny fajitas with not enough chicken to fill them. Loads of peppers, a tiny bit of sauce with lettuce (£17). I had a small slice of chocolate cake (£6). My family had two starters which was two small slices of garlic bread and four fiery wings. Three burgers with a tiny portion of chips each. one sundae and rocky road pancakes with ice cream. We got a refund for one burger meal as my husband almost choked on a large bone in the shredded pork. So for 2 starters, 3 meals and 3 deserts It cost £92. My daughter and husband had a starter each, a burger and small chips each, a fudge brownie and sundae it cost £72. Drinks were extra on top of these prices. If you go to eat at his place make sure you check your bill, take a mortgage out and have an...

Ah, "What's Cooking" at the illustrious Albert Docks, Liverpool. An establishment that weaves tales of gastronomic ecstasy, akin to a master storyteller spinning an intriguing yarn. The food, a vibrant orchestration of flavours, is a maestro's composition. Each bite, a mellifluous note, resonated with my senses, creating an epicurean symphony that reverberates through the gustatory landscape.

The culinary offerings were, in every sense, a veritable feast. The tender, succulent meat, the fresh, crisp vegetables, and the sublime depth of the sauces were nothing short of exquisite. The culinary craftsmanship on display was, in fact, as breathtaking as a moonlit waltz on a Venetian gondola.

However, every symphony can be marred by a jarring note. Our evening's narrative took a slight detour, courtesy of a waitress whose attentiveness seemed to have taken an uncalled for sabbatical. A minor misstep, indeed, yet one that cast an unnecessary shadow on an otherwise luminescent dining experience. The drinks, though delightful, arrived in a disarrayed order, much like a symphony played out of tune.

Despite the hiccup, the dining experience still managed to rise above the realm of the average, perched comfortably on the precipice of excellence. A little more attention to detail, and the evening would have been nothing short of a grand concerto, performed flawlessly to a standing ovation.

So, in conclusion, I award "What's Cooking'' a commendable four stars. A gastronomic haven that promises an enchanting culinary journey, only slightly marred by an off-key service note. But don't let my words deter you. Venture forth, fellow gourmands, and let the splendour of this culinary cornucopia serenade...