The Lark — Restaurant in Northern Ireland

This place has a good street presence and we liked the ambience and decor. No live music when we visited but the FA cup was on so fair enough. We’d been in before but not for food and the music was really good.

The staff were very courteous and friendly. No issue finding us a table, even though we’d just walked-in without a booking, although it was early January so the place wasn’t really busy.

The food was another matter. It took a long time to get to us and they were not run off their feet with kitchen orders.

When the food finally arrived it was disappointing. The beef dripping chips were great and the burger was tasty, but was fairly meagre for the money, mainly because it didn’t come with bacon or cheese as it would in most other similarly priced local places, but even at that it wasn’t great value for money.anyway. It felt more like a kids portion if honest. Found myself snacking late that night.

The lasagne was watery and not very appealing. The garlic bread was just white bread toasted with garlic in it. It was served in small triangles like in a breakfast cafe. Not sure what they were thinking. Maybe it was all they had. We didn’t finish it.

When asked how the meal was by a guy who appeared to be the manager we gave honest feedback, which was accepted and seemed to be appreciated. We were told the lasagne would be discounted off the bill. When we went to pay no manager was in sight and no discount was given.

Not for us. Will be back for drinks and music, but...

I think we just came on an off-day because what a disappointment! We made a reservation for Saturday afternoon, and although it didn't seem too busy, it's possible they were understaffed due to the Christmas holiday because the service was quite poor. Most other tables had a full menu (we gathered from some light creeping 👀), yet we were only offered a limited set menu that had just one veg option. While our drinks came fairly quickly, we waited for our food for over an hour. None of us were in a rush, but it was odd they didn't even come back with water or to ask if we wanted another drink while we waited. When the food finally arrived, it was no longer hot, and they gave me a chicken curry instead of the veg (maybe not normally a huge deal except I'm vegetarian). When I got the replacement veggie curry, it appeared like it was slapped together at the last second as it looked starkly different. I'm usually pretty easy to please food-wise, but it was very watery and bland. Even the rice was sopping. The one saving grace was our server--I wish I got her name! She was doing her best in a less-than-ideal situation, and I appreciate that she requested for my meal to be on the house and for our table to be given a discount. Holidays can be hectic, so I hope this poor experience was just a one-off, but we were...

Teething problems hopefully! The bar and restaurant both look fantastic inside, but its seriously let down by the inexperienced staff. We arrived into the bar and managed to get a table. It took some time before anyone came to clear away the empty glasses for us. The young man who did serve us, apologised for the delay and explained that it was his first day. That was all fine. We asked for menus and were told that we would have to go up to the restaurant to eat. The young server went to check and then told us to go on up. Upstairs the restaurant was almost empty but it still took ages before a young girl came over to speak to us. She told us that the restaurant was fully booked and they couldn't give us a table. So we went back downstairs to find our table there had now been given away and there were no other free tables for us. There didn't seem to be anyone in charge of the place. Just a group of teenagers serving and not really knowing what's going on around them. Hopefully this is just settling in problems. Lisburn desperately needs a bar like this, and it's a real shame that it's let down by a lack of...