Ribble Pilot — Restaurant in Preston

I have eaten here previously and thought it would be a nice option for Christmas Day withy family. When we arrived, we had to find someone to help who then escorted us to our table. We noticed around us the tables were laid with napkins and glasses, yet ours wasn't. Never mind. They took our drink order instantly and asked if we wanted our starters which we did. The starters came very quick and although the food was lovely, another cracker for the pate would have helped. Then onto the main which again came super fast. The lamb shank was cooked beautifully and my son really enjoyed that however the rest of us had turkey. They had forgot to put any carrots on our plates (I saw plenty of turkey dinners being taken and all had carrots on), the gravy was very watery but luckily only a drizzle (would have liked more but not of the watery kind), the roast potatoes a little soggy and the broccoli hard. Not a great combination to be honest. I understand they were busy but that was a very mediocre Christmas dinner. Then we had a break before dessert but we ordered another drink. I ordered a raspberry gin to pour into my existing drink as the last one had plenty of lemonade. They brought it and I tipped it in before realising that it definitely wasn't raspberry gin. I got the attention of the lady serving us, who gave me the response, "well I put it through myself". This made me feel uneasy, as if she was telling me I was wrong. IT DEFINITELY WASN'T RASPBERRY GIN. My daughter asked her to change the drink, which she then did however when she brought it back, the response was a rather snotty, "I poured this myself"...still implying I was wrong. I do not appreciate this. We went on to have dessert and the festive crumble, was delicious. That was lovely. The cheese board that my daughter had was terrible and not as advertised! The tart and the cherry bomb were just ok though presented well. I have to say all in all, I was disappointed with the dinner and disappointed with the service. I had Christmas dinner at the harvester last time and they are miles apart. For the £300 we paid, it wasn't worth a third of it and I won't be recommending...

Recently visited for the first time in many years for a midweek lunch. The pub has had a full refurb since last there and is well done. There were a number of people in, some eating some not. I ordered jacket potato with veggie chilli and side salad, which comprised of usual mixed salad in addition to a dressing of soya beans, quinoa , brown rice and kale. The wait time was bearable and table service available. Unfortunately due to the lack of chilli and most of the salad missing, I returned my meal, something I never do. For the cost, it was very disappointing. The chilli had been over warmed and was dry and there was very little of it ie. Approx 1 tablespoon spread on top and around the sides of the potato. My salad was missing everything except lettuce leaves, red pepper and onion. The waiter agreed I was right to return the dish. I waited some 15 minutes for my replacement by which time my partner had almost finished his meal. The second portion had more chilli and some of the missing salad items, not all. The waiter explained the menu was new and released the previous day and chefs were still learning what should be served with each dish. He also talked about how the company only allows a certain quantity of food portion per person, which appears to be very small from my experience! On this occasion the chefs apparently served me more than my entitlement! Still not average as it all fitted on a side plate. The menu is also pricey (see photos for some of the choices available). Unfortunately, this is not somewhere I will not be rushing back too . A shame as the location overlooks the Preston Docklands, has lots of other shops in the vicinity and a path that surrounds the docks for anyone who wishes to take a stroll, admire the various boats...

I was given a card to encourage me to post a review of my experience so here goes. There were thirteen of us out to celebrate my mums birthday on a Saturday night. The pub is clean and pleasant now it has been refurbished in a very generic ‘pub out of a catalog’ sort of way. The staff were friendly but unfortunately just not that attentive. I’m not expecting amazing as this is just pub grub, but as an example we sat for half an hour after finishing our meal with dirty plates in front of us. And disappointingly they forgot the birthday girls meal so we were three quarters the way through our meal before her meal arrived. I understand sometimes the proverbial happens but just disappointing. Having dropped over 250 quid between us it could have been better. I had the steak and ale pie which fell short of expectation based on the menu. I don’t feel like I’m exaggerating when I say it was 80% pastry. Very little steak and I found one quarter of the advertised mushrooms. Obviously this pub is part of a group so I think about the person at head office that tried this pie and thought ‘yes, that’s the job’. Do I feel like I got value for money? A bought in pie, some chips and peas. You decide!? I’ve seen another review from someone else about tasteless watery gravy and I’d have to say they have a point. So if you want to ask me if I’d return or recommend to a friend then I’d be forced to say no. I mean it wasn’t bad by any stretch but there wasn’t anything to set it apart from all the other mediocre places around Preston. I’m sorry but I can’t think of anything that would make me say ‘why don’t we go to the Ribble pilot’. Just a few improvements and please have a think about what would take the food from ‘meh’ to something I want to...