The Three Fishes — Restaurant in Ribble Valley

Date of eating there was Saturday 18/5/24 We arrived on time, we were offered drinks before or drinks at our table should we wish to go straight to our table. We decided to go through to our table and order our drinks. After an interesting and informative conversation with the sommelier, we choose our wine, and it was an excellent wine. Our first course arrived quite soon after our order had been taken, which was nice. The cheese breads and sough dough bread along with salted butter and parsley pesto, was very nicely presented and very tasty. After that the wheels started to fall off. Firstly we had quite a long wait, then we had the cutlery arrive and explained that our soup course was next and left us with a soup spoon, not to pick fault but the menu clearly stated that we were to expect the pea mousse with fresh asparagus. When the food did arrive it was actually the pea mousse, so we brought to the attention of the server that we had soup spoons, they offered to bring knives and forks straight away, however he was stopped by the head waiter and told “ they could eat it with soup spoons” so I went and asked the head waiter for the correct cutlery. The asparagus was simply too long to manage with a soup spoon and it would have been quite difficult to pick the food up with just a spoon. We had a quite long wait again, 15 -20 minutes. During that time the table immediately behind us called the waiter over to ask why they had been ignored for 45 minutes since the water had been brought to the table, he made various excuses, to no avail and they got up and left. The table opposite also called the waiter over and asked why they had not received their second course, after 30 minutes wait. When our Cherval soup arrived with a soup spoon!! The fennel pieces were to large to even go on the spoon and even though I have a big mouth (according to my wife) there was not a way to manipulate it into my mouth without getting it all over our faces. Quite spoiled the event. The flavour was really delicious. We quietly brought this to the attention of our waiter again. He said that he would inform the kitchen. While we were talking to the waiter we noticed that an other table that had come in after us were now on their desert course, we could not work out what was happening. The other couple had now received their soup. We now waited just over 30 minutes before our main course arrived which to be fair was very unacceptable. We had asked for the Roe deer with a side of Smokey purée potatoes. When our main course finally arrived we had to remind them that we ordered the side dish which we had to wait a few minutes for with our mains already on the table. When it arrived we were less than inspired by it, as there was no smokiness to the potatoes at all, in fact it could have been instant mash for the lack of flavour. We left it to one side to be honest as it was not worth eating. My Roe deer was cooked beautifully and presented in a stunning way. However my wives was what can only be described as burnt, not caramelised just burnt. We would of called the waiter over but we did not see one for a while, So my wife just left it to one side. We ate our meal and once the head waiter came over at the end of our main course we again quietly brought our concerns to their attention. They said that they would bring it to the attention of the kitchen. We waited for our desert, which did not disappoint at all it was a stunning strawberry soufflé. Overall it was a very disappointing experience, with shambolic service from the start to the very end, the quality of the food was at best hit and miss. Having been looking forward to a wonderful culinary experience by one of the best known chiefs Nigel Haworth. This could be a bad day, but I fear that the front of house staff are ill trained and we are left wondering what happened in...

I wouldn't had offered to leave a review, but I've just had an email from the Three Fishes asking how my meal was, so here goes. I've been to the Three Fishes around 8 times since it re-opened. However the last two times I've been in the space of a month, it has been somewhat of a disappointment. I am leaving this review in the hope that someone will read it and improvements will be made, as I genuinely do want it to succeed. My first complaint is the speed in which the foods comes. We had to wait a very long time for the first course and when we ordered the wine flight the wine was served after the meal had been eaten. Obviously this was quite annoying. On this weekend's trip the food came sooner, but when we tried to order a glass of champagne at 8.30pm and was told they had 'run out', with no solution of what else was available. The staff are obviously short of some training as when our dirty plates were being cleared, a young waiter asked 'Is nobody eating that last chip' and then thrust the plate towards me and said 'go on' and I replied saying 'no thank you, perhaps you can have it when you get back to the kitchen' to which he replied 'yes i will'. Not the kind of exchange you expect from a fine-dining experience. In the toilets the towels to dry your hands had completely run out and were thrown onto the floor (as the bin was full) with more paper towel thrown on the floor also. When i paid the bill (£630 for 6 people) I was called 40 mins later to say they had forgotten to put the wine on the bill and could i return. When i went back and examined the bill, they hadn't charged me for the wine but had charged me for something I hadn't had at all. Which reminds me, when I tried to order another bottle of the same wine during the meal, I was told that had also run out of that particular wine too, with also no option for an alternative. It just feels as though the waiting staff are very disjointed, but the one saving grace of this place is Nigel's food, which cannot be faulted in any way which is what you'd expect for such a decorated chef. However, I won't be returning to the Three Fishes for a few months to give them chance to improve, after which I will try it again. So watch...

A wonderful experience to dine at the Three Fishes, one I won't forget for a long time. I'm due for a life changing op in a weeks time and will take me three months to recuperate after having my bowel removed due to cancer, not something I would wish on anyone. The op will replace my bowel and I will have a stoma requiring to poop into a bag located in my tummy so having a wonderful meal is a wonderful gift to my stomach for serving me well for the last 59years. I digress, the chowder was wonderful, this is always one of my favourite starters but my friends had the salmon mouse also wonderful. My main was the sirloin, steak is always good whichever restaurant I visit, sorry for the vegetarians, but good on them for having the will power to help animals live a fruitful a d happy life, possibly well deserved. I know I don't have the will power! Freshly prepared veggies and roasties which I believe are farmed on the gardens behind the car park. For dessert I had the rhubarb crumble with ice cream but my.friends had the cheeses (a £7 supplement) but were fantastic, soft, hard a d blue plus my favourite Tunworth! To die for and we all shared with extra crackers. The chef, was phenomenal and extolled his amazing knowledge of the cheeses, a masterclass and enjoyable in his excellent ability to know the .Akers a d their methods of cheese making. He even provided us with where to purchase the wonderful cheeses down the road near Clitheroe, we'll all be stocking up our fridges very soon! An amazing Sunday dinner which after looking at the mid-week menu is even better for their daily menu which changes daily to suit the fresh meat, fish and vegetables their restaurant have delivered or home grow on the gardens...