The Traders Arms — Restaurant in Ribble Valley

Leaving the review a little late as been busy with the holidays & getting back into work. Myself & 5 others had our Christmas dinner at The Traders & I must say we were very disappointed with the standard of food, particularly considering the cost of £70 pp. The starter described as cornetti of salmon, with lobster, crab, prawn & caviar was really underwhelming. I was expecting perhaps a little canopy of each element as the cornetti was not described as “stuffed with” What I received was a roll of salmon filled with soft cheese, with caviar sprinkled on top. There seemed to be no elements of the other fish described? Definitely didn’t have a single prawn & I can only assume the crab & lobster were shredded & mixed with the cheese, but why would you do that with something that taste so subtle, & to shred lobster again a very peculiar thing to do with an expensive ingredient. I can only assume it was a cost saving exercise. On Christmas Day you’d expect to chef to create special dishes not try to save money especially when the customer of paying £70pp. My main fillet steak with dauphinoise potatoes. Potatoes barely warm & the FILLET steak was ribboned with fat! I’ve had less fat in rump steaks, I don’t expect large chunks of fat in fillet steak. The other guest also complained that there food was luke warm when served, 3 of which had gone for the turkey dinner. Cheesecake was for dessert, the accompanying ice cream was tasty however the cheesecake bottom was very loose, almost cake like. The cheesecake was homemade, it’s not particularly difficult to execute cheesecake well? I did complain that my food wasn’t warm & the fillet was very fatty, I think the server panicked, she was a young girl. Didn’t know how to respond barely acknowledge what I said. I felt that was handled very poorly. Not sure if she informed management or the chef but no one came to make any form of amends. The staff were friendly & was obvious they were trying to keep the customers happy, Christmas Day must be stressful in the hospitality industry but as the saying goes if you can’t stand the heat, get out the kitchen. All in all £440 paid for 6 people as my brother tipped £20 (he doesn’t critique food as I do) A very disappointing experience that has put me off eating out on Christmas Day for the rest of my life & I will not be returning nor the other 5 guest to the...

Seriously gone downhill. Food served not as per menu. Items missing. The pint of prawns as a starter were warm and tasteless. We did ask for the mayonnaise and Marie rose dressing to be served on the side as not all the people who had them like the sauce. The lemon mayonnaise was to be honest served separate but the prawns were smothered for the last third in Marie rose. They were also watery and warm Main courses Fish platter .(a joke) smoked salmon was ok other fish? Yet again prawns were so watery that if you tried to use the white sliced bread(advertised as crusty bread) not even brown bread the bread disintegrated. When asked for a salad dressing for the salad an excuse came out that the cook couldn't produce one. Liver and bacon served with creamed potatoes turned out as just liver in gravy on mashed potatoes. Scampi was asked to be served with baked beans instead of salad. Scampi arrived with frozen chips ( not as advertised hand cut ) then we had to go and ask for the beans as we waited 10 minutes and they had not materialised. Hunters chicken was just cooked but hardly any BBQ sauce and the cheese was non existent. When we asked to see the manager he was not available. This for a friday night in my experience is not acceptable. I suppose the alarm bells should have started when arrived and it was empty when it was usually crowded. ONLY GOOD THING IS I DON'T EVER HAVE TO GO THERE AGAIN. Oh I forgot I'm a qualified chef of 35 years so yes I could have done the job...

Went for a family meal was greeted by an elder woman who made us feel extremely unwelcome from the start.

On to the meal, I ordered the fish and chips and the started with the ribs with a Guinness. The Guinness seemed like it had been poured from a dead barrel. the fish was really nice however the chips were soggy and tasteless. The ribs could be the worst thing I have ever put in my mouth not sure what the sauce was but it gave the ribs an aniseed taste which lead to a family member who tried it to spit it out.

The saving grace of the visit there was the blonde lady (tattoo on the back of her neck) she seemed to be carrying the place on her shoulders she never stopped moving and was really nice.

The other waitress (blonde) was slow and seemed a hinderance for the helpful waitress mentioned above.

On leaving, the soulless lady who greeted us made sure we left the place with the same energy!

Will not be returning think we will stick to spread eagle or the millstone which is on the same road.

Thought the sign outside which I noticed on leaving was pretty ironic after...