The Park — Restaurant in Sefton

We looked online for somewhere to eat in Birkdale that served smaller portions, as my elderly sister doesnt eat large meals. ‘The Park’ seemed to fit the bill offering a dedicated 'senior' menu option, so I telephoned them to enquire about the eligibility criteria and they agreed to reserve a table by the window for 6pm dining.

We arrived on-time, made ourselves known, then was told to “sit anywhere”. Clearly they couldn't be bothered to reserve a table as promised. We managed to sit near to the window on a bench seat that didnt look particularly appealing with threadbare upholstery.

The table (no 3 ) appeared to have been wiped over with a dirty cloth as ‘wipe marks’ were visible and the surface was sticky to the touch, anyones guess as to how long ago the condiments were cleaned. The cutlery was also open to the elements and anyones touch in the condiment box stood on the table, not a hygenically appealing first impression.

My elderly sister chose the “2 course meal deal”, selecting fish & chips for main, and wanted to defer her decision on the desert until after her meal.

I approached the bar to order the food with the young girl assistant, stating that my sister wanted the 2 course meal deal and asked if it was possible for the desert decision to be deferred until after eating the main meal. She said that this could be done, however we would need to open “a tab” to do this, which was OK with me.

As my payment would be contactless via my phone I was then told that I couldn't open a tab unless I had a physical card, obviously I didn’t, so in this case the meal must be paid in-full upon order and furthermore the desert would have to be decided upon at the time of order. Huh? Why such complication over such a minor request? Very bizarre and unnecessarily obstructive and inconvenient.

Nonetheless I placed my order returning to the table whereupon checking my bill, discovered that I had not been charged for the ‘senior 2 course meal deal’ that I had ordered. Returning to the bar to query the mistake I was told that the meal deal finished at 5pm, so we couldn't have it! I protested that this was not mentioned to us either upon booking the 6pm reservation on the phone, nor upon placing my order at the bar with the previous girl, who had now disappeared.

I was extremely unhappy at being mislead in this way, making it known to the assistant, who was most nonchalant and unempathetic, saying “what do you want me to do?” I retorted that I expected the original order for the meal deal should be honoured under the circumstances as clearly we had been mislead. She was adamant that she couldn't do anything because “it was governed by the till”.

This experience left a sour taste to what turned out to be a mediocre meal, a "senior" meal now costing an additional 47% and lack of respect and courtesy afforded by the staff who have no flexibility and little customer...

Myself , partner and 2 children booked a meal here . I used to visit here a few years ago and remember it as a lovely, friendly pub . What a disappointment !!! We ordered our food and drinks . When the drinks arrived the glasses were dirty and my daughter refused to drink out of it , even the barman took one sniff and said it smelt of stale beer . The food then came out and I couldn't believe that the chicken was cold and RAW . This could not have been checked prior to leaving the kitchen . The staff member apologised and did replace it with a different meal . The food in general was awful and is probably the worst meal I have eaten in years . I also found the 2 female bar staffed lacked any customer service skills , considering the situation . On the whole I left very disappointed and shocked that my partner could have consumed raw meat !! We will not be returning again for our own safety . I have never complained about anywhere before but just needed people to be aware of this .

Thank you for your reply which I believe to be inaccurate as your pub was not busy at all that evening . It was very quiet . I only saw a couple of other diners . In fact it was the only pub we could get into on that scheme as the first few we tried to book were full to capacity . Maybe that should have warned us !! I find your reply very predictable and unhelpful . I think this would have been a different conversation if we had actually eaten RAW chicken . Your staff were very flippant on the evening and this may be reflective of what they observe from their management . If you cant deal with the demand of the scheme maybe you shouldn't be...

If you plan to eat here, forget it. In fact, if you plan to go here for any reason, find somewhere else. On the evening we arrived, having booked a table, the chef was off sick. That may provide some excuse for what followed, but there seems to be no training for the bar staff.

The first problem was when we ordered the pre-meal drinks, but moments after I had paid I realized I had forgotten to give him the receipt for the car parking, which allows a £2 discount. I went to the bar but he said he couldn't give me anything off the car parking because he had already rung up the drinks and it had to be requested at the time of the order. OK, so I asked if I could have £2 off the next round of drinks. He said that was OK, but all I wanted was a lemonade and lime, which came to 98p. "No, you can't do that. it has to be £2." OK, so I ordered two drinks, coming to £1.96. "No, that's still not £2." No to a customer for the sake of 4p! I couldn't believe it, and reminded the barman that this is exactly what loses customers. He really didn't care.

Then the food came - after a 45 minute wait. It was awful - curry was dry, almost no liquid. Even allowing for the chef being sick, my grandchildren could have cooked better.

We will never, ever go to this place again. My advice to the owners - fire the bar staff, get a healthy chef and learn how to manage basic...