Tree House — Restaurant in Sefton

PLEASE BE AWARE that after leaving the review below (which is my valid opinion that I am entitled to do as a paying customer), the owner of this establishment today telephoned another member of our party, a family member of mine demanding to know their opinion of the meal. They were clearly so taken aback that they humoured the owner and said the meal was fine. None of us have ever met the owner; it was our first time eating here. And last obviously. It's been twenty five years since I worked in restaurants but I don't imagine that harrassing people's families is acceptable even now. I've now found out that rather than phoning my brother who is abroad, the owner actually phoned my eighty year old father who is waiting for a heart operation. So kind.

Dire all round. Tables crammed in. Noise level horrific. We waited over an hour for our starter. On a Wednesday. When I politely asked the waitress if she had any idea how much longer our food would be, she said snottily: "Why? Are you in a hurry?" Rude and confrontational. The starter was cheap carbs. The mains were tiny. Half a rubbery and very small sea bass and my knife wouldn't cut the skin. This was draped over a fishcake that was just mostly mash. More cheap carbs. This sat on about 6 tiny prawns, the kind you get frozen from the Lidl. The "seasonal vegetables" were broccoli that was near raw and we couldn't eat it. It also arrived cold five minutes after our mains and only after we flagged down a waiter to ask where the rest of our meals were. My brother's stroganoff was mostly sauce and a small ramekin mould of rice so he bought a pizza on the way home. £122.50 for 4 set menus, a kid's meal, one drink each and no pudding. I wouldn't go back and I don't recommend it.

Addendum: the owner responds highly aggressively to any criticism when their time would be far better spent improving their mediocre food and careless table service. As a business owner myself, I know the importance of good reviews. Therefore, I don't leave negative ones frivolously. But when I have such a poor experience as this I will always...

Booked myself and my fiancee in for a meal at 18:45. Arrived on time and waited 20 minutes at the bar for our table to be sorted (which is fine, it’s nice to see a place busy on a Wednesday). Ordered our meals, a starter and a main each. The starter took a while to come. The prawns I ordered were very nice and so was my partners mushroom starter. We then waited 45 minutes to an hour for our mains to come out (our starter plates still sat stacked on the table for the majority of the time despite staff passing by and looking at it multiple times). My main meal of JD Ribs was completely inedible. I asked the staff to take it away and was offered a replacement meal which I did refuse due to lack of faith that it would arrive before the place shut. We overheard the staff mentioning that they were also cooking food for Rocksalt next door and then saw multiple dishes coming out through the main door of the restaurant. All in all not a great experience, our friends had come in earlier in the day and prepaid £50 as a surprise for my partner for helping them out with work and for me as a belated birthday present. My main was thankfully taken off the bill. It’s a shame because every other time we’ve been to Treehouse it’s been lovely. The manager relied on the younger members of staff to deal with the complaint mainly aswell which struck me as quite odd. I work in the hospitality sector myself and it’s just very disheartening...

Arrived just before 8pm on Tuesday and our booked table was just being set up. Received a nice friendly greeting and asked to wait at the bar. The room is truly beautiful inside and it was very busy with light music floating over people chatting. We were told that the starters were free on Tuesday if ordering a main which was great. We chose chicken liver pate and the hoisin duck. Surprised the pate came with the one tiny foil wrapped pat of butter to accompany it! Surely a decent knob of butter would be more in keeping as it's a restaurant? The ciabatta was small and cut very thinly too - it was more like french toast. The pate however was delicious and plentiful. Mains were the linguine with prawns and chorizo, medley of 3 fish and a rump steak. It was quite a small thin steak for £23 but it was cooked perfectly to my request however the chips were soggy and oily. Tasty but not crispy and fluffy inside as three times cooked chips should be. It was a shame at that point the music stopped - could hear everyone's conversations! Hint for everyone to leave? Overall the service from the staff was second to none and...