CookHouse Pub & Carvery Rainhill — Restaurant in St Helens

I don't usually post about places I didn't enjoy but I decided to about this place because it is very different between going for drinks versus eating food... Ordering is all at the bar which gets quite busy with drinks orders so it takes awhile to get a food order in, I ordered the nachos and the chicken strips. The chicken was really nice but kinda of small portion, but the nachos were not good. The pulled pork tasted like frozen grocery store meat and the tortilla crisps were very soggy. The bigger issues were what other people in my party ordered. My Brother in law ordered the mix grill and they forgot his steak, when we told them they asked him to stop eating so they could inspect his plate as if we were lying. My nephew got the kids lasagne which tasted terrible, nobody wanted more than one bite and I am know as the one that will eat anything especially lasagne. The only thing that anyone ordered that looked good was the hanging kabab. Aside from the service and the food I think this is a great place to go for drinks. Prices are reasonable and the beer gardens is really nice. Also great for a family as there is a nice playground area right next to the gardens so your kids can play while you enjoy a drink and socialize. I wouldn't recommend coming for food, if you do I would try the kebab... But I highly recommend coming for drinks and enjoying...

The worst pub manager I have ever dealt with in my life!!! Over 20 years of working with, for and alongside pub managers. She thought she could SCREAM A DEMAND at me (like she was screaming at her staff) and that I would do as she said... She was horrible, rude, arrogant, obnoxious to me and thought she had the right to swear at me also!!! And she was exactly the same fo paying customers too... She also agressively tried to touch my equipment which was hired to a customer of ours for a party in The Vic... And if she would of been able to reach it to touch it she would of certainly damaged it! Also... The soft drinks were warm upstairs as it was poured out of a 2 litre bottle off the bar... And it was cheap supermarket stuff!!! Although the pub were charging premium prices!!! Staff in there were OK, until me and the manager had a bit of a shouting match... Then they all wouldn't look at me... I told the manager I would never step foot in the pub again, and I've been asked by customers over the past few years for various things who had booked the pub for a party venue and told them no we don't go in there... And then told them why... Some people cancelled there party with the venue, although other people had no choice but to stick with the venue, and afterwards they all said the same thing as each other... Mainly about the...

Staff need more training and it shows. No one was taking people to there table when we arrived, line was building infront of us while two kids (staff) were staring into space whilst waiting for the only experienced staff member to greet/deal with all the customers. Whilst eating the games machine glitched out getting stuck on a loud repetitive loop like an alarm. Same staff then continued to just stare at the issue as appose to dealing with it. Any table that isn't a booth is very uncomfortable. Food and drinks came out slightly different to the menu either missing items or replacing with sub par substitutes. Everyone was nice and friendly but it definitely feels like all members of the team need more training to handle the restaurant correctly. I don't know who's in charge of the music but it definitely needs some consistency, Jumping from Nina Simone to Justin Bieber almost made me get up and leave. The food was okay but lacked flavour, for example the mash from the carvery honestly felt like it was instant mash (however to clarify it probably wasn't instant mash, just that bad texture and flavour wise). That being said all deserts, though limited, were brilliant. In short, the place looks great, reals you in and then the reality of inexperience shines through; atleast desert leaves you...