Lymewood Farm - Farmhouse Inns — Restaurant in St Helens

We have never been so appalled at our treatment as we were tonight at Lymewood, in fact the way we were treated by reception was so bad we walked out in less than 5 minutes of walking in. Despite having booked a table well over a month ago knowing it would be busy, we were presented with a table surrounded by a table of eight already drunken rowdy young men, who on being told that they were not booked in and were not meant to have 8 of them sat around a table meant for only four and as they were not dining they would have to move, they basically said no to the woman on reception who then said to them that the other tables were all reserved and they were blocking all the tables in area off. They refused to move so she just said to us that it was basically just tough and we could either leave or wait at least another half an hour in case a table came free somewhere else. As our booking was quite clearly of so little value to them, we chose to leave and went to another much nicer restaurant who happily accommodated us and we had a beautiful meal in lovely surroundings. If we had just wandered in on spec then I wouldn't expect to be accommodated and would have just put it down to luck of the draw, but having made the booking over a month in advance and requested a quiter table position at the time, I would have expected this to be fulfilled but to be basically told either sit within a group of rowdy blokes as a couple, I found this completely unacceptable given that we specifically requested the total opposite and gave them plenty of notice to arrange this. The impression we got was that she was more bothered that she would make far more money out of a table of drunken blokes than a couple wanting a quiet meal for two. Yes, I do appreciate that it's Christmas and they're busy but we did book ahead and our thoughts and feelings about being sat in a rowdy group of drunken young men counted for nothing. Quite honestly if I could give them -0 stars I would because they don't even deserve 1 star, their treatment of customers with reservations is truly appalling and we will never ever go back there again nor will we ever recommend Lymewood, despite having dined there on many previous occasions, well NEVER AGAIN!!! Got to be the worst ever customer service we have ever experienced anywhere. Truly and utterly atrocious, if this is how they treat people as they do not...

A place that we have visited on numerous occasions, particularly for breakfast. Generally our visits are ok, it's nothing spectacular as it's a Greene King, decent food, fairly priced, and you normally have a nice time.

Unfortunately for Lymewood, our experiences have been in steady decline over the past few months, citing lack of staff for issues that we encounter.

After visiting today, 26/7/22 I think it's fair to say that we will not be visiting again in a hurry, upon arrival, we were greeted by a sign, yet again stating that due to lack of staff, there will be a reduced menu, fair enough, unfortunately this is nothing new, you can expect there to be something missing.

On the sign, it stated the various menu items that were available, which I would say would be around 20% of the menu. This was fine though as my son and wife wanted a carvery anyway, which luckily was one of the few items available, and my other two children wanted items that were available also, great!

Even better would be the fact that we were emailed vouchers that kids eat for £1 for every paying adult, a large factor of us wanting to visit, seeing as our visits had been on the decline, if it wasn't the best, at least we hadn't paid full whack

Colour me surprised when we find out that the carvery actually isn't on, despite what the sign says, which led to an upset son, who is Autistic and has issues with surprises like this. After finally talking him round into ordering something else, we go to order, and are told that for some reason the voucher isn't working, despite it being valid from the 25th July to the 9th August.

Things didn't get better after receiving our meals as items that weren't notified as missing were also not there, a meal made up of 4 components arriving with 2. No ice creams with the children's meals, again not told about this and bo offer of any substitute.

So we ended up paying full price, for less food than advertised, and they then go and scribble out the carvery on the sign after the fact, brilliant 🤣

Edit: After speaking with a manager via email, they have graciously offered their apologies and a complementary meal. They briefly explained the issues that they were having, which are understandable. I'm happy to adjust the scoring on the review as such. I will post a new review upon...

The last time I tried this pub was over 10 years ago. It was terrible then and sadly it still is. It was busy when we called -God knows why!!!. But there was only one person on the bar and she was painfully slow. Yes 1 - check your cameras . No care or concern whatsoever was shown for the waiting customers . The staff have no sense of urgency. The so called manager seemed to think it is acceptable to "queue" to order a drink. It is NOT. As a result there was a massive line of people trying to order a drink and or food. To make matters worse she kept disappearing and also served people who had jumped the line. She kept asking who is next. A good bar person should know who is next and serve customers promptly and in the correct order. It would have been impossible to buy a drink during your meal as it would be ice cold by the time you got back. The carvery was poor to average with tiny portions of meat . The miserable guy serving the meat must have served his time at British rail - his slices of meat were so thin. Parsnips were overcooked and the roasties were not very good. The cutlery was dirty and had been improperly washed. Two knives on our table had old food stuck to them. Horrendous. I had to shout to my partner to be heard such was the noise in the place. The service was appalling even by Greene King's low standards. Drinks are far too expensive. Not recommended. Drive on by and give this place a wide berth. Note don't drive to the game bird another Greene King abomination further down the East Lancs. It's even worse than this place. Note to owners. Hire some more bartenders. Hire a new manager/s . You should have 2 or 3 on duty and serving customers at all times especially when busy Thursday this week approx 5 pm. Very poor effort overall. Go elsewhere. You have been warned. Massive room for improvement here.

Edit. Owners replied with their usual tired cut and paste response. They asked me to respond . I did. But you guessed it nothing. Not a sausage. Looks like their efficiency at responding to emails is similar to their service at the bar ie sloooooooow. Maybe the barmaid is doing their emails too. Advice stands - avoid at all costs. Hopeless place. ...