Lunar — Restaurant in Stoke-on-Trent

I have to agree with previous negative reviews. Visited for the first time on Valetines Weekend for Sunday Lunch with my partner. I have food allergies but had outlined details of this on my online booking.Our table was booked for 3pm. We were greeted briefly on arrival and asked to take drinks/Cocktails in the lounge, no explanation why or any acknowledgement of my allergies. It would of been nice to get a brief introduction to Lunar and to point out where the rest rooms were? Cocktails were served which were very nice. But no side table to put them on or any sign of mats, so my glass was dripping over me. After half hour we were escorted to our table where I had to raise my allergies. The waiter was unaware of what ingredients were in the food so he had to refer to Chef. This is very poor. After food discussions, I selected Salmon for starter and Chicken Cassoulet for Main and my partner the Mushroom starter and beef for main. We ordered another round of cocktails and spring water at this point.

Starter arrived after 10 minutes, my salmon was presented well and tasted pleasant but nothing remarkable or striking to mention. My partner commented much the same of his. Staff then took our finished starter plates away. But no sparkling water turned up at all and we had finished our cocktails and glasses were empty. No one came to ask if we wanted more drinks while we waited for mains. They were very too busy instead cleaning the empty tables either side of use to concentrate on the seated diners still eating. Service and attention to detail was very poor. For a restaurant of this perceived caliber, having to call a waiter for basic service, is clearly a sign that its a poorly managed and fractured. After waiting a while between courses I left my table to visit the ladies meanwhile my main had been delivered to the table in my absence. Never has this been done in any other good high level restaurant. When I started eating it was only just warm and I mean only just. Again it was nice but over salted, portion size just right though. But again nothing special that I could not deliver at home. My partners beef was rare which he hates, just delivered this way and not given the choice to specify. Roast potatoes very nice as was his cauliflower cheese but no mention of horseradish for traditional roast beef? Still no one asked if we wanted another drink or did any water appear but by this time we had finished our mains and at this point were totally deflated. We decided not to order a sweet but took coffee and the bill. Bill arrived with sparkling water added, I raised this and it was removed from the bill with neither an apology that it was added nor for us not receiving it in the first place. In fact the waiter was rather aloof on this occasion and previously.

I have eaten in several well known chefs restaurants, high caliber hotels and pubs, local and otherwise so I feel I have a broad exposure to eating out but I feel that this is a misfit to its price tag and service level. Those easily impressed will fall victim. Niall has a great chefing background but Lunar does not flatter him and I sure other foddies like me will agree. This is not even close to one Michelin star. So sadly after waiting so long for such a decent Restaurant in the Stoke area with a Chef of great reputation, I will not return unless Lunar finds its exceptional mark and service level even if that means at a higher price tag to the customer. At the moment it's just a average restaurant for the many, so if that's the plan great but I think many were hoping for a niche restaurant that would out class all in ST...

I came here on a Sunday lunch with my wife and we were really looking forward to it. Sadly it didn't really meet our expectations. I will admit we had very high expectations, but I believe that if a restaurant charges you £50 for three courses they should be delivering an exceptional experience.

The good bits were the decor is lovely, there was a nice atmosphere and the food was nice. But nice isn't good enough for that price. I want food that blows me away and food that I know I couldn't make myself.

For starters we had lamb tartare and a beetroot and goats cheese salad. The lamb tartare was lovely and I would recommend it. The beetroot was quite bland and the goats cheese was hardly there, they had just grated it a bit over the top. It really needed more of the goats cheese or something else to make it wow.

For the mains I had the roast beef and my wife had the roast chicken. The chicken was very nice but again not spectacular. The beef was a bit disappointing. It was a sirloin cut but it was quite gristly and was cooked extremely rare without any advisement or asking what my preference was. The rest of the meal was a perfectly good roast dinner, but for that price I would expect interesting and creative twists on a roast dinner, not just a nice roast dinner.

For puddings we had spiced pineapple Tarte tartin and a creme brulee. Again, both nice but nothing exceptional or innovative.

However the worst part of our experience wasn't the food it was the service. When we first arrived they were pleasant and attentive, but then their interest in us as soon as we didn't want wine seemed to reduce considerably. I must give them a little credit as we both ordered mocktails and my wife didn't like hers, so they kindly took it back and didn't charge us for it. However after I finished my mocktail, no one asked us for an hour if we wanted another drink or took the empty glasses away. Then with the food there was no interest in our thoughts on the meals when they cleared the tables, they would just serve the meals with no attempt to explain what was on the plate and they offered little to no small talk or engagement with us as guests, which I would expect at this level. Weirdly other tables seemed to get a better level of service and some meals seemed to be served differently to us too, which was odd.

We also had a 30 minute wait between starter and main and it was only because I raised this with one of the waiters that they chased it up.

It was a shame really. We really hoped this would be somewhere special. I think it still has the potential to be just that, but they need to create a more attentive and responsive service and they need to be much more creative with their menu items to truly...

Wedding anniversary meal for me and the wife.

Had been told it was very good, so was expecting the food to match the anticipation.

The staff are very pleasant and helpful with good knowledge of the dishes etc.

We dined quite early at 7 pm, and the restaurant wasn't particularly busy at this point. We ordered wine for our meal, this isn't cheap but it's not the place to go if you are on a budget. We had water supplied to the table, and the food order was taken in a reasonable time. I went for the mackerel for starter and the fillet steak for my main. My wife had chicken and ham hick terrine for starter and the duck for he main. All the food was very tasty, but some items in both of our main courses were slightly different from what was on the menu. I understand that the supply of fresh produce can vary, but we didn't have anyone inform us of the changes. For example, my wife's dish stated heritage carrots. But no carrots at all were on the dish. This isn't going to be or be a reason to give a poor review, but when the restaurant is setting a standard. This is something that needs to be communicated. It didn't spoil our meal, but it's a pint worth noting. We both had a dessert, and we both enjoyed this. I had the caramel tart, it was not what I expected but very nice just the same. My wife had a panna cotta. Again, she enjoyed the dish.

Once finished, we were offered the opportunity to see the secret lounge. This was a nice little bar tucked away at the back of the restaurant. We had a cocktail each before we left, it was not busy but again it was early.

Things that we feel are not quite as good as other places we've been.

The tawny, for example, offers you free bread and flavoured butter to the table whilst you wait for your meals. Lunar doesn't. The scenery is not anything to look at. The restaurant is nice. But it still has the feel of an industrial place.

It was enjoyable, and the food is good. But I'm not desperate to return as I feel I've had better experience elsewhere.

Price wise, we spent over £200 for a three course meal with a bottle of wine and a cocktail each. I don't mind that as long as you feel it's worth it, it could have...