The Stackyard — Restaurant in Sunderland

My wife booked a table here for a family Tuesday night meal for five after reading the excellent reviews. The Stack Yard itself is a lovely detached pub tucked away in Herrington and only walking distance from the rear of Herrington Park. The night we arrived the car park at the side of the building was packed, as was the road approaching the pub - a good sign, obviously. Food was nice but the service left a lot to be desired. We had to mill about next to the bar for well over ten minutes for the table to be prepared and the starters took so long that we honestly thought they'd forgotten about us. We usually eat out twice a month and this is the first time we've had to ask where our food was. When the empty cans and bottles were cleared away from the table I thought the lass would return to ask us if we'd want more drinks. When I had to ask she went off, continued serving the other remaining diners, wiping down tables, etc., then seemed to remember us, came over and took our order but by the time they arrived we'd almost finished. The place was fairly busy when we first arrived but we were the only diners left at the end of our meal and there seemed to be plenty of staff working. It didn't bother us but the chanting and rowdiness coming from the lads in the bar, who'd obviously had a good day, might have been off putting for some. We left a little disappointed that the pub didn't live up to the reviews but I still might return to try the Panacalty, this being the only time I've ever seen it...

Visited here this evening. We were in a party of nine, three of which were kids. The staff were very welcoming and catered for the kids with food, plates, fussiness etc.

I had the Pork Belly, this was presented nice but had a fishy taint to it. Probably fed fishmeal. This isn't the chef's fault, and they probably didn't know but it did spoil my meal. I left most of it. My Granny had the Kiev, the breadcrumb base was like a slab of slate. It was solid.

The staff took our order, delivered it and never spoke again. They didn't ask if everything was OK until we had all finished eating. The pub wasn't  busy so they had the time to so if they wanted.

There is also a strong and sickly "greasy spoon" smell to the lounge area (I think it's from the kitchen - it smells like old cooking oil) which spoils the delicious smell of the food. Don't sit by the kitchen door if you visit.

Overall however it was good. The staff were really friendly and were very helpful with Granny - they took her meal off the bill. The others enjoyed their food (the deserts were amazing!!) but I'd not return...

Disappointed with the main course, whilst driving past, we decided to have a meal, the pub was quite empty, we got good attentive service from the friendly staff, a good table, drinks came promptly, starter came promptly, the main meals came promptly, we had ordered two pork belly's as our mains, this turn out to be a mistake, the pork belly's once we cut in to them, were rare, virtually uncooked, the fat was still full of water, it was like cutting in to human flesh, the other one was rarer than mine. We promptly paid the bill and left, I had gone out for a quite meal and couldn't be bothered with the hassle. We informed them when we were paying as no staff had asked if our meals...