Stanley Gate — Restaurant in West Lancashire

A place of great character, atmosphere & service!

My family and I have eaten here 4 times now, both for lunch and evening meals, and all occasions have been spot on both for food and service. On this occasion I have managed (remembered!) to take some photographs of the food to better present what you can expect if you decide to drop in.

Located between Ormskirk and the M58, it is ideally located for approach from both directions, with plenty of parking space. There is a beer garden at the rear and plenty of space and tables within.

We went on a Friday and booked a little in advance in case it would be busy, and there was certainly a good crowd in, however you may have been ok if it was a meal for 2 to arrive without booking.

As with other times, we have been met by friendly staff and shown to a table swiftly, and moving on to the menu – there are many options available at a variety of prices to suit all. I have previously had the Chicken Tikka Makhini Tiffin which is wonderful.

On this occasion we started with the Box Baked Camembert to share, which to be honest, more than 2 could share as there is plenty of bread to around – see picture. For mains I went for the ‘Chefs Inspired’ Gourmet Chicken Plate, whilst my wife had the Feta salad (both pictured). Both were lovely, and any worry I had about the Chicken dish being a bit heavy were quickly quashed as I tucked into it. It was a well balanced and nicely presented dish!

For pudding I went for the Eton Mess and my Wife had the oops..I cant remember the name of the dish but look at the piccies, it was wonderful! Both were again perfect.

As mentioned at the beginning, the experience here has been spot on every time, with friendly and informative staff, they even have a box of toys for the little ones, so I can strongly recommend...

Absolutely awful! Booked this place for my graduation lunch after many other visits so I thought it would be such a lovely place to have my celebration... wrong. Completely ruined what should have been a day to celebrate my accomplishment. We arrived at the booking time (2:30pm), and after 20 minutes we had to call the waiter over to take our drinks order, to which he forgot half of them. We managed to get his attention for menus about 40 minutes into our visit and after frequent trips to the bar to get somebody's attention or more drinks as nobody came to check once again. Finally ordered but the food took so long to come out so one of my party went to speak to the manager behind the bar as our table had just been neglected. Nobody came to clear the plates from our starters or glasses so we had to do that oursleves and put it on a separate table!! The mains came out soon after we complained at around 4:30pm, 2 hours since we got here, although I wish it hadn't! There were so many issues with the meals from freezing cold starters to overcooked chicken and fish on the mains. After we approached the manager AGAIN she took the meals that we were unhappy with off the bill and offered us tea and coffees on the house however the whole thing was just completely unacceptable and it has tainted a day meant for celebration with this awful experience. Ended up leaving at 7pm which shows how long we were waiting on everything! Complete lack of staff, communication and standards. I had this booking for months yet no staff was arranged to work that day which is ridiculous. I used to frequently visit the Stanley Gate but I will not be...

Oh dear !!! This really was a bad experience!! Some food good, some very very bad and a waitress prepared to slate customers in the public arena !!!

We arrived at the Stanley gate optimistic and looking forward to heavenly (described) Korean chicken. We were seated quickly in this lovely little pub ...with rustic features.

Our first course took an average time . The mushroom ciabatta was fine , my fiancées chicken was fresh and well presented...Indeed proving very tasty. The children's garlic Bread with cheese was strange in texture maybe microwaved ..I.e hot bread with cold cheese .

Main course... korean chicken again , fresh , tasty ...nothing short of delicious. My partners steak was well done and not medium rare as requested. Chips and peppercorn sauce all fine. The worst dish by far was the tomato pasta with meatballs. Vegan or not meatballs should not be cold and I returned the dish as it had absolutely no tomato type sauce at all . It was cooked pasta with cold meatballs and peas. This was the first time in 2years I had stated I would not pay for a dish.

I complained and the absolute worst point of the evening THE WAITRESS CHOSE TO SLATE US OPENLY WITHIN EARSHOT OF MY DAUGHTER AND FIANCEE. how disgraceful.

I have informed the person who took payment immediately after paying so as to remove any accusation of making it up to get a free meal.

The deserts were very nice but by then the evening was ruined !!! Absolutely awful will not...