The Cricketers — Restaurant in West Lancashire

To whom it may concern,

My wife and I made our first visit to your pub restaurant on Sunday 22nd August with our tiny well behaved, trained chihuahua.  On approaching the venue the customers in front of us seemed to receive a warm welcome, sadly this wasn't the case for us, despite being very respectful and elegant.  We were greeted with 'Do you have a booking as we're full!'  We asked the waitress if we could stay for a drink as we had travelled almost an hour to visit the Cricketers following our friend's recommendation.  The waitress pointed to two grotty dirty wooden benches overlooking a busy main road and suggested that as we have our dog we could sit there as he wasn't allowed inside.  We told her absolutely no way we would we be sitting there, the tables were empty and looked very unkept and slanted.  She then made the suggestion that we could have a drink in the tent outside and ushered us around the back of the building.  She pointed to 5 tables and expressed 'That's reserved, that's reserved and that's reserved but these two are free.  It took a long time for our drinks to arrive then my dog's water didn't arrive.    As I approached the inside area towards the bar for our dog's water, a waitress shouted at me 'you're not allowed in here, go and sit down!'  This was said in the presence of other seated customers,  it was very embarrassing and I felt as though at that point we were being discriminated against.

Within the uncomfortable and long hour the tables that we were told were reserved were in fact not at all, no other customers arrived in the time that we were there.  Behind us was a table of rowdy youths swearing loudly and the atmosphere felt rather intimidating and unpleasant.  What we thought was going to be a lovely evening turned out to be a disaster.  The area felt unclean and there were insects hovering around.   My wife raised a verbal complaint about our experience and yet the waitress still presented us with the bill for our 2 drinks!  She sent out another waitress who unprofessionally and rudely expressed 'I believe there's a problem!'  She did this with a raised voice and the rowdy youths found it funny.  I told the waitress again that we were not happy and that we would not be returning to such an unfriendly place.  She didn't seem bothered nor did she suggest to fix the matter, there was no sign of any professional management, it was run by kids who were unexperienced to deal professionally and respectfully with unhappy customers.

The dog bowl that was suggested for our dog was swimming with grime and dead insects floating around, this water would be dangerous for any beloved dog as it's clearly not regularly changed.  The glass of water that we asked for our dog had lemon and ice in the glass, not ideal for a dog at all, we asked for tap water and the waitress suggested she'll bring a jug of water (for a dog?).    We were of the impression that attention was only paid to the customers dining inside, there was no care for the 'equally deserving customers' who were paying money outside.   We had to wait almost 20 minutes for our bill as the waitress admitted she forgot.  May we suggest that your staff have future training in customer care and services and also to make an area indoors that is dog friendly like many of the city eateries, this place really is behind times.  We will not be returning...

Boxing Day meal

Me and my family came across the cricketers and recently nipped in prior to check it out and loved the cosy vibes so checked out the menu for our Boxing Day meal and pre booked / did the deposit

When arriving on the day was seated (twice as first on the wrong table but the staff seemed like they’d had a busy day already as we dined at 3) we had wanted the snug but in the conservatory instead but was brighter and worked out better

The tables and restaurant was decorated all festive but when coming to dining we encountered an issue when asked what we wanted from the menu but had already ordered however re did the order only to be told one of the dishes was unavailable and not notified prior which was a shock

The main issue was it was the vegan dessert and only one option available so considering we planned the 3 courses came up short they did offer an alternative but the option wasn’t preference so decided to leave the whole tables final course and just had 2

When the food arrived was nicely presented but Cold and Luke warm which we understood was probably due to the amount of t of diners so not sure how long the food had waited but did effect the enjoyment and eating experience

We had a long yet relaxing time but left feeling a little underwhelmed after the build up to the day sort of an ant climax and think it could of been better organised as our deposit also hadn’t been knocked off the bill so had to notify our server who apologised

Despite this me and my family would like to re visit and try again from their usual menu ( hopefully can get the dessert originally planned too ) and give a second chance

Dishes tried l : Tomato and pepper soup Beef Bourguignon

Mushroom arancini Hake

Aubergine...

We are regular customers at the Cricketers both at lunchtimes and teatime and we always go for a Christmas meal with relatives however we went tonight and it was horrendous the food was great but there was a party of 21 and the noise from them was terrible we cudnt hear each other talking we explained this to the waiter who might be the one who was in charge for the night and he just shrugged his shoulders and replied it's Christmas I explained that we appreciated that and we wasn't against people having a good time however should he not consider his other diners and just ask them to consider others and try and keep the noise down he just didn't want to know after that he wouldnt even come to.our table he sent two other waitress to serve us obviously they were more important because it was more money for them on the night however they should realise that this was a Christmas do and they might never return we would have returned however they have lost regular custom it would also help if they always had a restaurant Manager available instead of young staff who don't know how to give good customer service and apreciate the loyalty we have given them we won't be returning they have...