The Red Fox — Restaurant in Wirral

So attended this venue for a,birthday meal with my partner, arrived early as we had booked a table but wanted to suss it out first before we sat down to eat, went to the bar the staff at the bar brilliant could not do enough for us, eventually after about 45mins we asked for our table as we had booked it a week earlier, after sitting down and perusing the menu we quickly decided what we wanted to eat and waited for the table service staff to take our order, on looking around the venue I noticed people arriving sitting down and within 10mins staff arrived to take there order, this did not happen to us, I pushed it as long as I could then 25mins (we apparently only had a 2 hour window) later had to ask for service the young girl immediately responded and came back to take our order, I don't think where we where sitting was her patch if you get what I mean but she was brilliant even tho taken aback as if the area was another member of staff to deal with but she was great never seen her again which kinda proves a point, we made our order and eventually it was served, so finished our main then waited to be attended to again for dessert which again took ages I mean a long time, then I noticed that the woman who's patch/area it was as u could see with your own eyes these tables and others where her patch she dealt with them all in this area seemed to be fawning over and being sycophantic over the "regulars" that sat down about 15mins after we did talking to them for ages making sure they where served and ignoring not just us but other people too in the same area, we only got attention when this woman deemed fit to cut conversations with these "regulars" then serve other customers as well as ourselves it all took so long between the time we sat down till the end of the meal, because of the shoddy service im trying to keep a lid on it that evening and stay calm and relaxed because it was my partners "birthday" luckily I hid it well, it was not relaxing at all I'm sure there are better places to pay over £100 to be ignored, the table service was shoddy at best the fawning over regulars to the detriment or other customers was paramount and obvious, not a comfortable experience not a relaxing experience as soon as we left the bar to...

UPDATE on 02 January 2025. We had an excellent meal here in December-see review below-and were told by THREE DIFFERENT MEMBERS OF STAFF that bookings for Christmas Day 2025 opened at 10 am today, the 2nd of January. We arrived at 9.30 am to be told that bookings had actually opened at 9am and there was no longer a table available for our party of 8. A very brief apology from the young lady we spoke to, as in “Sorry about that”. She might just have well added “Now go away “. Very very poor information indeed and not really that much of an apology either, given we’d been falsely informed by 3 members of staff!

New review on 16/12/24:- Another EXCELLENT lunch here. First class service, decor, food and drink. Couldn’t fault it!

Previous review c. 9 years ago ( although we’ve been quite a few times since!):- Had lunch here a few days ago,a family group of four. The outside and inside look very smart indeed,with lots of hanging baskets and tubs. All the internal walls are full of a fascinating mix of paintings,posters,old cartoons and documents and maps. You could spend a few hours just viewing them! We were sat in a rear window seat with excellent views of the well kept gardens and pleasant countryside beyond. All the tables and decor are solid and smart. Pretty good menu choices and wine list. Food a BIT on the pricey side but nice. Don't mind paying a bit more for the smart and tasteful ambience. You could choose a variety of lighter bites for about £10 or bar snacks for £3 or so each or c. £10 for four snacks,if preferred. Bar area itself v smart but we ate in the conservatory restaurant with pleasant waitress service. One minus point. It was a sunny,warm day and I got a bit too warm. Couldn't see any fans,ventilation grids or air conditioning. On that note,there's also a pleasant,smart outside terrace overlooking the rear gardens. Excellent,apart from my concerns about...

The Red Fox. Simply just excellent. This is a delightful country manor pub in Thornton. It comes with lots of charm and a very welcoming atmosphere. The grounds are lovely. There's an open fire in the pub area and a fire pit in the garden room. What's not to love on a chilly day. A great selection of ales on draught and a great food menu to choose from ( see pictures ). Now on to our experience. On arrival, warmly greeted and taken to our seats which was adjacent to the fire pit and was lovely and cosy with a view of the gardens. The waiting staff are so attentive too. Very polite with a good knowledge of the menu. Our meals of choice. For me, wild boar, pork, and parsnip pie in a cider gravy and for my wife seabass with cockle sauce. ( she does like a seabass dish 😄). Our dishes arrived within 20 minutes and the place was busy. My dish was delicious, the pastry was lovely and light and the meat inside the pie was as tender as you like with a lush cider gravy. If I could give one critique and a very minor one. A little jug of the cider gravy on the side would have been nice as there was a good helping of mashed potato, which is great, but I do like a bit more gravy . My wife said the seabass was exquisite and was cooked to perfection. It was complimented by a lemon potato cake and tenderstem broccoli. She said the sauce was crazy good and wished she had a bread roll to mop it up. For dessert, which was a must. Chocolate chip cheesecake with chocolate sauce. Very decadent and delicious and a mini chocolate brownie that was lovely and gooey with a cappuccino. Overall, this was one of our most enjoyable dining experiences. A place we would most definitely return and would recommend to anyone to go to for a meal or just a drink. So give here a go, you won't be disappointed. A place that has got it...