Reviews in Liverpool and Merseyside

Allerton Hall ( Pub in the Park ) is very near to me. I used to frequent the establishment once a week or more during the Summer months. My last visit was last week 15/2/09. I was left gobsmacked at how down hill the restaurant has gone since my last visit before Christmas. My food was cold, took about 40 mins to arrive, and you can just tell, that the ingredients are all frozen and cooked by inexperienced staff. I do not think I will be frequenting this establishment again. It is such a pity this place has gone down hill as it could be such a lovely place to dine. I would rather pay triple the money and get the rif raf out, rather than pay and sit watching these places go into the ground. Please someone bring some hope and let me and my family enjoy dining again at Allerton hall.

I've been a Villa Romana regular for over 10 years now - it's definitely my favourite restaurant in Liverpool! The food is always fresh and tasty, and the staff are attentive. Delfino, the typically Italian manager, seems to really care about his customers! I can't recommend this restaurant highly enough! Give it a go, you won't be disappointed!

Everything we thought it would be and more! After a couple of bad restaurant experiences recently, we were looking forward to this with some trepidation, but we were not to be disappointed. The service was impeccable, just the right level of helpfulness. They knew when they were needed and when to stand back. The waiter who we had for the meal was friendly and gave excellent descriptions of the food. He gave his name as Tom The food was out of this world, from the mushrooms to the lamb it was exceptional, The head chef Tony needs to put some shark on the next menu. I would definitely recommend this restaurant, for a special occasion if you need the excuse! Tom was great, thanks

I used to give this place a miss as it was really close to home and I didn't feel like I'd have had a night out if I popped round the corner. Big mistake! I now travel 8 miles to eat there and will do it regularly. The basics i.e. popadums and nan bread are spot on. Amazingly, I find some restaurants have already failed at this point. There is a fine pickle tray with 6 items including a delicious sweet chilli sauce. One or two unusual items on the menu. On my first visit, I had a salmon curry and was struck by the extremely generous amount of salmon served. Again, I was very pleasantly surprised by the amount of prawns in my Chilli Massala this weekend and served in a sauce that left my mouth well aware that it had just consumed a curry. Plenty of staff in attendance, ensuring quick service despite the understandable demand for tables.

We haven't been to Ho Lee Chow's for a long time, however we recently hard that it was under new management so decided to pay it a visit as it was my birthday. The restaurant has had a new face lift - the exterior had a new coat of paint and it looked very grand. This restaurant has been long established in Southport and still lives up to it's reputation of being a luxurious Chinese restaurant. All the staff were very friendly & welcoming. They all had smiles on their faces!! Our party of 10 was shown to our large round table, they had put complimentary birthday balloons on the table for me. When I made our booking for the table the lady did ask if it was a special occasion and I told her it was my birthday - not realising, they had made the effort of putting balloons up for me - I was delighted. There was something different about the place but I couldn't pin point it - then I noticed the chairs & the tables were different. I remember the white chairs, this place always had these hand painted white chairs as long as I've known - all this had changed. They now had red & black contemporary chairs, they were really comfortable and coordinated with the stylish tables. It was a busy Saturday night - I was glad I made the reservation. The new menu was great - it offered Banquets as well as a full comprehensive 'a la carte' menu. We found out if we had booked during the week days then we could have been offered the 'Early Bird' menu - which was I thought was a bargain & very good value for money. Nether the less Saturday was my birthday, we chose a banquet at the normal prices, which was the easier option for everyone. The food was fantastic - even without the special offers, it was still good value for money for the high quality. We've all heard the saying 'You pay for what you get' it's worth paying the a little extra for the quality and freshness. Crispy Duck with pancakes is one of my favourites and there was plenty to go around for the 10 of us all presented on our turn table 'lazy susan'. One negative thing I must say is each course of the banquet was too generous in portions - I was struggling to find space for the main course. I just had enough space to squeeze in some of the 'Sizzling Steak in Cantonese Sauce', which looked & tasted amazing!! After my grand feast - the restaurant music stopped and I had dreaded this moment - there was the sound of the big gong and then the birthday song went on - a smiley waitress brought out an ice cream with a candle for me, wishing me happy birthday. Not sure if one of my friends had put them up to it. OK - we've all been there done that - it's embarrassing - but I had a great time - I think the wine helped!! All my friends and I highly recommend Ho Lee Chow's, great food, great atmosphere, great staff - I had a good time. Sometimes people forget about this place as it's not in town - but I would definitely go more often and not just save it for special occasions!!

We ate at Cafe Porto twice, once for the tapas and again for the evening menu. The food is fantastic and very authentic. The restaurant is quite cozy, staff are friendly and the prices are very reasonable. The option to bring your own wine is great as you get to take along your own favourites. We would definitely recommend this restaurant and will be dining there again very soon!

Attended Thursday 19th February 2009. Eight of us went for a meal to celebrate a birthday, and chose the place based on recommendations read on the web. Positives: place nice with good atmosphere. starters really good. food we had was nice (see below). service from waitress was very good. Negatives: Given 1 small serving bowl (cereal bowl size) of rice, and 1 small serving bowl of potatoes between 8 adults. No salad at all. Pointed this out to the staff but nothing done. Asked to speak to the manager, but he just didn't come over at all. I eventually spoke to him on the way out, and he tried to blame the waitress. While the food was nice, I wouldn't recommend the place after what happened. Go somewhere else and get looked after better. It was embarrassing to bring friends together and that to happen, and made worse by the Manager showing no interest in dealing with the problem.

Just want to say this has got to be one of the best restaurants in the city. Food and service exceptional ! Sat 21st feb great night.

Been twice. You have to go up and order, no table numbers, limited staff, slow service. The burger is very good though. There are often two for one on offer, just print the voucher.

brilliant food, so fresh! Attentive staff, will go back again!

cheap and good food. good atmosphere, friendly staff. Check the bills cos they do sometimes get it wrong.

Been many times, good atmosphere, good food (I do find the menu choice a bit limited after a while), slow service because limited staff.

I have dined here three times within the last year or so. The staff are fairly pleasant and the place is modern and with a quiet clientele. We had two courses each and a bottle of house wine which came to £70 - it seems Greek food doesn't come cheap on Allerton Road. The side portions could be bigger.

My wife and I celebrated her birthday last Tuesday and dined at the Lefteris. We have been away for a while but think the new decor is great and the food as usual superb. The waitress looked after us very well and the price we paid at the end of the evening was very reasonable. I would recommend the Lefteris to anyone. Thanks for a lovely evening. John & Sally McAuley.

Do not eat here, food awful as is the staff hardly surprising after you have met the manger who was rude and unhelpful.

This is by far my favourite restaurant in the world! I love their special bbq ribs, home fries and duck rolls for starters. Gorgeous, oh and garlic and cheese bagels mmmmm! Staff always fabulous, I've been going to this restaurant for years, you really need to go!!! x

just had a nice meal with wife and kids paid about £35 FOR THE 4 OF US WILL GO BACK PAUL D

Feb 2009 After reading several favourable reviews on The London Carriage Works restaurant, Liverpool we decided to book a table. Unfortunately our experience was not as pleasant as the many reviews, mostly over a year old; it seems that the place has gone downhill. When booking we asked for a table at 9pm, they informed us that they did not have a table available until 9:30, but if we came in at 9 and sat at the bar they would probably be able to seat us earlier. This was not a problem as the bar area looked lovely in the photos so we came in shortly after 9, informed the waitress of our arrival and sat in the bar area, by 9:45 we still hadn’t been shown to our table, upon asking when our table would be ready the young waitress showed us to a table that looked like it had been ready for quite a while, had they forgotten us? Our coats were not taken as you would have expected from a restaurant of this class, we had to walk across the room and hang them up ourselves on the coat stand. We looked at the menu, ordered our food and asked for a wine list which we would have expected to be given at the same time as the menu. Our starters arrived, but still no wine list, we had to ask for it again. The waiter serving our starters had not been informed who was having what and had to ask us, I found this very unprofessional. The wine list was handed to my husband while he was in the middle of eating his soup causing him to spill some. We ordered the wine which didn’t arrive until just before our mains were served, once again the waiter had to ask who was having what. While we were eating our meals the waiter was cleaning the tables near us with smelly disinfectant spray, not creating a pleasant environment to enjoy our meals in. The restaurant and bar area are very modern with a lot of glass and lighting effects, the tables do not have tablecloths and are far too close together, it’s not cosy and the overall atmosphere is not dissimilar to a busy pizza express/beef eater type restaurant. The food was better than average, nicely laid out but the portions were very small. Overall I was very disappointed in the very poor service and lack of experience from the extremely young staff. For what is an expensive restaurant (£50 a head) I expect more and will not be returning.