The Brinsop Arms Westhoughton, Bolton

Having uses this establishment for many years and been extremely happy with both the service and quality of food, sister being a local and used this venue with positive reports, we booked a family meal on a Sunday afternoon, specifically at 4.30 so wouldn’t be over busy, to celebrate sisters’ 50th Birthday (so a reasonably prominent event). The party was a compact family unit; self and wife, mum, niece and the birthday girl herself.

With all of us being busy, it’s not often we manage to get together, in fact the last occasion being younger brothers funeral a couple of years ago. Birthday Girl wanted to pay as here treat for all of us getting together.

Arriving a little early, drinks ordered at the bar, promptly shown to the table…

This is where things started to fall apart.

Granted it’s been a while since we’ve been here so things do change, the menu seemed to be a lot more limited than we remembered, a quick request to the staff on the availability of other menus (bar menu, specials etc.) received a curt response of ‘no we don’t do that now’

Okay not a problem, reading deeper through the descriptions of the dishes, it was becoming evident the kitchen had become far more aspirational since the remodelling of the hotel and the lick of paint given to the ‘restaurant’ section (do seem to remember there being table cloths a few years ago, much better than the slightly sticky bare tables on offer now).

Finally, we all managed to have a bit of a catch up while deciding what to eat.

Staff approached to take the order…

What’s the soup? Don’t know I’ll just go and check… (good start?)

On return “what’s the fish in this particular dish?” Don’t know I’ll just go check (okay she’s young maybe they’ve thrown her in at the deep end and needs a bit more training and support)

This is where I must hold my hand up and say I’m fussy about ‘Jus’ ‘Gravy’ sauces or dressing of any description. So was specific in requesting a dish with the jus’ served separately (in a boat rather than straight on the dish) this was repeated to ensure the staff understood the instruction (simple enough we all thought).

Staff did a quick read through of the order, didn’t feel quite right, “are you sure you got all the meals?” “think so I’ll just read it back.”

The Lamb (mum)

The Gammon (birthday girl)

The Steak (wife)

The Fish without the prawns (niece)

The lamb with the sauce in the boat (self)

(starters where all correct)

Great thanks that’s correct, (keep this list in mind for later)

Around 40 mins later we had to ask where our starters where, on return “just being plated, will just be a couple of minutes” (what a coincidence)

The dishes where acceptable but we ran out of drinks half way through, it took 5 minutes to get the attention of staff to be able to order more. Half the drinks arrived with a “can I get you anything else?”

“I’m still waiting for a pint”

“What did you order?” (this is getting better)

Drinks complete, starters finished, table cleared.

At least another 20 minutes’ pass before we start commenting again on timings. The mains eventually arrive.

Waitress stands next to mum and says “Lamb” and serves mum, Gammon and serves Sister, Fish, serves niece, another staff stands next to me and says’ Steak, serves wife then states Lamb and what can only be described as ‘Clods’ a plate under my elbow to the table (perhaps it was a bit heavy and awkward to hold as it looked more like a tray than a plate), but did straighten it up so it sat nice in front of me.

It was instantly obvious that this was the wrong dish, “that’s not what I ordered” was my instant response.

Politely enough an apology and how did you order? was the question.

Repeated the that I asked for the jus’ on the side rather than on the meat.

No problem I’ll change it. Very quickly (couple of minutes) the meal came back. Wow that was quick…

The meal had been stripped off the plate, individual parts put in separate dishes and the pile of potatoes and Meat lifted, scraped off and dropped on a new plate (sauce still on the top layer everything else bone dry), this just about tips sister and myself over the edge. Niece, diplomatically takes my plate to kitchen (before sis and I have chance to explode). The ‘Bistro’ manager now shows up at the table to find out what the problem was. After a heated discussion & a host of simpering excuses, he was beginning to understand that this was not acceptable, asking “ok what do you want”. The dish was returned to kitchen while the rest of the party had to wait to eat with their dishes cooling rapidly (despite insistence to eat while I waited).

Eventually a new dish was rushed out of the kitchen (far faster than the original). This was delivered with another round of simpering excuses to the point I had to ask the manager to stop talking (he persisted) and was eventually shouted at to ‘go away’ twice

Everyone agreed that the food was not to the standard we had expected.

The bill was requested and presented by the manager (with the most efficiency we had seen all evening). There was a compensation of my meal being removed from the final bill. This hardly seemed adequate when we explained the service had been slow to the level of incompetence, the fish was dry, the gammon over cooked (to a cinder) both Lamb (different) dishes tough and grisly, the steak just okay (wife later stated it wasn’t that good but didn’t want to make any further fuss). More grovelling excuses and eventually a further reduction of drinks taken from the bill, with the comment “that’s all I can do”. This was accepted as we had had a couple of beers, couple of soft drinks and a bottle and couple of glasses of wine. Sister payed this by card punching in pin in extreme embarrassment with a wish to be away as quick as possible.

On checking through receipts the following day, its discovered that only my drinks had been taken off the bill, not as we had all understood on the evening.

A further compliant made to business manager, with numerous calls between the business, myself and sister leaves this matter unresolved.

In summary, while I applaud aspiration to better any standard a shot of reality must also be employed, a venue at this price point delivering dishes with the level of pretention displayed on Sunday, (something I would expect at a high-end restaurant/Bistro with a named chef in a city centre, akin to the ones I often use on business) would be expected to provide service that is exemplary with food that was impeccable. None of this was evident on the evening.

Give time to train the young staff and assist managers in dealing with customer complaints or stick to the ‘pub grub’ with a restaurant that was extremely successful for many years, a thoroughly unenjoyable evening that will not be repeated. Hardly “Fine dining for any occasion”

We would definitely recommend The Brinsop for a party. The choice of food was extensive to cater for all pallettes and the room was comfortable catering for 95 people. Special thanks to Heather and Sue from the Brinsop for their patience and professional help in organising our party.Some guests are planning to have parties their themselves because they thought the venue was perfect. Well done the Brinsop.

First time visit to the Brinsop for food. Immediate first impressions - table was dirty, food on floor, squashed chipped potato under my seat. Come on this is not Mc Donalds!

Food was ordered and starter took over 40 minutes to arrive with the main course following 30 minutes later. Why?

The food was ok, mothing special att all but edible.

The main course plates where cleared from the table and we were again left sitting there was 15 minutes.

Had enough, got up and went and found a waiter for the deserts menu. This was ordered quickly but didn't arrive. Had to again go and find a waiter who was actually chatting with the others. Apolgised desert delivered. We requested the bill at the table and had to again go and find a waiter to pay. Almost 2 hours for a simple meal.

The service here is terrible. Why pay young staff minimum wage? Get some decent mature waiters who actually care.

Wouldn't go back.

Cant beleive we fell for the usual excuse "well the food is freshly made " this is the third time you have said the same thing,When i booked the table i "EVEN" mentioned the previous time we came, to be assured no we are not busy AT THE MOMENT.

How long can you keep using the same excuse ?

The owner needs to take responsibilty for this, he is more the able to address this,but clearly he does not care.

Food was over cooked this time,Burgers were dry, wedges dry.

The manager did refund our drinks bill, which they also did last time.

Hopefully he will take my comments and many others from what i have seen, and maybe change

I used to recommend this place but never again.

We have recently held a christening reception for our daughter. All aspects of the party were covered, nice room, great service and all our guests commented on the choice and quality of the food. I would recommend th Brinsop both as a party venue and a place to eat.

We went on avwdnesday night it was not very busy. I ordered a chicken skewer on a ciabatta , it came on the thinnest slice f bread that was rok solid and I could not cut it. But never mind according to the waiter that's fine that's how it comes . He said he would tell the kitchen but did not return to tell us what te kitchen said. What a shame they don't care more about the customers we won't go back .

went to this eaterie on sunday 13 may . from the out side, well it could do with an over haul but so could so many places in our town . inside well what can i say,,,, modern and light . good selection of beers and wines. menu ok to. bar and bistro food available and as it was sunday it would be rude not to try a roast .. traditional it was to with probably the biggest yorkshire pudding you have seen .... aunt bessie should take note .. lots of beef and sauce "gravy" and vegetables to with nice crisp roast potato ... service not to bad either ...dessert well what can i say the meringue is again huge .. icecream and strawberries with cream .. my other half had the cheese ...lancashire bomb apparently ... i wonder were that gets its name .. all in all for 2 less than 30 quid .... a gem maybe ...i will tell you after our next visit

We went to The Brinsop for a family gathering - 17 of us, we had booked well in advance and pail a deposit. The service was painfully slow, the male waiting staff were extremely surly and "couldn't care less". When the main courses eventually arrived we waited so long for the side dishes and vegetables that the mains had gone cold.I personally had ordered veal escalopes and even if they had been luke warm or even hot I would describe them as inedible at best.

We went for Mothers Day 2012, we have not been for about a year and the service was painfully slow. We had been in 20 mins before being given our drinks, where the bottle of wine was dumped on the table and we have to pour ourselves. There was 2 adults and a 2 year old child but there were larger parties in who were being given more service. After ordering we were then told somehting was not on the menu which was disappointing, although the food was good it was rushed as after an hour we had only eaten starters. We were not asked at anytime if we need more drinks (only 1 person drinking wine). Very disappointed this time espically being Mothers day and not a full capacity they seemed very under staff and no special treatment given or made to fele special

I feel that there should be some praise for this establishment.

My daughter & son in law had their wedding reception at the Brinsop in Aug 2011. At the booking time (March/April) there were lots of suggestions and helpful advice that we were given. We went away reassured and happy with our choice.

The function room is superb. It has its own car park and dedicated access, all on one level, so that disabled or elderly people have no trouble. The room sat 60 of us and could easily manage a lot more, easily 100, and there is a nice sized dance floor with fittings for a DJ.

Lighting is also good and can be altered to change the mood as required. For those who do not want to talk over the music there is a separate chill out area where you can relax and chat on bar stools and tables, there is also another area around the corner which is quiet too.

One area that was commented upon by the guests were the toilets, (yes strange I know) particularly the ladies toilets which were described as stunning and had an especially wide toilet to cater for the brides dress - a nice thoughtful touch which especially pleased my daughter. Of course this is separate from the disabled toilet.

Another comment I received was the prices for drinks. The norm, especially for weddings, seems to be how much can we rip-off people. This I am glad to say is NOT the case here. The prices for the guests were normal pub prices, in fact they even brought in a specially requested beer for the occasion. The difference this makes to the whole atmosphere is quite amazing as it stops people feeling disgruntled, making the whole day happy. (Ever been to a do, where it is £4+ for a beer and hearing the moans about it?) Extra staff were brought in so no-one had too long to wait for a drink.

As time passed, we decided upon the menu over which we had free rein, what we wanted is what we had. This was not the norm, as the whole menu had to be guaranteed lactose free! Also throw in a couple of veggie meals.

There was also a requirement for a 150 person hog roast for the evening guests. It was obviously a first for both requirements and they carried it off superbly. Even the roast was catered for and it takes a bit of cooking.

We were offered lots of advice on what, and what not to choose based on their experience. When the meal arrived it was brilliant, even the veggies were pleased. I received lots of compliments on how good the food was. to emphasise this, when I went back the next day to collect some things, there were 5 people who were so impressed with the meal the previous day that they decided to have Sunday lunch at the Brinsop before setting off home.

Overall the staff were really helpful before, during, and after the event. The food was superb and the facilities were excellent. The amount of people who have said to me how good the place was, is in the scores.

If you are planning a reception or a party I would thoroughly recommend this place

If you are not then I would suggest you just pop in for a drink in the bar. There are some really nice lagers and real ales in there. The restaurant always seems busy, and the food is good.

If you are just passing through, then you can get on with whatever you are doing over a beer using the free guest Wi-Fi .