Ambleside Tap Yard in South Lakeland

This is a must do for anyone in Ambleside, it offers great range and beers and the food looks good pizza and burgers...

Pizza was nice, garlic bread and focaccia were disgusting. Save your time and look elsewhere as it want impressive at all. Staff didn’t really seem to care that the food wasn’t great and tried a lot of excuses to make up for it. Not impressed for the price.

fantastic food here,thoroughly enjoyed my pizza, the ullswater blonde ale was a pleasent beer to drink. happy to come back here again

We came here after a hike, everything was perfect. They're home made IPA Chaff Session, the samali pizza and to finish off a black coffee. Was perfect, including the music in the background.

Great hotdogs (huge!) and beer. Splish Splash was a particularly good pint. Friendly service and a really nice atmosphere. It was understandably rammed, as it was Christmas Lights switch on night, and we'd not booked, but we were offered the only table available. It was by the front door, which unfortunately didn't stay fully closed, so it was pretty chilly and drafty. It soon became apparent that the people there before quickly moved to the next table that was available, as their food came to our table initially. Other than that, definitely recommend, just don't sit by the door!

Delicious food, friendly staff and really good atmosphere. We are definitely going again when we are near by.

Great settings, beer was good. Service was slow and food was okay. 1 of two burgers arrived burnt but promptly replaced.

Visited for a few drinks on Saturday. They had a Excellent choice of drinks, the Guinness was particularly on form.

Didn't eat here but tried some lovely real ales on more than just one occasion,

Our family of 4 went here today about 3ish, place was busy but managed to get sat straight away. My husband and son had a burger and chips and garlic bread to share, and me and my daughter both had pizzas and dirty chicken fries to share; food was lovely, tasty and piping hot. Service was fast and delivery of food to our table was about 20 mins, a lovely amount of time to have a chat and get settled. Atmosphere was really nice to, the only tiny down side was the table was small to fit our plates but to be honest that's being super critical... We would be back 100% on our next visit. Thank you all 🙂

Good service, but it should be noted that tax is added on separately at the end. Very unusual for UK and therefore may take some by surprise

Great place for food, really tasty and reasonable, me and my wife shared the pollo pizza and dirty fires. Nice pint of pravha to. Bands play on occasion as well.

Great! Delicious! Good portions, friendly staff, great variety of drinks and food!

Busy place, we were told there was a wait for the food, but it was worth it. Good buzz around the place. Friendly staff.

Great food, great service, Asha (hope I've spelt her name right!) was really helpful and great with the kids! Would highly recommend.

Food was absolutely delicious. Live in the area and haven’t had food as good as that in a long time. ordered the mushroom and ham pizza and it was devine. definitely will be back

Table service didn't eat this time but definitely had food envy 😋

So good we went two nights in a row.

Really good value for money. Chicken was cooked really well in the burgers which came with lots of fries. Good selection of local ales and IPAs on tap. Cool interior, small shame the tv inside is showing reals of the Caribbean rather than images of the surrounding fells or footage of the local beer being brewed.

Really dissapointing. My husbands pizza was badly burnt on the bottom. My lamb burger was incredibly dry and tasted like it had been cooked and reheated. I will say the sweet potato fries were excellent and my husband enjoyed the beer. Service wasnt great, waitress abrupt. I wouldn't return.

I'm sure the food was good, but I couldn't taste it for the incredible amount of salt put on it, the fries turned out to be the saltiest I've EVER had and actually made my mouth burn, thank god I ordered a pint of larger.

Brilliant food but the staff were even better.

Popped in today having just arrived in Ambleside. The pub was warm and the staff were friendly and efficient. We had pizzas and they were pretty large and really delicious. We would definitely recommend.

Allows dogs Lovely food Nice staff We will be visiting again

Really good food and great staff

Great place. Atmosphere 100%. Staff 100% food 100%. Highly recommend

Stopped off for a very late lunch after some walking around Windermere and had worked up quite an appetite. Unfortunately the food was very poor with the pizza very burned and the bugger my wife had was as dry as a bone.

Just ok. Little things matter, I had just popped in after a hike and ordered a beer to sit outside. Finish serving one customer before you move to the next as I had to ask the next customer to move so I could grab my beer as you pay on the side. Also I’m all for tipping, but I’m not eating a meal or getting service to my table so not sure why it’s there as an option with the bar staff checking you have tipped. Just ok, I didn’t eat here so can’t comment

Only had a couple of beers here. They have their own (craft) beer. A very good IPA and excellent hazy IPA. Reliable service and not to expensive.

The place was ok. We sat outside. Ordered a staropromen and they didn't have any. Opted instead for a homebrew Helles which was very nice. We went to the bar to order and got sent away stating that it was table service only. A bit of a faff to be honest. I can understand people who want to order food having table service but why send us away from the bar when we were already there? It would have been easier just to serve us. I think this was probably adopted during COVID and kept in place. Makes more sense in Italy, not in England. The pizza looked amazing though.

Service and atmosphere was great, however we both had burgers and found that they were bland despite the sauces on them. The streaky bacon wasn’t cooked enough so was chewy and stringy making it difficult to eat. Presentation was great but the flavours just weren’t there sadly.

Tasty wood fired chicken pizzas & drinks, great vibe, excellent service

Food was delicious but staff was rude and was made to feel uncomfortable when asked for anything

Great weekend here at the 🍺 festival. Last weekend.

Went during the Ambleside festival and it was great fun! Large selection of craft beers and ciders.

Lovely little place, pizzas are amazing

We were greeted warmly on arrival and seated immediately. The couple of wait staff we encountered were friendly, helpful and attentive. The menu is great too it was so hard to choose what to have! In the end it was burgers all around - I highly recommend the 'Juicy Lucifer'. The orders were all correct including customisations, food came out hot and looking great. For what you get, the value is really good too. Definitely worth a stop here if you're visiting Ambleside, highly recommend - but make sure you go hungry.

Stopped here a few times now. Busy but worth the wait for a seat. Great service and a good atmosphere. Food is good, I can recommend the pizzas and the beers and stouts. Will definitely be back.

Good food, nice beer and great service. Glad we made a reservation in advance.

Had a good meal here yesterday. Didn’t book as was a last minute find and got a table straight away. Service was very good. The food was also good but the burger was a bit too chargrilled for my liking though and I had to leave a small bit of my burger as was basically burnt through. I also didn’t eat the bun as that was also chargrilled way too much. But I would definitely recommend overall and would happily go back again.

Didn't mark the food as we didn't eat but the service and atmosphere as we sat and had a drink was very nice

Lovely atmosphere at the Tap Yard - service staff friendly, helpful and knowledgeable about the menu and food preparations. Food portions were big and great choice of drinks too. Downside - more vegetarian and vegan options please

Just went in for a drink very nice place busy aswell .

I wondered why they took payment before they served the food. Then I found out. Burnt and mostly inedible burger. Chips ok. Beer was called IPA but, in that modern way, definitely wasn't. I think this is more my problem than theirs. Much better places to eat in Ambleside.

Stopped for some lunch and had the Korean burger. Best burger I've ever had. Food was served fast which was useful as we caught the return ferry. Friendly staff. Unexpected gem!

Food was lovely and the service was brilliant would definitely go again☺️

Amazing pizza, we actually couldn’t believe how good the pizza was! The pub is very dog friendly and we felt very comfortable with our dog and made to feel very welcome. We will definitely visit again next time we are in the lakes!

We sat outside and had a generous slice of pizza and a coffee. Excellent service and our dogs got some great treats.

We had pizza and a beer, and let me tell you, as an Italian living in the UK for 25 years this was the best pizza I have ever had in the UK. The dough was exactly as I was expecting, generous toppings and delicious flavours. They only add a 5% service charge, which at least coming from London is very little. Please add a tip as they are fast, polite and kind, and they deserve it.

From the outset, the service from our waiter Robert, was first rate - polite, efficient and friendly. The pizza was first class and very, very good - the best we've had for a long time. Everything was clean, well presented and professional. I would again emphasise that Robert is a credit to the company - all in all.......Highly recommended on all counts.

Absolutely beautiful food and above excellent service. Food is plentiful, price is great and I would be happy to pay more based on quality of food. Staff are amazing

Eat outside, Great pizza, spoilt by smokers 🤢🤢 About time you had a decent non smoking policy. They choose to smoke, but I didn't have the option, disappointed

By far the best place in town. Food amazing, fantastic atmosphere and service excellent. Highly recommend. We dropped lucky with great weather so dined outside which felt like you were abroad. I have never seen staff work so hard to please customers and all done with a friendly face and smile.

10 of us went there one Friday evening in August. We sat upstairs. Service was fast. Drinks and food came quickly. Everyone enjoyed what they had. Staff were very helpful and friendly. Good location. There is a car park next to it. And they are dog friendly. Would definitely visit again next time I'm back in lake district. Five stars from me 🌟 🌟 🌟 🌟 🌟

It has a great outdoor section to sit and enjoy a lager with friends. I've not eaten there, so I can not rate the food.

Pizzas are very good as were the chips. Visited on a very busy Saturday however we managed to get one of the last tables. Waiting times was around 50 minutes from order to served which was quite long however it was extremely busy. Would definitely go again. Photo was of the 'Tris' pizza

Very welcome staff and absolutely delicious pizza's!

I would have given them no stars but it’s not an option. Booked a table for 6.30 but when we got there we were told there was a 40 minute wait for food even tho we had booked well in advance. The place was very busy and must have been short staffed so why keep taking walk-ins when you know you’ve got customers pre-booked?? So we didn’t stay , went to The Temperance Inn instead and were eating really great food 15 minutes later. Disappointed.

My wife and I stopped here for a pizza on a Saturday afternoon. The food was delicious, really great pizza! Staff were friendly and attentive. Would definitely recommend!

Great place with great table service, only gripe when busy it took 30mins from ordering drinks to being delivered.

We had a week holiday in the lake district. And this was by far the best place we eat out. Great selection of beers and ales. Special milkshakes which was a big hit with the children. And not stupidly expensive. Great service too

Great food, great atmosphere and dog friendly so even better

Great place for drinks and a chat, but a few of our parties, including myself, had the burger all different ones, but they were all dry and flavour less.

Food was good, they have some vegan & vegetarian options which is nice. They took a while to bring the food out, but it was also pretty busy when we were there so it’s understandable. What we absolutely didn’t like was how they treated our dog. We loved that they let us bring her in, thank you for that. But the waiters giving all the dogs treats without asking the owners first is just not cool. You don’t know if they have allergies for example, behavioral issues, or medical conditions where their diet has to be closely monitored. And if petting them & giving treats without permission wasn’t bad enough, the waiters would also make our dog do tricks but then still withhold the treat after she did what she was asked, resulting in her getting frustrated. It might be a fun game for your waiters, but it’s just annoying and disrespectful to the dogs as well as any owners who put a lot of effort in training their pups. Won’t be coming here again.

The wood fired pizza is amazing. Staff are very friendly and efficient but you may have a wait for food. It's generally a very busy place but I wouldn't describe the wait times as being ridiculous. More than happy to wait a little while for food when it tastes this good. Very reasonable prices. Well worth a visit and a restaurant I won't hesitate to recommend.

Amazing pizzas!! We asked in a shop where would best to get some food and the shop keeper said most pubs in Ambleside were a bit poor and that the Tap Yard was hands down the best by far. We are so glad we took his advice, the pizzas were AMAZING. Proper wood fired, proper dough with gorgeous bubbles. We travel to Italy a lot and these are as good a pizza as you can get! We were served by a lovely gentleman but also by two other women during our meal and all three of them were super friendly, super efficient and made us feel very welcome. The pizzas came quickly and are 12" so pretty big. Wonderful dough, choose any toppings you like and you'll love it for sure.

Lovely food, great atmosphere, outside seating fab with heaters and service excellent.

We came here at about half 5 quite busy food It didn't take long to come out lovely pub would recommende

First time here will not be the last. Fantastic location and atmosphere.

Simple but well made and presented food aside from the platter served on an impossibly small piece of wood, as the name would suggest a great choice of beers, staff very friendly and attentive

Great place for food, we had pizzas all round! The service was a little slow but other than that, the staff were really friendly and let us in early for our reservation.

Great pizzas and sweet potato frys with very quick service and close to the car park with great staff. The pizza with pepperoni was a bit spicy and milkshake was a bit thin.

Food was ok, serving staff mediocre. Quite noisy and stuffy on the mezzanine floor. Glad we ate before going anywhere near to the pizza preparation area (and didn't have pizza) as we were disgusted to see the pizza 'chef' picking food out of his teeth with his fingernails and then going on to prepare pizzas without first washing his hands!

A beautiful little piece of paradise 😁

One of the many restaurants in itself and outside the wooden benches are not really comfortable, but ... the pizzas are surprisingly good! Pleasant service and, given how busy it was, quick, friendly service!

Cannot rate as walked out after waiting ten minutes to be served by waiters walking around not paying attention in a half full pub where you cannot order at the bar. went next door and got served as soon as we walked in the bar.

Amazing food at this place, but be prepared for slow staff service, we tried going up to the bar for drinks, and was told it was table service, we then waited 10 minutes for someone to come over, I could if ordered my drink at the bar and drank it in that time. They missed off one drink off our order, that was then another few minutes for the missing drink to arrive. Also one missing dessert from our table, took 10 minutes for the missing dessert to arrive.

Wanted to grab a quick local drink on our way home after dinner, so popped in here. Were told by a waitress that it was table service only (which we thought was odd because there was no drink menu that we saw and numbers on the tables, which generally indidicates self-service). We then went outside and sat down but were told to move as the tables out there didn't belong to the Tap, but to the pub next door. When asked where we should sit if we just wanted a couple of quick drinks, the Waitress told us "Honestly, you should just go home" - so we left, to her dismay, and went somewhere nicer. Incredibly rude staff and have never been treated so dismissively by a waitress. The place is a tap, so doesn't need table service! Generally got the impression that if you didn't order food/were a source of tips, they didn't want to know about you. No wonder the place was mostly empty. Would not recommend.

Just when I thought that my culinary options in Ambleside were fish and chips and some normal pubs, I entered this place. Everything was wonderful...the atmosphere, the staff, the food and especially the beer produced there. Whoever runs this business knows exactly how to do it.

Only the two of us here at 9:20 and seem to be closing. Staff smoking, openly, in the building. All very strange. Suggest avoid, but, up to you.

The burger patties were burnt, dry and small

Ambleside Tap Yard is such a great place. We loved having this restaurant 5 minutes walk from our holiday cottage and visited twice while there for four nights. The first time I had booked a table which was inside. It was busy and with all the outside seating too, we were happy to wait for a while. The drinks were great and my husband loved the choice of craft beers on offer. The food was delicious, we enjoyed pizzas and a burger then gorgeous warm waffles with fruit, brownie and icrecream as well as icecream sundaes. A really nice evening all round. I tried to book again for a couple of night's later but there wasn't availability, so we walked down anyway, prepared to either wait or go elsewhere. The inside was fully booked but we could find a table outside. It was a warm evening so we were happy to sit outside. Service was excellent even though it was very busy and the food arrived quite quickly. Delicious again . The staff work really hard and are friendly and polite. We'd definitely go back.

I've been coming here for a while, always a treat, who doesn't like wood fired pizza? Great place to unwind and soak up the atmosphere, all while being well fed.

Not enough staff on bar, queues out the door.

Few Vegan options. They burned the coffee. Staff where nice. They add a service charge without asking (its written in small writing on the menu)

Visited a couple of times during our stay in Ambleside. Had been previously & the pizza’s were excellent. This time they were good, but no where near as good as last year’s visit. However, that wasn’t my main problem. As I like to see what beer is available. I only ordered food at the table. Drinks were bought at the bar. It wasn’t until I was home I noticed that identical rounds showed as different amounts on my statement. So I did a bit of tallying up. On one occasion I just bought a single pint of tank beer at £5.80, shown as £6.30! I also declined the 5% tip that on the machine. I have contacted Tap Yard, & I received a call to say they were looking it to this for me. 30 days on & not heard anything. I have now asked Trading Standards to see what is going on. Might only be small amount, but across the board it adds up.. Nice place, good food & drink. But definitely check your bill.

We have been a few times and the pizzas are always lovely. My son also had a Kinder sundae, which was amazing.

We have visited this place quite a few times while in the lake district. Great local selection of ales, the pizzas are always tasty and some decent funky chips however you like em! Always a nice atmosphere in the place inside or out, dog friendly which is why we have gone back a number of times. Great spot to unwind for a bit after your lakes activities, or simply for a nice drink. We've been in both Easter time and xmas/new yr, and just as good to sit inside or outside on the benches wrapped up warm! I think some benches had heaters too. Definitely give it a try, welcoming for families, couples, etc a nice mix, but Ambleside is a pretty nice place to be regardless.....! Like plenty of popular places, you may have to wait in the entrance etc to grab a seat, but they have enough seating for people to rotate etc. It would have to be a mighty busy one to not get seated in decent time, and fed n watered.

We had some coffee and desserts, the sundae was very nice

Came here a few years ago and it was fine, this time brought us wrong pizza so we had to send it back, then an extremely rude staff came to us and said we didn’t order any pizza, we explained that another staff just brought us a wrong pizza so we must have ordered something, the staff just insisted that we didn’t order it and didn’t even consider the possibility that she forgot to take the order and didn’t even say sorry, I decided here’s no point arguing so just asked if we could order it now , she was very reluctant and said there’s going to be a long wait. No apologies whatsoever. We remained polite and said thank you once she added the pizza to the order but no response. Other staff members were nice but this particular one just made our experience terrible. Will never come again

One of their better bars. Pizza, burgers, etc. will hopefully not disappoint. Music is generally terrible, so bring some headphones 😀. Good choice of ales. Prices average for the area. Not a bad place to go in Ambleside. If you want to eat or drink on the pavement, go for it. At least there are no cars here! PS: compulsory (ish) service charge...

Dirty Expensive Rude staff Grim Just don’t unless everywhere else is closed Sub par Wetherspoons

On a weekend Mini Moon with Hubby. We came to The Tap Yard over a year ago after previously visiting many time's beforehand, The service shocking to say the least, rude staff diabolical from start to finish. Well what a turn around the place has had Could not book, so turned up as a walk in, We were seated immediately even though the place was very busy. Didn't have to wait long to be served. Drinks and food arrived correctly and promptly with a friendly smile. We received not one but two check backs. The Tap Yard has turned around greatly, after tonight's service we shall be back. Well done to all the staff on a very busy Saturday Night you are doing a marvelous job. P S The Desserts are also vastly improved with quantity & quality.

The casual appearance of the Tap Yard premises belies the polite and very efficient service missing in some higher end Ambleside restaurants. It does what it does very well. All of the staff were busy and were involved in all aspects of service. It looked like a well oiled machine in progress. Good quality and tasty food, good wine and quality cask and tank ales. The Tap Yard do what they do very well indeed. We will return.

The verpura(?) (veggie appetizer) and sweet potato fries were HEAVEN. Amazing meal!

Food is absolutely insane and the service is impeccable, Christian really looked after us and made sure we had everything we needed and was also so friendly. This man needs a raise!

Really nice place for some food. Not a massive choice, mainly pick between burger, hotdogs, or pizza but to be fair there's a good selection of each. Good vibe with some chilled house playing. Great setting and outdoor area.

We love The Tap Yard and have visited many times, but I fear this might be our last for a time. Our Waitress was super, and I have no quibbles regarding service especially as it was so busy. Our drinks and food did not take long to arrive. However, our food was terrible. We all ordered the Korean burger and all of them were rather well done (burnt) the chicken was chewy, and we did not have the BBQ sauce and the Kimchi slaw as advertised. We were all so disappointed and we paid for the 5% service charge at ordering. The food we got served was not deserving of a tip. I am sad to have to write a negative review.

Only had drinks this time, but place was busy with a nice atmosphere

Lovely food, large portions, nice outside area to eat when nice day which we did.