Bar & Kitchen At The Whitaker in Rossendale

Nice clean little restaurant. We’re asked to take a seat and wait to be served. Young waitress completely forgot about us, so 15 minutes later, we asked another young waitress. Ordered a flat white + a jug of water to share. Also ordered the jacket potato with cheese and beans. The potato, which was small, was £5.75 - the cheese was £1.30 and the beans were £1.30. So £8.35 for a v small potato lunch - my daughter and I looked quite surprised at the portion. Likewise, my flat white arrived & that too was the smallest flat white coffee I’ve experienced, in all the coffee shops we’ve ever visited. I ordered the Mediterranean salad. That came in a 10” diameter pasta style dish, that was actually only 6” diameter where the food is. I was really surprised that for £8.95 there were only 5 v v small pieces of chicken, atop what I can only describe as a bowl of lettuce, 1 slither of tomato & 7 small black olives. The portion of chunky chips, £2.95, served in nothing more than a tiny tin cup - was easily the smallest portion we’ve EVER experienced. Even the glasses that were given to drink the water were like those used in a nursery. The theme of small runs in this cafe. V v disappointed & would absolutely never return

Terrible sandwiches. Bread cheap and stodgy. Almost too much filling in them . Salad and sandwiches looked like they had been thrown on the plate and tomatoes were soggy. Had chips which again were soft as if they had been under a heat lamp for a long time. The waitress was lovely but she said they had a new chef. Chef needs training if that’s the best they can produce. Never again .

Visited sun 22nd - one member of staff behind the bar cleaning instead of serving, one young girl running round taking orders, serving & clearing the tables & a manager not doing much. We didn’t have to wait too long to order but took nearly an hour for food to arrive! This was in no way the young girls fault & when we politely asked if we would have to wait much longer we heard the manager giving the young girl a telling off that she was rushing and to slow down taking orders! She in no way rushed us with ordering & gave us the time we needed to decide what we wanted. The young girl (Niamh) was clearly trying her best but her manager was just plain rude! More staff is needed & a manager who doesn’t blame her staff for her poor management!!! Won’t be returning.

Service was incredibly slow. We had to ask to order food then waited ages for it. No one came back to the table after food had been served to check if we wanted anything else. We had to catch someone’s attention to ask for the bill. We then waited again and finally took our payment to staff to then be told it was card payment only, which wasn’t a problem, just more waiting around for staff action. The atmosphere was very noisy with lots of small children running around and babies banging on tables. Plus music playing in the background. £10 for jacket potato with tuna mayo and a coffee.

Very very very overpriced drinks!!! I am actually still in shock at the cost of lager at this place. Visited with family, purchased 2 half Amstels, 1 coffee and 1 ice lolly came to £14. I sat down but then thought heck that’s expensive, maybe they’ve made a mistake…so I queried at the bar. Over £4 for a half!!! We are in Rawtenstall!!!! Jeez! That is crazy! The alcohol prices are not displayed anywhere clearly even though soft drinks are on the menus. Will it be coming again until the new management get it right. Just to say the bar staff are lovely, certainly not their fault!!

We visited the Whitaker recently for a birthday celebration. Didn’t realise it had been taken over and the new management have placed ridiculous prices on the drinks. A round of 3 pints of Moretti cost £24!! You expect to pay these prices at a music venue or top restaurant in central Manchester, but not in Rawtenstall. My advice is don’t bother visiting or hiring until they get a reality check.

How disappointing! We used to visit the cafe regularly and were looking forward to visiting again now the kitchen has reopened. Breakfast was awful. Limited opinions, basically sourdough with avocado plus toppings. The bread wasn't sourdough, more like cold dry hard farmhouse. The poached eggs were hard and the whole dish was cold. On a positive, the flat whites were nice. We offered feedback to the waiting staff, but no sign of the chef. Surely to improve the quality of the dishes, the catering staff need to engage with the customers and not just take 3rd party feedback! The Friday morning atmosphere used to be buzzing! Today the cafe was virtually empty. Unfortunately, we won't be back anytime soon which is so sad, especially as this used to be our favourite spot.

Sadly, The Whitaker Bar & Kitchen has gone dramatically downhill. It now seems to be run/supplied by a large catering company. The menus feature a logo for Elior and they've started displaying calorie content, which generally means you're eating in a business or chain with more than 250 employees. You used to be able to get a really nice meal here, with fresh ingredients and staff that cared about what they were serving. Since reopening 2 weeks ago with a new menu, it now seems like the freshness, quality and portions have fallen off a cliff. My partner had a tiny jacket potato with tuna and an undressed salad. I had an absolutely tiny quiche with barely any filling and bizarrely sweet pastry. The chips were possibly from a bag in the freezer, or at the very least highly processed and ordered in. The Whitaker is a beautiful park and the museum is a local gem, but the bar and kitchen now unfortunately lets it down. The cost of living crisis is making it difficult for hospitality businesses, and I understand they're trying to cut costs wherever they can, but the quality is gone here. It feels like a total waste of money as a customer. There are so many nicer places to eat and drink in Rawtenstall. Try the Stinky Chef, Siphon, A'Vucciria, the market stalls, or one of the many microbreweries and small bars instead.

Fantastic service. The Sunday lunch menu value for money,. Delicious Sunday roast, and good choice on menu we will return.

Visited with friends for lunch. The menu choice is extensive with some breakfast items available until 1pm, sandwiches, range of meals and small plate selection 3 for £13. We shared some of the small plates which were absolutely delicious and so much choice - each one was so tasty and needless to say we left nothing ! The staff and service was excellent as it was very busy. I will be back and hope to combine it with a visit the museum. Highly recommend

We have just been to Bar & Kitchen (4 of us) myself and my husband have not been for a few years. Absolutely loved the venue, nice and airy with excellent views of the valley and the service was very good indeed. Our breakfast was delicious and at a reasonable price. Definitely going to go back probably a Thursday evening or for Sunday Lunch. We didn't have time for a proper look around but very impressed. Annie

I've visited the kitchen and bar several times and it always feels like a real treat. I've been with friends and last time a big family party for breakfast/brunch.. everyone was impressed, especially with the service getting 10 meals out at once. Great veggie breakfast choice along with the traditional breakfast fayre. It's very reasonable value in a beautiful setting overlooking the Rossendale Valley .

Went for lunch with some friends. Booked a table for 1.30 and got there about 10 minutes early. As it was noisy in the restaurant with lots of children we decided to eat outside. Told no waitress service even though there seemed to be plenty about, mainly setting tables but fair enough. On the drinks menu there was an offer - buy two large glasses of wine (at £7.20 each) and get the rest of the bottle free. So went to the bar to order. The girl behind the bar only seemed young and was filling the dishwasher. I thought she was probably too young to serve as she didn't acknowledge me or the family behind me. After a few minutes though she decided to serve me. So I ordered the Red Wine and a Chardonnay. She said she wasn't sure there had any Chardonnay and went out the back to check (another 5 minutes - and the family behind me gave up). Came back and said they didn't have it but they had Pinno Grigio. Fine, I will have that. Puts it in the till and the computer says no. Then she went to ask her supervisor who said we couldn't have the replacement (same price)because that wasn't the offer. OK so I will have the Rose. Tries to enter into the till and couldn't do it - then got a colleague to help and said £16.45. I said "Are you sure?" (should have just paid it). She said what do you think it should be - higher or lower? I said try it again. Then she said £33.40. I said no it should be £28.80. So she looked at the till again and said "£33.40" By this stage, I was losing the will to live and said "Fine". Another family behind me had come and gone by now - so that was 2 orders that had been lost. She said "I'll bring the drinks out" 10 minutes later someone else brought them out and saw us looking at the menu and said "We've stopped doing food now" We said "But it's 1.50 and you are supposed to serve until 3.30?? And we only booked the table at 1.00 so why didn't you tell us on the phone" "She just apologised so my friend went and saw a supervisor who said we could eat, though no explanation on why they have stopped serving. Meanwhile whilst going through the menu I saw the wine price again which clearly said £7.20 for the large glass. So took it back to the bar and showed the girl who said "Yeah that's bad isn't it? Can I keep the menu to show the supervisor?" Obviously nothing done - no apology, no reduction in the bill. When the food did eventually come it was very nice but the whole experience was spoiled by some clearly untrained staff, abysmal supervision, out-of-date menus and around chaos. Will not be rushing back

Siting outside of a sunny warm day is the plus point for the cafe. The food is very average. We had the eggs bendict and fish an chips. The eggs were more like hard boiled eggs rather than poached. The fish was greasy and the chips undercooked. It is a shame that a good location is let down by very average food. So much potential.

Went for a roast dinner on Mother’s Day and the food was incredible. Every course was presented so well and tasted amazing. It’s the only place to go for a roast dinner! Amazing food and not ridiculously priced. Friendly environment and even on a busy day the service was on point. Highly recommend

Popped in here for a light bite. Really good decor inside. Busy, classy cafe inside the Whittaker park and museum. We ordered the soup - really tasty. Burgers looked good that were coming out of the kitchen. Service fast. Will be back for a bigger meal soon.

The setting is nice but the food is terrible. The sandwiches & baguettes are worse than a Tesco meal deal. So many better places to eat in Rawtenstall.

Nice setting but confusing and disappointing menu, poor service, needs improvement. Arrived and given menus only and ordered to find only the Sunday lunch menu was available. So ordered mushroom wellington, cheese and onion pie and Mac and cheese from kids menu. Food arrived but was over cooked and veg was cold and spoilt with a sweet chutney. Yorkshire puddings were hard and burnt. The mushroom wellingtons were actually pea pies! They were nice but not what we ordered. It wasn’t busy and no one came to check if everything was ok with our food, so just ate it as we were hungry. Wanted puddings but waited and waited and no one came to ask so had to find someone and then some puddings were not available. Anyway ordered three puddings and then asked for the bill and found we were overcharged and told one of the puddings wasn’t included in the 2 course deal which said ‘any deserts from the menu’. This is my third visit and can’t believe how much it’s changed. It was brilliant last year. The staff need to look after customers, know the menu and explain any changes when you arrive. You also need to offer alternatives to Sunday menu and pay attention to the quality of the food.