Bench Bistro Bar in Cheshire East

Good cocktail menu, some different choice from the run of the mill - plus the barman puts a shamrock on your pint of Guinness!

Our second visit, this time, to try their afternoon tea. It was fantastic. Good quality, lots of choice, and pleasant service. The kids' selection was as good as the adults and i highly recommend a trip there!

We were at The Bench on Friday 25th October to celebrate my mum’s birthday.I would like to say a big thank you to Oriana our waitress who was amazing and very attentive to our needs.Also thank you again to Atlas who has been fabulous as always as this is my 3rd time here in 3 months for different occasions.Excellent food again and lovely cocktails too.Atmosphere was also good too and loved the decor.

My granddaughter had afternoon tea with friends for her birthday the food was amazing and Lola the waitress was lovely and very helpful.i would highly recommend bench .

Amazing food and lovely staff, they were so friendly and welcoming! Love the theme and vibe of the place. Such a unique place to eat, can’t wait to come back and try out the afternoon tea! 5 🌟

Absolutely despicable Bistro bar it claims to have high standards I would say the opposite about the food don’t even start at the bottom of my chips there was a long black hair I am blonde!! The wait for the food was an hour although they told me that it would be a short wait not a whole hour!! The prawns weren’t even cooked they were hard!! The waiters were so slow and kept on ignoring our table made us move after an hours wait!! I you couldn’t even write this I couldn’t believe this!! I AM NEVER GOING HERE AGAIN!!!!

I had the unfortunate experience of dining at bench bistro, and I feel compelled to share my significant disappointment. Upon entering, I was optimistic; however, my expectations quickly diminished. To begin with, the service was absolute chaotich and disorganised . The staff appeared disinterested and inattentive, leading to an inadequate dining experience. After a prolonged wait, my order was finally taken. Unfortunately, the quality of the food did not match the restaurant’s reputation. When my meal arrived, I was shocked to discover not only undercooked food but also a hair embedded within. The undercooking of the food made it unappetising, raising concerns about hygiene and food safety. Such standards are unacceptable in any restaurant, much less one that claims to provide quality dining. The hair was particularly troubling, suggesting abhorrent cleanliness and customer satisfaction. In conclusion, my visit to bench bistro was profoundly disappointing. The combination of poor service, undercooked food, and hygiene issues resulted in a thoroughly unsatisfactory experience. I would not recommend this establishment, as the quality of food and service did not meet even the most basic expectations for a dining venue much less one with high expectations. I would not recommend this place.

It was an absolutely awful experience the staff were very unhelpful and rude. Firstly we went in and got some drinks they just assumed we wanted pints of coke instead of asking! Secondly it took my friend to ask them to take our order which is part of their job and we had to wait ages for food and people who came in later than us got served before us after an 1 hour of sitting down at a table we were forced to move and the waiters never gave a reason for why we had to move but the worst was the food one of my friends had raw hard prawns which is not up to any standard and my friend found a hair in her fries which is absolutely disgusting. Last of all the waitress didn't know how to use the cotton candy machine there was smoke everywhere which was very unpleasant considering this restaurant is supposed to be highly rated. Since this experience I won’t be returning to this restaurant ever again!

Absolutely amazing service not only from the manager herself, but employees Alex and Liv who were out of this world. Can't recommend this place enough! Outstanding service so welcoming and just genuinely the best experience! Thankyou we will definitely be back!

What a fantastic dining experience we all had yesterday. 5 in our party and the 1st visit for 4 of us! Cannot wait to return! Love the food, menu, staff, ambience and the whole actual place itself!! Amazing!!

Food wasn’t as nice as expected. But everything was good. Will visit again and hope it’s be better next time maybe chef had a off day

Attended a baby shower at Bench. Being Coeliac I'm always tentative about how the venue will cater for me....I've had some horrendous experiences! However this was outstanding for gluten free! I was so pleasantly surprised by the choice they presented me on my 'bench'. Lots of tasty items, hot and cold. Waitresses were lovely too...very pleasant and helpful. Was nice to leave somewhere feeling 'full' rather than still hungry! Thank you Bench !

Me and my partner attended here on 14th Sept, and have been a regular customer for at least a couple of years. Upon arriving, we got offered a drink menu & made our way through the building onto the outside premises only to be quickly harassed by a woman about my dress code (wearing trackies) - having been a regular customer here and coming in trackies most of the time, it had been no problem - UNTIL TODAY. After years of loyal customer service to then be treated like that is horrendous! I had contacted the business after departing, and had expressed my sheer disappointment. To this day, I have never had trouble with dress code, having come in tracksuits previosuly. The lady who claimed to be the assistant manager on the phone had gone on to say that they have had to turn lots of people away due to the dress code. Shame on you guys! You will only continue to alienate yourselves and have no custom at all which will be detrimental to the outcome of your sales. POOR!

Went here for our friends 60th birthday. We were greeted by the wonderful waitress Oriana. The afternoon tea @ mocktails were delicious we'll be back

We visited the Bench in Nantwich on Saturday. We love the place and the cocktails are amazing. The customer service was very disappointing. There was a wedding party going on outside and children running around in and outside of the bar. My husband purchased a pint & a cocktail and on stepping away from the bar some children ran into him causing the drinks the go everywhere. On approaching the bar staff my husband asked what to do, the manager came out and told him he would have to pay for one of the drinks (the most expensive one). I just thought this was out of order and not very customer friendly,I have no problem with children being there but they should not be running riot. What if it was a hot drink or the glass had injured someone!!!

Fabulous food and venue - and amazing staff completed our experience. On arrival Alice greeted us and was amazing. Later Lillie arrived despite it being her day off but stepped in at minimal notice to cover other staff absences. The two girls worked amazingly together and are a credit to Bench for their dedication, work ethic and friendliness. They didn't stop rushing from table to table ensuring everyone was happy the whole time we were there. Well done girls!

Never been before, food was fantastic. And will defo come again. Great soundtrack as well. Lillie our server was superb, so busy but nothing was too much for her. Couple on next table were horrible to her for no reason and she was so professional. Should be proud to have employees of her quality working in the restaurant. Thank you

Been here a.number of times before and always enjoyed it. This time however was a great disappointment. Waited ages to get served (although we’d booked) then waited a good 20 minutes for 1 cappuccino and a jug of water then 1 hour for food. Nothing complicated was ordered, 2chips 1 scampi, 1 spicy noodles, 1 fish finger and salad sandwich and 1 spicy chilli king prawns. Chips were very dry, scampi ok, noodles claggy, fish finger sandwich barely any salad but loads of red onion that was overpowering and the prawn dish was utterly underwhelming to say the least. Frozen, poor quality pale pink prawns that were hardly ‘king’ in my opinion and totally tasteless. In fairness to the waitress, she was lovely but the only member of staff waiting tables - not her fault about the lack of staff but ‘waiting’ was very much an operative word for both customers and staff on this occasion We are not local to Nantwich but have made the journey especially to visit this place as we’ve enjoyed it in the past but this occasion has left me questioning whether it’s worth the journey in future. It certainly wasn’t this time.

Brilliant evening with friends . Great cocktails and food. Lily our waitress fab - great personality & really good at her job . Thank you

This restaurant is great. Friendly staff, excellent service and very good food. This review is based on several recent visits where the standards have been consistently high.

Great place for tapas and drinks or just sit with a drink and chill

Found the service fairly unfriendly and the food really wasn’t great. It’s all very basic and almost child like. The salmon naan doesn’t even come with any salad or sauce, it’s just a piece of salmon in bread.. the mac n cheese was also very basic. I wouldn’t recommend it.

Lovely birthday treat 🎊🥳 afternoon tea was delicious 😋

I love this place. Highly recommended.

First visit , will definitely go back . Great Tapas selection and reasonably priced

We had a wonderful time celebrating Lydia's 21st birthday. Extremely good staff, delicious food and a lovely atmosphere in the private function area in the garden. Many thanks for lovely afternoon

Went to the nantwich bench bistro bar today with my daughter for her birthday. We had afternoon tea. Food was delicious. Really nice mix of cakes. The place was lovely and clean. Staff were really helpful. Can fully recommend.

Top Class, food was fantastic. Only downside is that it ended

Walked out ! Painful to watch the 3 bar staff doing cocktails & having to wait & wait & wait for a pint & glass of wine ! Happened twice now .. sort it out please & leave at least one bar staff to serve those who don’t want a cocktail !!

Booked for a special birthday Wonderful friendly welcome We had the afternoon tea and upgraded to cocktails Lovely food excellent service wonderful cocktails Throughly enjoyed ourselves highly recommend

Hen party booking for hot buffet. We were very disappointed with lack of service and the managers attitude. I wish they had said they did not have capacity to cater for our group when we booked months earlier rather than providing inadequate service on the night. The food was tolerable but the bar service and courtesy shown by staff (with the exception of Josh) was not!

The staff are really friendly at Bench and there’s a great atmosphere with good music! There’s so much to choose from on the menu, it’s fairly priced and the food is great! Would definitely recommend!

Booked 7 of us for mums hen. Everything was excellent. We had afternoon tea with cocktails. The floss cocktail was a firm favourite!!

Very busy place and a very girly venue 😊

Small plates but generous portions. So much to chose from and sitting outside but in the shade on a warm sunny day was wonderful. There is an extensive cocktail menu and we had two each, we will return.

Great place to eat. Everything about it I can give 5 stars ⭐

Great food at reasonable prices Good atmosphere Great service All in all a great business 👏

Absolutely outstanding service luke was amazing 👏 thank you luke 👏 we was here on a hen party and he made us feel so welcome.

We have had the best time celebrating our friends hen do and were very welcomed by luke and the team. Highly recommend this venue.

We have been twice recently and both times, the food was excellent, and the service was friendly and efficient

This was an unforgettable experience , for all the good reasons .

Just went there to watch a band playing during the music festival. Was in the marquee, which had plenty of picnic type tables with cushioned benches. An attempt had been made to make the area attractive. The inside is modern and well presented. Think it is more for the 20-something generation.

Something different and vast variety of food and drinks Cocktails amazing food delicious 😋 well worth a visit

Stunning setting, and awesome drink options.

Busy but squeezed us in. Excellent service and reasonable prices.

Lovely place for brunch with friends. Service was great, food was tasty and the way it's served is unique.

Nice place food was good but not very warm service was ok

Absolutely awesome! So different to a traditional Sunday lunch out! ❤️

Took our mum's here for afternoon tea for mothers day, lovely, very different and we all really enjoyed it, apart from the small fact my mum got locked in the loo and had to be rescued by having a screw driver passed under the cubicle door😅 highly recommend

Must admit, it was a bit early.

Didn't eat but the cocktails were lovely and the staff friendly and helpful

Staff lovely great atmosphere,food fantastic ,highly recommend the bench

Great place to go with friends. Staff are great, served by Lillie tonight, she is brilliant at her job and hilarious, made our night, thank you 😊

Fabulous place, a lovely atmosphere, and a really nice setting 😀 lovely Christmas lunch with the girls for Christmas 🎄

I went for lunch with friends. We were made very welcome and shared tapas. They were all delicious.

I feel it was a little over priced for the food we had, particularly a carton with chopped carrots that looked a little tired. The rest of the food was nice particularly the chips and soup.

Festive afternoon tea was beautiful, service was spot on, lovely place, lovely atmosphere, keep up the good work 👏

Booked online and received a reminder two day before and personal phone call the day before. Welcomed on entering, given time to decide on drinks. Ordered 3 dishes each and a side dish. The food was hot, delicious and more filling than expected with it been a tapas menu. Would definitely recommend.

First visit great service and and fantastic cocktails. Will definitely see you again.

Lovely afternoon tea with cocktails 🍸

Lively place with a good mix of drinks and snacks. Feels more energetic than most places in town

Myself and 3 friends had a lovely afternoon tea on Thursday the 12th October service food cleanliness were 💯 the assistant manager Luke went above and beyond to make sure everything was perfect for us even with giving me information regarding booking a christmas party for our ward and didn't hesitate to send information and menu's via an email 🙂 I would highly recommend a visit to the bench I certainly will be going back very soon 👌💯

Omg came for lunch today food is out of the world

We had the afternoon tea and it was great quality & we were able to take home the leftovers.

Absolutely superb choice for a family celebration and delighted us all. The quantity and quality of the food were top tier. The vast majority of us went for the afternoon tea, which you can add selected cocktails or a glass of prosecco for a small additional charge and with cocktail being the most expensive it still comes out under £30 a head!

Great place, the food was great, and the serving platter was so quirky. Lovely would definitely return.

First time here, service impeccable, lovely friendly waitress named lola, really enjoyed it and they have a large glutton free menu, a big thumbs up 👍👍

Fantastic afternoon tea great food lovely friendly staff ♠️

My friends and i attended this place for a birthday celebration. It was very busy to start with. We had booked a table outside. We got seated, our waitress eventually came and asked if we would like to order drinks. We ordered them and it took nearly 20 mins for the drinks to arrive! At the point of delivering them, she then took our food order. The food came pretty quickly, it was tasty and was well presented. The waitress did not return to check if everything was OK with the food and again we were left sitting with empty glasses. Eventually, we managed to order another round with another long wait. This happen again on the 3rd round of drinks. When we did receive the drinks, they were tasty and well presented. Although on the gummy bear cocktail they had ran out of gummy bear sweets, on the candyfloss cosmopolitan, I didn't get any candyfloss and on a Bench cocktail, they forgot my prosecco shot! Our time at the table was coming to any end, we thought we could get another drink in, we waiting for the waitress to come round...which she didn't! We still had dirty plates where they didn't clear the table completely after our meal. One of us when in to ask if someone was going to come and take an order. Not long after, the waitress turned up and took our order, we expressed to her that we would need to leave in 30 mins and so would need the drinks pretty quickly. We waited and waited...nothing!!! It had been another 20 mins, at this point the bar wasn't even busy as most people had left to go to the festival. So I went to the bar and ask where the drinks are? The woman I spoke to said someone would get to us. She didn't ask where we were sitting or what drinks we had ordered! They eventually turned up and with the bill, as I had requested. But no-one came for us to pay for the bill, so again off to the bar we popped to pay!! Overall, food was great no complaints, it was delicious. But unfortunately they need more waitress and bar staff. The turn over between ordering a drink and getting it is terrible. We could of easily drank a lot more.

Lovely service! Food very different, a wide range of tapas catering for all tastes and dietary requirements, superbly cooked and presented

Best afternoon tea I've ever had lovely atmosphere

Great food, service a little slow.

Taken here today by my 2 daughters for Mother’s Day for an afternoon tea with cocktail. All absolutely delicious, savouries, desserts & cocktails. Very pleasant staff. Most enjoyable, highly recommend!!

Very nice bar and drinks menu. However we just called in for drinks and being asked to order at the bar. Worked ok for first drink but on return to the bar waited over 10 minutes with all staff very busy but no acknowledgement I was waiting. I gave up and left.

What a great eat out it was, we love tapas and weren't disappointed 😋 thank you and especially to Molly our lovely waitress. We will be back

The second time they have messed us around with tables and timing. Very weird setup and totally slow service. Tapas is more like frozen kids food made to look good and super super expensive. Richard the owner is a very rude chap too.

Very quirky. Great food and friendly staff

This place is terrible. I had hoped for really amazing food but I would not visit this place again. Do not visit this place, you will regret it. I made a very minor complaint on how the food wasn't served to our table at the same time. The attitute from the owner was nothing short of disgraceful and I felt completely uncomfortable. I will not be visiting this establishment again and nor will any of our party. I felt totally embarrassed.

The interior is nothing short of awful. I guess it matches the standard of the food we were served.

Tonight at the Bench was a unfriendly service from a manager, hair tied up in a pony tail. Rude, not knowledgeable of the law and asking us to wrap up our meal up in 20 minutes for the next service. Everyone else was polite and friendly. If a job title as a Manager goes to your head remember without customers you don’t have a business. You need retraining in Service and Management style. I’m happy to train you if you want to succeed in your industry. I came in to view the Bench tonight in a business sense, how disappointing how one person let you down.

Just lovely. Really enjoyed it. Thank you.

It looks lovely outside but its very tacky ..the artificial flowers are cheap and they have used decking around the bar ..it still has some of the interior from the last pub ..cheap and nasty but tried to copy a liverpool restaurant...1=10 ...but think they can hike up the prices ..no ..wont be going back its tacky

Very mad place. Felt like I was in Alice in Wonderlands garden

Lovely afternoon tea, its usually served with one side of the bench to one person but it came with 3 portions on 1 bench, lots of swapping food round due to this as we had dietary requirements etc, cant help but feel this could have been made easier, but food was lovely

Really cool, great food and cocktails for a really good price

Easy bites, street style quality food

The set up is amazing. The cocktails were fabulous. If you like little, picky foods then this is the place

What a lovely bistro! Their cocktail list is both imaginative and colourful and if you can't find something on the menu to tickle your taste buds, you're really not trying!! Sadly I was driving this time, so I could only drink tea 😳 but I will definitely employ someone to do the driving next time I visit!! I had a lovely lunch, warm halloumi salad pitta bread and some delicious thick cut chips. I love their inventive way of serving the food too! The team running the place were really friendly and easy to chat to, and I wish them every success! Top banana!! (Which is probably one of the cocktails 😂)

At a loss for words ,felt like an after thought ,meal was not chosen by me ,cramped not enough room on the tables for the benches ,,not enough food on the right table had to walk over to other tables to get food for our table, Eaten at the bench before really enjoyed it this was terrible

Gorgeous decor and divine cocktails

Loved the whole experience we went as a small Christmas work do

Had a lovely lunch here yesterday.The food was delicious and unusual. The staff were so friendly and helpful. Very pleasant atmosphere.

Probably the worst service I've ever experienced. Waited almost 40 minutes for a pint of lager, double booked me and my party, sat us outside on a 6 seater pub bench amongst the smokers and no accountability from anyone. Had my pint and left for somewhere else. Menu looked decent, but unfortunately I won't be returning.

Farily friendly staff, although got an accusatory look when sending back a pint that was clearly off. Food came to us luke warm: baked camembert was actually hard rather than dripping. A nice surrounding though

Excellent food and service. Staff were very helpful and cheerful. Would highly recommend

Absolutely brilliant service, great food, it's great for sharing especially the chocolate fondue pudding. Definitely will be going back.

Lovely food great service would highly recommend this place

Lamb lollipops expected to be on a rib bone. Instead was a lamb meatball on a skewer. Ox cheeks, however, were delicious

Excellent venue for daughters 👶 baby shower. Private room, very covid safe 😊

Food, drinks and service were good.