Black Lion Hotel in Richmondshire

We had a meal here yesterday. The service was friendly and excellent. The food was below average. Frozen chips. Bought in pies which were heated so much the pastry was solid. Fish seemed frozen or old, not freshly battered. King prawn starters roasting hot but tasted like frozen ones. PLEASE MAKE YOUR OWN CHIPS. Please make your own pastry pies. Freshly batter your fresh cod. Take PRIDE in your dinners and watch the takings rocket. Such a beautiful pub, historical and quaint.

Perfect location super friendly staff wonderful food and free parking and WiFi The perfect few days break thank you

Stitched up, big sign says 2 cocktails for £12 once you've ordered they point out a tiny small print that says must be same cocktails...even though the sighn has two different glasses. Rip off Britain 🇬🇧

Called in for an evening meal, 2 adults with a dog. Good selection of meals and drinks on offer, we decided on the 2 course special for £16.50 per head, choose either a starter or sweet with a main meal. We opted for 1 fish and chips and 1 mushroom pie and chips followed by 1 sticky toffee pudding and 1 apple and raspberry crumble with custard. All food arrived piping hot, no complaints, the pie was one of the nicest I've had, well worth considering if you fancy something a bit different. Staff were friendly and polite, plenty of room between tables, overall a good value for money meal in a lovely traditional bar, would definately recommend calling in if your visiting Rchmond.

Nice and friendly staff, great breakfast chef, he our did the rest. Breakfast food was amazing, nicest breakfast had in a very long time Very Highly recommend. Will be back for this. Great selection of continental options, tea and coffee and fruit juices and cooked breakfast. Room was very large and very clean and very nicely set out. Bed was so comfy. Was great sleep. En-suite was great and very big, very good shower also. Will be back very soon.

Friendly & welcoming staff on arrival. Evening meal & breakfast average to say the least. Breakfast on our second day, I couldn't eat as the eggs were raw and mine wasn't the only one....Bedroom neat & tidy but definitely could do with some TLC. No hot water.....a little disappointing for the price paid.

Needs some TLC with paint and holes in the ceiling in our bathroom (looks like there was aleak)I do appreciate that it is an old building but I feel it needs a refresh,meals ok portions on the small side shower is only hot in the morning ,no hot water at night.

Very disappointed today, table wasn’t cleaned, staff didn’t even offer. I had to clear away previous dinners glasses. Garden peas were soapy, mushy peas crusty, chips were cold and generally scraps. I asked for sauce but this never came I had to find them for myself. Was never asked if the meal was ok part way through or even when paying. We feel utterly robbed very poor service and the food was not sufficient to serve.

Great food, excellent service and hospitality

went today for sunday roast,table before us complained the food was cold n wished us luck with ours, yet the food came served cold and was missing numerous items, including the pork on the trio- which we had to ask to be microwaved and heated up. ferne our server was lovely n so polite yet the woman behind the bar, tracey, was rude and arrogant. when we asked for the trio roast to be taken off the bill she insisted we should still pay since she microwaved it to heat it up. The two stars given are solely to ferne.

Lovely, welcoming management. We were in Room 2. Parking right outside room. Very clean and cosy room. I feel the beds need new mattresses as occasionally I felt a spring pressing on my legs. Breakfast was superb, well cooked, hot on presentation and very tasty.

Nice little pub near the centre of Richmond would recommend the steak and ales pie.

Schnitzel covered in garlic couldn’t taste chicken Gravy was like jelly , deep fried stuff a bit dark , old fat Curry as great , pie was lovely Great place friendly service Need a bit of improvement in the kitchen

Stayed here overnight with breakfast included in the price, lovely room with hospitality tray, very comfy bed, warm and welcoming staff, the breakfast was outstanding and plentiful, to say the chef Doug is currently in a temporary burger van kitchen, will definitely be back when in Richmond.

What a comple and utter shmit hole. It's tatty minging and stinking. The food was terrible the service just as bad, breakfasts laughable, poor choice and cooked terrible still waiting for toast. Never have been in such a place. It's more like contractors digs. Stopped in room 15 and it was stinking, miserable and about minus 1 in there. Tried to feed us rubbish about heating pressure which wasnt fixed over the weekend. Score - 10 out of 10. Recommend a park bench than this place. Check out the state of the back of the building before you eat.

Food was very nice would recommend the steak and ale pie. Nice selection of drinks and the staff, Tracy and Fearn were very friendly too

Very disappointing Sunday lunch, my meal wasn’t very warm and the Yorkshire pudding was cold .Gravy was burnt so when I tipped it over my food all the food tasted burned. Waited quite some time for it to be served. The young waitress was very nice and tried hard.

Great food and brilliant service from Fearne

Nice atmosphere, Cider was off and not available otherwise great

Bearing in mind that the food is coming from a catering van out the back, I've just had one of the best steaks I've had in years. Well cooked and melted in the mouth. All the food is spot on, and we'll presented. The kitchen is being refurbished as it caught fire, so the catering and has been brought in which shows the skill of the chef. Thanks for a lovely meal.

Absoloutely lovely staff and very welcoming. Would love to stay again if in the area, special thanks to Danny and Connor! Food was fantastic!

The pub was busy when we visited, which may have influenced our experience, but despite being busy the staff remained very friendly and upbeat. We had a simple beef sandwich and chips. The chips appeared to be burnt oven chips and although the beef was nice, the quality of the bread was poor and not toasted very well, and portion size very misely. I probably should have complained in person rather than via leaving a review, because for all I know this could have been a one-off, but I don't think we would go back again. There are plenty of great venues in Richmond that we always enjoy.

My partner and I stayed on the 26th of December 2024 so enjoy a night together after all the hustle and bustle over Christmas. I can honestly say this hotel was perfect . We had a lovley clean double room, 4 poster bed and extra comfy pillows. The bar area was lovley, Staff gorgeous and Location was perfect. Perfect for a stroll and drinks . Some busy pubs and plenty of places to eat locally. I would definitely be staying at this hotel again very soon. X

Maybe it was a bad time to visit soon after a kitchen fire! Why we hadn't been told when we arrived, who knows? We had poor food with little choice. When we asked for desserts, we were told the kitchen had closed early and the chef had gone. The landlady did go and find us something. Luckily, we had not intended to have breakfast.

Nice old fashioned pub just off the market place in Richmond. Friendly staff, good choice of ales but didn't get the chance to try the food.

On a pub crawl with 6 good friends my lager was ok but my mates were disappointed with the real ales they had

We had the rump steak which was lovely. There was a good menu selection and nice beers.

The Black Lion is a traditional pub in the centre of town. It is very clean and tidy and is certainly one of the smartest pubs in town. Service was good, as were our beers.

A nice pub that we like to drink in but the food service is terrible. Despite being told they have table service we continually had to order at the bar. We waited 40 mins for our starter, despite the pub being quiet. Once we had food they left us for another half an hour whereby my wife tried to order a desert but was told the kitchen was now closed. Unimpressed local who lives in the town and won't be eating here again.

Needs updating and food and rooms average or bit below par but excellent location and staff

The staff were very friendly and apologetic for the long wait, but despite the wait it was still a wonderful experience as the food was delicious!

Walked in off the street for a lunchtime meal, decent choice of beers and friendly staff thought the food was a bit bland and the potions on the mean side but would happily pop in again for a quick pint or two

Nice hotel. Food good. Not many people in as raining outdoors.

Bit dated room but nice big room breakfast good.

This is a nice, welcoming pub with good beers and atmosphere. Really busy when we called & we were lucky to get a seat. Locals were friendly too, a nice way to spend an hour or two.

stayed a couple of nights staff very helpful and very dog friendly

Delicious ‘pie pairings’ specials: butternut squash and lentil pie & chicken and ham hock pie. Terrific desserts - perfect local ice cream.

Really liked this pub/hotel. It's a large old building with higgledy-piggledy corridors and staircases. A good dinner in the snug while a local folk club were performing in the dining room. Our room was not en-suite, it had a large dedicated bathroom on the other side of the corridor, but it was warm with a comfy bed. The staff were really nice and efficient, but they had to be; it felt under-staffed to me. Just one barman to serve all the drinkers and diners, just one waitress for the diners. Breakfast was really good, lots of local produce. We were overnighting on our way up to Scotland, but we'd certainly come back here and spend more time in Richmond.

Family meal.. we had great service by friendly staff and the food was lovely. Thanks

Great food, service good, until it came to paying for the deserts, these were advertised at £5 each on the menu, but when we came to pay they said the £5 price only applies if ordered at the same time the main course and tried to charge us £7.95 each, this was not mentioned or written anywhere and the girl was adamant that we had to pay the £7.95 each, after much arguing she rang her manager who agreed to do them at the advertised price, really took the shine of an otherwise nice experience, incidentally the blackboard outside advertised 2 courses for £16.95, this too was not valid on the day we visited even tho the sign was outside advertising it.!!! In summary nice food, but they really need to get their menus and advertising correct.

2 night stay, for wedding , didn't eat in bar but breakfast divine, staff lovely, room so comfy, like sleeping on a marshmallow, we will be back ,

Excellent friendly service done with a generous smile 😊

We spent one night at the Black Lion and overall it was good value for money. Bar / dining area were nice. Bedroom was quite dark as the window was off to one side but it's an old building and no doubt the window was in a better spot somewhere in the buildings history ... rooms lighting was very good though. Breakfast was really good. Parking at bsck of property. Just 2 min stroll into the main square and Richmond castle just a bit further. No negatives and well worth a visit.

Best atmosphere in Richmond. Small range of beers (Black Sheep, Landlord, Semer Water) but in good condition and friendly service. Only had a couple of drinks so can’t comment on the food.

My husband and I booked a table for our Anniversary in the snug room , when we arrived we was informed that the table we had booked was not available, the snug room was fully booked to a reading club , I was very disappointed, we was put in the main bar area , the table was situated in the corner next to two wall lights that were blinding and a speaker that was blaring heavy metal music out, my husband asked the barman if we could move to another table away from the lights , but was told all the tables were fully booked as well. The atmosphere was very unpleasant. The barman came over with the menus, my husband asked for a decaf coffee , the barmen said he didn’t know what that is and didn’t know how to make it anyway. We both had water instead and ordered our meals, southern fried chicken burger in a bun , and chips ,the meals arrived after about 20 minutes, I asked for mayonnaise with mine, it took 15 minutes to arrive, the meal was very small not worth the £12.50 it was priced at. We didn’t feel welcome at all , the room where we had our meals remained empty throughout our meal and no one from the book club arrived during our meal either. We felt very unwelcome. We paid our bill and left.

Stayed for a long weekend while visiting Richmond and the surrounding area. Great location just off from the market place, the food was really tasty and staff all very polite and welcoming. Would recommend

We stay for 3 nights bed and breakfast so we could visit the area and have a nice long weekend away. All was fantastic! Room, staff, food, service, atmosphere brilliant! Fearn was absolutely lovely very helpful and a ray of sunshine, chef was also excellent and the house keeping staff very accommodating. Room clean and well serviced genuinely worth the money and the food Sunday dinner and breakfast absolutely beautiful 💚

Booked a table last minute while on holiday in Richmond and really enjoyed a family meal here. Reasonable price, friendly service, good food and a nice atmosphere.

Friendly pub with nice accommodation, staff were very friendly and helpful , the small parking area was a bonus

Classic pub grub menu. Food mediocre. Staff friendly enough. Pub nearly empty. Not much buzz.

Staff extremely friendly ,breakfast, good choice

Lovely pub and friendly staff, Great beers and dog friendly which was a bonus We ordered our meal at 5pm and was told the chef had only just turned up We got our meal one hour later with no apologies it was well cooked chicken schnitzel and fish & chips but the fish had clearly been cooked from frozen and the portions weren’t on the generous size.

Lovely place for a drink Very pleasant staff very comfortable

Lovely friendly (and dog friendly) place. Staff are happy to help, and the rooms are well kept. Food was spot on.

I'm not sure if the company that owns this hotel has actually visited and had either a drink or something to eat. The real ale was flat had a distinct cloudy look about. I had the pork sausage with chips, and I couldn't make my mind up if the sausages had been microwave, deep fried, or pan-fried, but I'd guess deep-fried as the skins were lets say tough, the chips most definitely had armour coating and had small sharp shards of chips you know the ones that you find at the bottom of the packet totally inedible. The lasagne was more heavy cheese 🧀 topping than meat, and the side salad was more crest than salad 🥗 ....atmosphere none. Staff polite...

Restaurant terrible. Waited about 15 minutes for menus and drink orders for four at a non-busy 5pm. Food was hit miss, mostly miss. But when we ordered dessert, it got crazy. We placed an order for 3 different desserts, one of which we were told took 30 minutes to prepare. It sounded great so we said we’d wait. After 30 minutes (I looked at the time when we ordered because 30 minutes was a long wait) the waiter came back and said “Sorry, I only just heard that we don’t have the ingredients for that dessert.” So we change the order. We wait another 15 minutes. Then a different waiter comes back to us and says, “I’m so sorry we don’t have any of the ingredients for any desserts.” Charged full price for dinner. What in the world. Learn to restaurant.

After all the great reviews about the food I was really looking forward to a classic pub meal . I was quite disappointed with the Whole Scampi Tail and chips . The scampi was OK but to have scraps for chips with a very small portion of mushy peas was so disappointing. Can I suggest to make the effort to make Real Chips. It would make the meal more appetising. Service was good and deserved a tip .

Visited recently and ordered Hand made steak pie. This was approximately 80% pastry and 20% filling which had completely dried out and only contained 3 small pieces of meat. It would appear to have been made sometime previously, frozen then re-heated when ordered, which only added to the 'drying out' effect that happens when pastry is frozen, which also was very bland. So, if you are a fan of a pastry pie then go and waste your money at the Black Lion.

Lovely little pub in Richmond. Enjoyed a drink on the way to dinner at a local restaurant. Nice drinks and the food / menu looked excellent. First time here but will definitely be back. Been to a few other places today, definitely my favourite.

I was staying there. I asked for the Sunday roast. I asked if I could have a small portion as I'm not a big eater. The lovely girl said I could have a child's portion which was bigger than I'd eat too but the meat was beautiful and tender and a manageable amount of vegetables. I also had the small dessert with a hot drink which is a good idea. Most enjoyable.

Evening meals start at 5pm. A wonderful menu with excellent service from Demi. Unfortunately breakfast is for residents only so we are trying to plan a revisit with overnight stay. Excellent location in the town. They also have real ale at the bar.

Fantastic services friendly and welcoming The set menu during the week is fantastic value for money

Very large hotel with 14 letting rooms. Great staff... Really friendly and welcoming. Rachel was the looking after the guests and me, a lovely lady with a great personality... The pub looks very clean and inviting throughout, Dion and the rest of the house keeping staff are doing a fantastic job. The black lion has carpark to the rear and offers a large menu selection 😎

Called in because it said dog friendly, service was spot on and really friendly, only had snack type meals and good prices for the centre of Richmond , my only comment would be maybe a bit of salad with your sandwich and chips , would look a lot more enticing.

Very friendly, helpful staff, lovely food served on time and we were well looked after. A great overnight stay.

Wife had the Chicken Snitzel which was a decent size portion and very nice. I had the steak&ale pie, it may be hand made but it was also rockhard, exactly as someone else had experienced. Although the filling tasted okay it was fairly meagre with very little steak. Annoyingly, the chips were poor aswell. If i'd paid £8.95 that would have been palatable but at £14.95.... We won't be going back

We had the quad room which was like a suite, it had a room with a double bed, a twin room & bathroom all within one space. Comfortable & clean beds we also ate in the restaurant & enjoyed our meals. Good choice at breakfast

Lovely food. Only real Ale no standard Ales eg John Smith. Good service.

First evening we're given set menu as part of choice, ordered from it, meal was good until we received the bill, told no set menus that night so charged full price, this took the manager to get involved but was resolved . Second visit think staff were surprised to see us back , again food was good, ( which is why we returned) Dining area a little tired, staff polite, food good value.

Lovely traditional pub. Great food and service.

Service was good, Rooms basic but comfortable, the biggest downside of this Hotel was the street noise, the location was good, but this was probably the reason for the noise. Food was good and breakfast basic

Things not served as listed on , e.g. roast potatoes with Sunday roast.

Staff were attentive and pleasant in all instances, couldn't fault them. Unfortunately I thought the portions (topside beef etc) were very small. I finished mine but afterwards didn't even know I'd eaten. Could have doubled the portion size and it may have touched the sides. For £14 I thought it was very poor. Puddings were large though. Beef was also overcooked...

Visited for an afternoon pint and decided to book a table for our evening meal. Nice varied menu. Our meal was served efficiently by pleasant staff and was both filling and delicious. Well worth a visit.

Food was awful would not come back

Robbie was ace he helped us resolve a small issue with our booking upon arrival! The hotel was clean and all the staff were incredibly helpful and friendly!

The room and the pub are nice. At breakfast the tables were not set up and dirty. Some of the dishes at the bar were dirty and the tea water was lukewarm and the cooked breakfast came after 50 minutes. Instead of complaining, the waitress would have preferred to clear away the beer mats and rubbish from the previous evening. Shocking.

First visit and will not be returning. Ordered food (sandwiches) at 2.10 and at 3.30pm we left and they still hadn’t arrived. We left hungry and totally disappointed.

Went for lunch with family 4 simple main course lunches …after waiting over an hour and asking twice how long we had to wait three of the meals were appalling …fish and chips arrived ….no peas , fish size of a battered sausage and about 10 chips thrown on a plate …my rump steak bloomer sandwich was so soggy with onions and the bread was burnt again was awful …the BLT wasn’t as described …all in all a very bad experience won’t be going there again ….

Table wasn’t wiped before they seated us. We ordered the venison pie and mixed grill. Food arrived before we had been given cutlery. The thick skin on the tiny jug of gravy indicated the food had been sat waiting for a while. The pie while nice that it was hand finished the crust was rock solid and difficult to cut. The filling was a little dry and the congealed gravy did little to help. The seasonal veggies were sitting in water. Although I didn’t realise until I tipped them on my plate. The mixed grill well all I can say is the sausage was ok. Would I return? No thank you. Richmond has many better places to eat I am sure. Service was slow. The waitress was helping on the bar, taking orders and trying to serve. All very disappointing

Great food, great service, fantastic ambience. Great stop in for C2C. Had a CTM, cookie dough brownie and 1.5;pints of the guest ale.

Excellent service, staff very friendly and accommodating, food was delicious.

I’ve been coming here years. And this last 6months is embarrassing. You have 1 member of staff behind the bar, who has no idea what he’s doing. You have customers complaint about the lack of service, and even 2 customers said their rooms aren’t even made up. The drink is good. But the staff….have no idea what’s going on! It has surprised me that it’s stayed running.

The Hotel is lovely and old with wonky floors and walls our room was a little tired but clean and comfortable with plenty of tea, coffee and milk, the car park is really tight and our car was scrapped by someone as people parked in front where they shouldn't and it made it difficult to get out. The bar area was really nice and busy and all the staff were lovely, good range of drinks and food. The breakfast looked and was lovely though very cold on both days and I had egg shell in my eggs benedict, we don't normally complain but when it was cold for a second time we did, warm plates don't warm up cold food.

Booked an evening meal here on reading several good reviews, we were seated in the snug (quite a squeeze) we had ordered drinks and were waiting for the waitress to take our order for food. We overheard a conversation between the people on the table next to us who were complaining to the waitress about still frozen chicken wings being served as a starter and uncooked chicken being served as a main course . They told us a family table that were leaving as we arrived had also complained about the quality of the food. We decided not to wait to be poisoned and beat a hasty retreat ,we did however tell the poor waitress who was left to deal with this embarrassment we felt quite sorry for her. This pub needs to get itself a new chef before he/she kills someone.

Very nice and friendly , only if had a drink

Lovely portion of Sunday dinner. Rubbery fat on pork not as listed on menu. Pork and crackling it wasn't. Chicken wasn't carved breast but chicken on the bone not for me. The lady didn't come and ask how are we doing. So gave feedback at the till when paying. They discounted us one drink. Not a rant or grumble well meaning people just sharing this so others aren't disappointed. Or the chef gets a little preparation and cooking duration training... Peace and love...

Sunday lunch ....went for roast pork with crackling. Unfortunately the crackling was soggy - very disappointing.

Poor service, poor attitude from very aggressive bar women. Food was good when it arrived after a very long wait (about two hours) Wished we’d picked somewhere else as this place ruined what was supposed to be a special evening. To be told hospitality is a very difficult business to be in would suggest you’re in the wrong job!

Visited for Sunday lunch... From walking in to being served we waited 40 minutes.. Asked what larger was available and waitress didn't seem to know? Dinner was nothing exceptional for the price we paid. Visit Richmond all the time and tbh would avoid this one in the future... Looked round and a lot of people seemed to be waiting a long time for food to be served... Was tempted to have a dessert but service was that slow decided against it.

Good little hotel, friendly staff and interestingly different rooms

Lovely Yorkshire pub, food good quality, pleasant atmosphere, dog friendly, staff very friendly.

Maybe a disconect between Table staff and Kitchen staff. Once again I must be the only Vegie in town.

Stayed many times before. Basic but a nice hotel. Staff are really friendly and helpful

Lovely place. Atmosphere was really friendly and welcoming. Food was super tasty and freshly cooked- there was a bit of a wait for it to arrive but the quality more than made up for it. The room was clean and comfortable, the pillows definitely deserve a mention....so comfy! Would 100% recommend this place.

Lovely food and ambience. If there's a group of you, book the snug, which is lovely and cosy. Shame the fireplace is only for looking at, but the whole place is nicely furnished and decorated. Staff are attentive without being intrusive. I recommend the rump steak toastie, which was perfectly cooked. I would've preferred a toasted baguette or panini to sliced white, but it was nice and came with good chips. The hotel is a great location for Richmond, right in the town centre but not noisy, as the rooms are at the back. Our room was nicely decorated with solid wood furniture - Free-standing wardrobe, dressing table and bedside cabinets. Surfaces are not flat because the floor slopes, but that's more entertaining than inconvenient, a quirk of such an old building. The only furniture I would add is an easy chair or two, especially as we arrived after a very hard-working day, and the pub seating is all dining-style. The sleigh bed was comfy, with good pillows and you could choose a bright central light or softer side lights. The brew station was well-equipped; I don't like UHT milk, but they gave me a jug of the real stuff, which lasted through to the morning when I kept it on the windowsill. Some rooms have a bath with over-shower and some just a shower. Ours was the former, which can feel a little cooler, but the water was very hot, so I can't complain. We stayed in the middle of December and the radiator in our room wasn't working. However once we reported it, the staff arrived with a portable heater in about 30 seconds! It worked perfectly and having switched it off overnight, we were warm enough in the morning without needing it.

The Black Lion is a must to visit for a very tasty lunch at reasonable prices with excellent staff waiting on.

We like this place Nice atmosphere, relaxed, dog friendly. Lunch bar menu is varied. Specials ok. Beer and wine reasonable prices.

We were not offered desert menu and not much choice of vegetarian dishes

We had a brilliant stay on Friday 1st December for my husband's birthday. The staff were very pleasant.Our breakfast was gorgeous. We will be staying at The Black Lion again in future. Pamela and George Ayre.X