Golden Ball of Longton in South Ribble

Went tonight on the off chance of getting a table. The staff managed to find us one for a short time, which was enough for us. We had two main meals, the shepherd's pie and the rump steak. My wife had the shepherd's pie which was rich and really tasty. I had the rump steak (rare) with some added extras, chicken skewers and peppercorn sauce. Everything was cooked beautifully and I can honestly say that I have not enjoyed a meal quite as much as this for quite a long time. Well done to all the staff, a very enjoyable meal out.

Nice welcome, great service, big thank you to Freya. Really good value and excellent food. Thank you very much.

Lived around here for almost 8 years now and tonight's food and service was the best we've experienced in Longton. We had vegan options which were very good and so far, struggled to have locally which means we always end up in Ego so it's nice to go somewhere different. Thank you to the Friday night team.

Lovely meal and nice staff. I had the steak which was cooked to perfection and husband had sausages which he really enjoyed. Portion was perfect as we didn't leave any and had room for a desert which was really nice too. Drinks were good and we will certainly go back when we are in the area.

Food sounds great and beer was just as good

Had to wait an hour for food after ordering then it went cold very quickly so I wasn’t waiting for it to be cooked! Just microwaved

Thank you for our proper tasty food, good service, and realistic pricing. Will be back soon :)

Really average. This used to be a lovely pub, but we probably won't be back in a hurry. Had to send meals back as they were cold. They were nothing special even at the second attempt when they were luke warm. Hoping it was just a bad night.

Stumbled upon this place after coming home from Lythams kite festival,finished the day off well,can recommend The Golden Ball for fantastic food,great atmosphere,service and price 10/10

The person who did the cooking has no idea of how to cook or presentation we spent a long time waiting for the food which was very disappointing two other couples also complained about how badly the food was cooked we were offered a free drink and left very disappointed in the past we had an excellent meal at this restaurant

Great pub , friendly service, excellent staff. Norman Barlow, Poulton.

Great staff, very welcoming and really friendly. A special shout out to Fran!!!!

We had our sons 40th party there the food and staff were great thankyou

Had a very good experience at the golden ball in Longton. Food excellent and service above and beyond. Will be visiting very soon.

This was probably one of two pubs open on a Monday evening in Longton 🙄 It says nice to sit outside an Mr enjoy a burger.

Great food, we turned up at 12noon opening with no reservation and owner/chef had no problem accommodating us.. Will be back to try the Sunday lunch 😋

Pink roast beef Sunday lunch. Outstanding

Didnt eat, but observed the meals going passed. Looked lovely and diners comments matched. Nice pub, will be back

Visited on a Friday tea time for a family dinner. Pub/bar area, which is next to the dining area, was very busy with workmen and so very noisy, but luckily quietened down slightly after a while. Disappointed that none of the candles on the tables were lit or the fire (it was very cold outside). Main meals generally ok. Burger was very tasty, but could have done with a little side salad, as when you looked at what was served on the plate for £17 it wasn't much. Other mains again, tasty enough, but portion sizes on the small size especially for the prices charged. Children's meals looked tasty and well portioned. Now the desserts - where do I start! We ordered several desserts including 3 Jam Roly Poly's. They were the smallest portion of dessert I have ever seen, it was like we had ordered a mini dessert (These were £6.50 each!) with the tiniest amount of custard drizzled on the top. I wish I had taken a photo as they had to be seen to be believed as to how small they were. My husband ate his in 3 mouthfuls (not joking). Not only were they exceptionally small, they tasted very peculiar. If you blind folded me and asked me to tell you what it was, I wouldn't have been able to. Someone else ordered a 'hot fudge' sundae. This came with no 'hot' pieces in it and when she complained, she was told they had forgotten to heat them up, apologised and gave hers free of charge. We had 4 children under 6 with us so I didn't really want to complain further about the desserts as by this point we wanted to leave. However, when the manager asked if everything was ok, I very politely pointed out the portion size of the desserts and strange taste. Instead of apologising, he was quite defensive. He even said well we had eaten them so they cant have been that bad! Given it was no more than 3/4 mouthfuls, it was hard not to have eaten the whole of it before realising it tasted strange. He also asked why I hadn't said anything before paying and I explained that we were not after a refund and didn't have time to get different desserts etc due to the children needing to leave. I explained that I was letting him know out of courtesy given he had asked me directly if everything was ok. What was surprising is that this conversation was happening right next to another table of diners, who could clearly hear everything! We live on the same road as the pub so it is our local and we will probably be back at some point in the future. We eat out every week at different places in the local vicinity so can compare it well with other places. I understand the owners are relatively new so I hope they take on-board a lot of the comments about portion sizes and strive to make the meals as tasty and fulfilling as they. At the end of the day, we want the pub to be great as it is our local.

Just had a lovely meal at the Golden Ball, piping hot food , very tasty and excellent service. The bear is quite good as well, we will be back. Ron Ashley

Great food great staff warm and cosy place to dine reasonable prices would highly recommend

Our local, lovely, recently been taken over by new management and they’ve really turned the place around

Nice pub with a good variety of food all seemingly of good quality. Service is fast and staff are kind. Dishes slightly on the expensive side.

Excellent food and service. Dog friendly as well. Recommended 👍🏻

We went for our daughters 18th birthday. The staff were absolutely amazing and helpful. The food was excellent and reasonably priced. Would definitely recommend and we will definitely be going back.

Always amazing, friendly service and top quality food. Amy and the team are always friendly and efficient. Would definitely recommend.

Lovely food, friendly and helpful staff and landlord, and the dog got a little meal too!

Been in many times, eat there regularly always excellent food and service.

The food was amazing, I had the chicken supreme, which was just so good!!! Not a huge portion, but the quality was fantastic. Staff very friendly, especially with our dog. Will certainly be back when in the area.

First visit to my new local. Loved the place! Really nice locals and top service

We ate end of Nov when the market was on. The food was delicious, just not enough. We were still hungry. Won't go again. All it would have took was more vegetables in the bowl.

Had lunch with 2 friends. Lovely cosy pub with log fire. Had fish and chips full breakfast and sandwich. Excellent value for money and lovely staff.

Don't go if you're hungry you will leave hungry

Dropped in for a pint after work although I have eaten here before and that was excellent. A great, traditional pub that's dog friendly too

We didn’t eat just went for a few drinks as we are new to the area . The owner was lovely and helpful about the area itself . And they have a dog menu which I loved and will definitely be letting mine try it .

Lovely local pub wasn't very busy but it was 2 o'clock on a Tuesday afternoon,food very nice service was great plenty of parking spaces

Over priced, small portions. Never had a curry like it! The puddings a big disappointment. One of our party had the chocolate brownie , which she said was very hard..I had "banoffee" Eton mess. Which was not an Eton mess at all. Which consisted of slices of banana, far too much cream, squares of chocolate cake??? and bits of meringue. They had run out of quite a few things on the menu, so bit disappointed. The staff were friendly, we did register our complaint upon paying. Won't rush back I'm afraid.

Chippy Tuesday - had better fish and chips. Offer looks tempting but fails to live up to its early promise. Greasy shoggy chips some only partially cooked, tinned mushy peas certainly not a reason to visit again.

First visit here tonight for all you can eat Steak night - sirloin, fries and peppercorn steak just delicious! Lovely atmosphere very attentive staff just at the right time we will definitely be back thanks all!

We came tonight for steak night and couldn’t recommend it enough! All the staff were extremely welcoming and provided a 10/10 service. We all came for the all you can eat steak night, 90 minutes of unlimited sirloin steak, chips and peppercorn sauce. The steak was cooked perfectly! The service was exceptional, as soon as we had finished our plates we were asked if we wanted our next portion to start being cooked. We will definitely be returning and cannot wait to tell all of our friends about it, couldn’t recommend it more!

We regularly visit The Golden Ball so when we recently had family visiting we decided to go there for Sunday lunch. We had previously had a few meals here, which have always been very good, but never the Sunday roast so we thought we were in for a treat. Two of us opted for the for the trio of meats, priced at £20.95 so were expecting a good plate of food. The belly pork was the highlight, chicken portion was small and just one slice of beef. To top this the carrots and parsnips were hard and the portion of cauliflower cheese watery. When we asked for apple sauce to accompany the pork, but we were told that there was none… there is a supermarket very close by, I’d have been up there in a shot. It was such a shame as we wanted to showcase this pub/restaurant to our guests but we all left slightly deflated and a little hungry. Big prices, small portions.

Great hosts, Great food. Good atmosphere 👌

Had the Sunday roast and our sons had the Golden burger, all really enjoyed. The roast beef was really tender and the meals were presented well. Lovely atmosphere with a live singer. Great staff and service, we will definitely be back. Relaxed way to spend a Sunday afternoon 😊

Good food apart from the salad, lovely atmosphere but expensive

I wouldn’t personally return due to the lack and timings of the service, people standing around talking. Other customers got quick service even ones next to us. I’ve not been here in a long time and I’m very disappointed and won’t we rushing back out it that way. I expected at least an apology for the service. That didn’t happen

We had the vegan nut roast and it was delicious. Would have liked a couple more roast potatoes hence 4 stars not 5. Lovely, friendly staff.

House special curry was essentially chip shop curry and oh too salty! Waitress dropped a meal of ours in the kitchen and we ended up waiting almost an hour for our meals. Chicken supreme was a very small portion to say the least, as were the curry's. Would Deffo avoid, really no culinary talent and service was very slow and amateur like.

We did love The Golden Ball and the good was good but for a Sunday Roast there was not really enough portions of vegetables. You need to order extra sides. Overall lovely food.

The portion sizes for all our three meals were woeful My son got three small pieces of pizza with his children’s meal I got twelve chips with my pie, along with cold gravy and lukewarm peas My wife’s curry was also on the small size Also the pub doesn’t seem to pay any regards to those that don’t want to eat their meals surrounded by dogs

Visited today for Sunday lunch for the first time under new ownership. I have to say the beef was exceptional - tender and pink. Staff attentive and very friendly. We will be back.

We visited the Golden Ball after not coming here in a few years and haven’t seen the great reviews we decided to come and try the Sunday roast. As soon as we walked in we were greeted by friendly & welcoming staff which were really accommodating. We brought along our dog which wasn’t a problem at all. We both had the trio roast which was beautifully presented and tasted amazing. Everything cooked to perfection. We will definitely be returning and would highly recommend. Thank you.

Great Sunday Dinner, rare Roast Beef was divine. Veg cooked to perfection. Love coming here. Booked again

4th time visiting and each and every time its been better. Lovely staff, Who are attentive and friendly, great food and fantastic landlord. A lovely friendly little place who will do there upmost to accommodate you and fit you despite not booking!. We will be back again very soon!. Thankyou

Bit quiet on the evening I dined but the food and service where excellent. Well thought out menu plenty of choice at reasonable prices The bar and eating area where well set out and clean. Will be going again in the near future.

We decided to visit the Golden Ball for Sunday lunch; after booking on their website app link, we arrived to a friendly welcome, and within seconds, we were shown to our reserved table. The menus were brought to us with an explanation of the specials for the day. We chose the Sunday roast, with my wife choosing the roast chicken and me the beef, pork and chicken roast, with a huge Yorkshire pudding, roasties, carrots, parsnips, peas and a great-tasting gravy. There were no starters ordered this time, although the menu looked interesting, but we did take the manager's advice and went for sticky toffee pudding with ice cream. During the meal, we were looked after very well, with drinks being brought quickly after ordering We were both really pleased and, after some very average Sunday lunches recently at other venues, happy with what we paid and, more importantly, what we ate.

Absolutely stunning Sunday lunch! Perfect 👍 we will be back!

Great food. Just had the best Sunday roast ever thanks

A nice Sunday evening meal for the family. New menu is varied and reasonable. Beer and wines very nice. Recommend the rib eye in particular. Not sure why this place isn’t busier. Seemed quiet for a bank holiday Sunday.

We popped in for Sunday lunch. Best we’ve had in a long time. The beef was cooked to perfection, Yorkshire puddings to die for and delicious cauliflower cheese. Service was attentive. Everything was excellent - we will be back. Great work Dave and the team!

Gorgeous Sunday roast, enough of everything and flavoured well! Great options for gluten free, dog friendly, clean, nice atmosphere, pleasant staff and reasonably priced! Can’t wait to return!

Great food with amazing service and staff, nice friendly atmosphere. Dog friendly. Would recommend.

We arrived in Longton later than expected after a tricky journey. We were hungry and so literally just went to the nearest place to our accommodation without doing any prior research. How great that decision turned out to be. The decor was pleasing, drinks reasonably...

extremely long wait for food, we waited over an hour for four sandwiches and when one of the sandwiches arrived the bacon was burnt and the lettuce was not fresh. Also we were the only customers inside so it wasn’t busy. However after our complaint...

Thought we'd try this place after the new owners have been there a while now. Disappointed in the service. Slow to take our order, slow service in getting the meal. In fact we had to ask where it was when the table next to us,...

A lovely family friendly restaurant with lots of nooks and cosy corners for families to be private. Sunday lunch was good if not a little short of veg but great taste and lovely hot plates. Service could be a little quicker esp with children on...

Garlic bread and smoked haddock for starters. These were lovely. We did wait a while but the staff apologised so I think there was a genuine mix up so nice to be acknowledged. Mains we both had chicken supreme. Unfortunately not as nice as the...

Excellent food, excellent hospitality. Definitely highly recommended. Great beer garden, superb range of draft beers and wines. Very family and dog oriented

Myself and my 5 friends and doggies came for dinner last night, we were welcomed immediately and was given a lovely bright corner table. The service was incrediable throughout our visit and nothing was any trouble. We have all decided that this is a golden...

Nice area to sit outside. Staff friendly and helpful. The food here is higher end prices, but the portions are ridiculously small, the combination leaving you feeling ripped off. The quality of the main was ok. We had Eton mess for dessert which was a...

Our walking group called in after a 10 mile walk. The manageress was very welcoming and saw to the groups very request. The beer was excellent and the fish chips and mushy peas were second to none we have had before in other venues. All...

I called in purely by chance on Thursday , after being on the coast and travelling through. I had an absolutely superb meal, which is all the better because you’ve had a little road trip, has bad food experiences, then unexpectedly had a great lunch...

This was our first visit as it had been recommended but we were very disappointed by the tiny portions provided for the main courses. I had the salmon and when it arrived it was accompanied by a small helping of potatoes, a few prawns, a...

A real step up from our last visit. Christmas decor nice and a pleasant atmosphere. Food was good and service prompt at both table and bar. Price was reasonable at under 100 pounds for 4 mains, 3 deserts and a couple of rounds of drinks,...

4 for lunch and our second visit, yesterday. Excellent food and service, and will visit again. My wife must have gluten free food which was provided

Hired the teepee for a 40th birthday and it was great. The pizza buffet was excellent, and the chips delicious. Manager very accommodating to help set up music etc. Will definitely consider using again for parties. Need to fix the broken heat lamp however as...

Having visited previously we were looking forward to our visit. I had a special gammon which was ok, however the piece of gammon was small. My wife and father in law had the “famous” fish pie both which lacked flavour and had very little fish...

very friendly staff and a nice place for a drink in a comfortable and welcoming country pub. will certainly be back

Pleasant surprise food good worth a visit

Brilliant . Not been in for years, can't really tell from the front that it's been completely overhauled. Great food, beer and service

Lovely menu, tasty food. Friendly staff.

Very homely and friendly. Lovely warm aga fire, blankets on chairs. Dogs welcome and different events going on, just check website

Great customer service, staff were really welcoming and the food was amazing! Dog friendly as well which is great will definitely be returning

After previous review we were offered gift vouchers towards the cost, for a return visit for our group. We were looked after, food really nice and the beer is still good. We had an enjoyable evening. Thank you to all the staff who made our...

Been here 3 times in the last few months with family as we live in the village. New interior is lovely. Very cosy with open fires and the staff were attentive and friendly. A couple of minor things. Portion sizes could be bigger. Found the...

Nice food nice venue would highly recommend

Great food ,welcoming atmosphere , brilliant staff .

Only customers in when we arrived. Ordered 3 Cheese Pies and Roast Beef. Took 45 minutes for food to arrive from ordering. 2 other tables came in 10 minutes and 20 minutes after us they got there food before we did which was similar food...

I called in after a dog walk in the area, I’d been told the pub was dog friendly. As soon as we arrived we were greeted and shown to a table in the cosy bar. The dog was made a total fuss of, biscuits and...

Had an amazing dinner last night. Service = 10/10 (want to give it 11/10); Food = 10/10 (want to give it 11/10); vibe = 10/10. Anyone who hasn't yet ventured should absolutely do - this is a gem of an establishment!

Wow...what a wonderful experience. This is a country pub with style and grace. I've been meaning to try this place for a long time but never found the opportunity. I visited on a January Saturday for early dinner with my elderly father. I'd booked online...

Wow...what a wonderful experience. This is a country pub with style and grace. I've been meaning to try this place for a long time but never found the opportunity. I visited on a January Saturday for early dinner with my elderly father. I'd booked online and in the comments asked if they could put us somewhere warm for my father and that we were heading back from panto a good 30 mins away and could possibly be 5-10 mins late. We were greeted with a fabulous welcome, seated next to a roaring fire and politely asked how the panto was. I really appreciated the attention to detail. We were promptly provided with menus after we'd sat down and got settled and our drinks order was taken. Food order was taken a short while after. At no point was I left wondering as to how that would happen. The food was delicious. Couldn't fault it. Reasonably priced for excellence. Staff were attentive without being intrusive. I'll definitely be back. Thank you for a wonderful evening to our day.

Gorgeous food in a really welcoming environment. We had black pudding fritters and creamy garlic mushrooms on ciabatta for starters, salmon with prawns and leeks for mains. Eve’s pudding and Malteser parfait for dessert. We couldn’t fault a thing, really delicious. The young waitress was...

It's a long time since we went into this pub, but they have made some really good changes. There is a pizza oven outside , but it's only open on a Friday which is a shame.

Lovely meal, good menu and good service. The Golden Ball is a nice pub with good staff.

Brilliant for dog owners like ourselves, we were made more than welcome! The food was good and we had a good family get together in nice surroundings, we didn't order our dogs food from the menu as we had brought their own food so I cannot comment on their reaction but water bowls were brought without asking so I would recommend giving it a try.

First class food and service, highly recommended

Fab friendly pub, and their food is delicious too.

Very helpful, listen to my allergies.

I visited the Golden Ball last night with 6 friends. While the setting was lovely the food was awful. The fish pie was a bit of dried up salmon with mash and cheese on top, no other seafood could be identified. The chips were dry...

Went with a few people I used to work with, bit embarrassed as I had recommended it. Food not good had to send first pizza back as it was cold, other members of party said fooe was not good, told waitress and another member of...