Lake Lounge Bar & Restaurant in Rochdale

Went here for Sunday lunch with friends. It was excellent. Lots of tender roast beef, a huge Yorkshire pudding and lovely well cooked vegetables. Cauliflower cheese came as standard, not an extra and there was plenty of gravy with an extra jug requested as we are Northern after all. Would highly recommend the Sunday lunch!

Always have a lovely meal here. The choice is good and varied. Food is always hot and freshly cooked .

Food was ok not as good as normal. We arrived close to closing time so maybe forgive them for it.

We love it at the lake lounge. Food fantastic. Staff brilliant. We normally have the small plates which are not small at all. All food is fantastic. James and Lizzie are fantastic hosts. Ax.

So lovely took a client for a cuppa and desert they were so accommodating.

First time at Lake Lounge Great service and fantastic food with a friendly atmosphere - generous portions. Will definitely return

Wow, we had such an amazing night here on Saturday. I booked here for my 40th birthday meal and from start to finish we felt really looked after. Every member of staff we spoke to was excellent. The food was absolutely incredible. We did the tapas and ordered 10 dishes between us. Every single plate was delicious. The Lake Lounge is now my favourite place in Littleborough, and I can not recommend it enough. They even made a fuss of me at the end and brought me out something for my birthday. Thank you to everyone working on Saturday night. It was amazing.

This place was a very good find. Searched for different places in the area on Tripadvisor and this one was a perfect choice. Food was delicious and very generous portions. Had scallops starter followed by Sunday roast beef which none of us could finish. Kids had sausages and chips and they were also delicious Staff were very friendly and welcoming

Went for Sunday lunch today and the food was amazing! Great value and huge portions, it beat us in the end as we were so full! Excellent service from Steph, really attentive and so friendly. Would highly recommend.

Delicious food.. Sunday lunch is delicious.. reasonably priced and brilliant cocktails which are on offer.. Will definitely be back... been back again tried the tapas menu this time and this again was delicious... I'm craving the samosa chick pea dish which was amazing... ( also had crispy beef and king prawns n chillie and garlic with crispy bread which were also great!) planning 3rd visit...

We had the set menu and the mussle starter was SPECTACULAR. My mum had the haddock with mash and parsley reduction and that looked and tasted amazing, my fish and chips was OK. The staff wer attentive but not pushy, just perfect

We had lunch as a family of 5 adults and 3 kids yesterday, the food was amazing, nice wine list and great atmosphere, service was 2nd to non, will defo be going back.

Popped in lunch on Sunday and thoroughly enjoyed our meal as I had the beef Sunday roast which was a plate full and worth the money, they don't normally allow dogs in on a Sunday but they found us a table to one side so we could bring our dog in..

A really nice watering hole wiv Fab food , if your in the area ITZ a MUST, try ..you will not B disappointed.. overall Rating,an easy 9/10...👌

Loved my week-long stay, so did my son.

We did not expect to get a table on New Year's Day but we were greeted nicely and a check was made and we were in. The food was excellent and the prices very good. I noticed a waitress serving, clearing tables and dealing with customers. She clearly cared about what she was doing and did it well. She looked after us in a thoughtful as well as efficient way. So all round it was a very good experience. Thank you Lake Lounge and Lizzy (Elizabeth). If I was the owner I would look after her and the chef!

Went for Xmas menu. Dearest of 5 Xmas menus we have tried in Rochdale this year but by far the best. Huge portions, beautifully presented and awesome quality. Great service and free (quality) entertainment. Looking forward to next Xmas already

What a lovely place to eat and relax. We've had the pleasure of dining here on a few occasions and recently had a large family gathering for our son's birthday. As always, we are made to feel welcome, at home and we're well looked after. The menu is superb, and the dishes we ordered were cooked to perfection and plentiful. Unfortunately my eyes are bigger than my belly and I couldn't eat everything. We had a really enjoyable time and can't wait to return. It is definitely worth the 5 star rating and i would strongly recommend that you try it.

Tempura Prawns fabulous nice please pleasant staff and will definately go again. My friend had the fish and chips and it as very good

Thank you so much for lunch today; Nachos, king prawn/salmon pasta and prawn/ a salmon, prawn sandwich with chunky chips, salad all amazing and very plentiful! We were taken back and totally surprised by your kind gesture of birthday cheesecake!- very unexpected and kind. Thank you 😊 This already topped what we had thought of our lunch alone- the pasta dish my husband described as best ever, better than some pasta dishes in Italy, which we visit frequent-plenty of king prawns, salmon in the pasta in a creamy sauce, with just enough chilli to compliment- lush We normally choose from your tapas menu as we have always dined in the evening with you- but decided on your day time menu, which has lots of choice/variety and was not disappointed on quality, and value. Hospitality spot on, food amazing 😊 Thank you Lake Lounge and see you soon. Fe & Jay

Lovely food really nice staff ,highly recommend,we were treated with respect we will be going again

Great food and service, enhanced by the live music from the neighbouring venue! We sat in the beer garden at the back, which is quiet and secluded.

Food was excellent however the service was very slow, each table waiting over 1 hour to be served , ( not sure if this was staffing problems or a trick to generate a bigger bar bill )

After several disappointing lunches in and around the area we returned to the Lake Lounge today . We wasn't disappointed, ghe food was excellent and staff very friendly , great value also , why bother keep trying other places when the Lake Lounge always pleases .

Visited yesterday at 4pm and can confidently say we will never return. Ordered 4 soft drinks which took over 20 minutes to arrive and when they did arrived incorrect with additional drinks we didn't order. When ordering our food, several things we wanted off the menus ( including the childrens menu) were not available however nobody had said this to us prior and the waitress looked this this was clearly news to her when I informed her someone should have said this when we say down. 2 of our group ordered starters- £8 for 4 pathetic peices of calamari which didnt even have a piece of lemon or a bit of garnish on the side for presentation purposes- absolute rip off! Ordered 3 sunday lunches which took over hour to arrive and when they did eventually arrive were cold and missing the veg. When I questioned where the veg was on the plate, the waitress returned with some limp, wet and pathetic looking cabbage on a puddle and said there were no carrotts left. No apology no nothing. Told her is really wasnt acceptable and again was looked at like I was just being difficult. 5 minutes later another waitress appear with some equally pathetic looking carrots so they did have some clearly. Husbands chicken burger looked equally poor and pretty dry and burnt. The weather also took a turn whilst we were waiting for our food which had resulted in groups of drenched and very drunk people coming in from the beer garden who were being loud and brash cheering and just generally being drunken. The so called manager said and did nothing to quieten them down even though you could clearly feel a change of atmosphere inside from a family venue to what felt like being in the weatherspoon at 11pm on a Saturday night. As a result of the drunk groups, people were getting up and moving trying to get a table away from the noise and rowdiness. 2 pensioners who had moved eventually gave up and left without ordering informing the manager that it was because of the noise...again he did and said nothing. We couldn't bare being in the place for another minute so asked for the bill instead of desert. This arrived included drinks we didn't have on it which we had to get removed. Overall the service was terrible, food was shocking and atmophere awful. I never write reviews but didnt feel I could leave this one without one. This place needs to decide it its a bar or a restraunt, the manager needs to take charge, co-ordinate his staff and get a backbone to deal with drunken customers and the waitresses need some real training in expectations of good service.

We have always been to the lake lounge and have never had any complaints about the food, or service it’s actually one of our favourite places but we went with our friends and children on Sunday , This is the first time ever but had to write a review as the food and service on this day wasn’t good at all, sorry to say. We had over an hour wait and our food all came separately which meant we didn’t eat together as intended. The restaurant wasn’t busy as it has been so not sure what was going on.

Had a really good meal here last night with friends. I had chicken supreme with chips, pepper sauce and fresh veg. Everything was freshly cooked and delicious. My friends had small plates and were very happy too. Would recommend the food here. We had to wait a wicked for the food but it was totally worth it.

So good i had to download this app and share my experience! With the snow we decided to support our locals and stumbled into the Lake lounge. Warm greeting from the manager josh and georgia, we got chatting to them all night, brilliant cocktails ( pornstar is my new fave - thanks James ). We shared 4 tapas dishes and believe me THATS ENOUGH!! They are huge and bursting with flavour, cant wait to return!

1st visit 2day 3of us plus the baby ordered far to much food but everything was spot on very good service brilliant food large portions and the staff were brilliant very good prices wished it was around the corner from me but live in the midlands we will be back well done all

I think we may be the table miagE5256LV is referring to. We like to go the bar ourselves and pay per round so there was absolutely no issue in us doing this. All staff are super efficient especially Devon who works so hard. Will definitely be returning, first class service from all

We were rushed getting initial drink and food order. After our food arrived. Staff were all congregated at the bar. The table behind us had to get up twice to ask for a drink and the bill (bearing in mind there was 3 tables in the restaurant). We also had to get up to ask for a drink and the bill. Staff clearly wanted to get rid of us and didn’t really care for customer service. Food was nice put was let down by poor service

Excellent service and value. 3 course festive menu. Every course was fantastic, and good size portions . Service for drinks could have been better, but it was Xmas , so expect delays. We went up to the bar to place some orders.

Visited lake lounge for lunch today, the staff are very welcoming and friendly , the food was lovely , the only negative, was it took along time for the food to appear, and the place wasn’t busy, not sure how it would be in the evening when busy. The food was well presented and tasty . Will definitely visit again

I'd heard good things about this place from friends and family but it still exceeded my expectations. I liked the choice on the menus, the portions are huge thus it's good value for money. It was actually the best cheese and onion pie I'd ever had! Everybody dining in our party enjoyed their food. The only slight niggle I encountered was they gave me the wrong dessert (sticky toffee instead of chocolate sticky pudding) but by the time I realised I'd eaten half of it as it was so good! At least I get to try the sticky chocolate pudding next time! I would highly recommend it here.

Light and airy restaurant with extensive menu. Polite staff, great service and very reasonable prices. We had two courses, starters and main... both large portions and presented well. Starters included the Pate, which was delicious 😋 Mains included the Salmon, skin a little well done,...

Service was terrible meals served at different times. bad language from staff at bar totally inappropiate as we were with young children. It will be a long time before we go back, unless changes are made.

We had a group of 14 booked. The service was poor from taking the drinks order, another 15 minutes for my drink to be served. When the menu was given to us we were told there will be a wait of 45 minutes to 1...

The table was precooked for a party of 14 .It was 20 minutes before our drinks order was taken then 10 -15 mins before our drinks arrived .30 mins later we were told “food would be 45 mins to an hour would we wait.?” We...

The food is excellent here along with the service. Jon and the team always looks after us and it’s always faultless! We had the tapas and every bit of it was perfect, in fact I would say the best Tapas in the area! Don’t bother...

We have just stayed at Lake Lounge, and it was very comfortable, and the food fabulous. Can recommend the chicken and chorizo paella and calamari. The staff are very friendly a great place for that special occasion

Went for early dinner, staff largely pleasant young girls but place needs soft furnishings and baffles as it's far too noisy to hold a conversation. Menu limited, food ok but only average and you wait too long for it.

Went for my wife's birthday with my son and his girlfriend, all 4 if us had an excellent night and the food was delicious. I am a very fussy person when it comes to food and I have to say everything was spot on and...

Mothers Day Lunch Visited as a large table for Mother’s Day and was not disappointed and this is despite the delays in food. More so because of how welcoming and lovely the staff were .. especially our waitress who was on her first shift ....

We booked for Sunday 3pm a family party of 10 we ordered starters and mains Sunday roast, the starters took one and half hour to come out some of our party left and went to the beach pub over the road very slow service ruined...

Excellent service perfect staff ! Family birthday meal. Food was amazing. Lovely warm and welcoming. Beautiful outdoor area . Just a great meal out for my birthday.

Only called in for drinks on a Saturday afternoon but very impressed. Staff Excellent, Very polite and hard working. The bar is in a superb location and we wished we had booked for a meal as the tables were all reserved from about 6:30 PM...

Had a lovely birthday lunch We chose to have the tapas garlic mushrooms, king prawns, garlic and tomato bread and sticky chilli beef All absolutely delicious couldn’t choose our favorite Staff very good and Covid aware Can’t wait to return!

Visited early this evening after being unable to get into some other places. I’m really glad we came , we had tapas and I have to say the food was delicious. Grandsons had kids meals that were really substantial and they ate everything. Delicious food,...

Visited you this afternoon and had the best meal that we didn't want to end. Top effort! Even got chatting with your building friend David 😂. Your staff where attentive and awesome too even though it was packed out. Wonderful Saturday afternoon out. Thank you

My wife and myself came here on Saturday night to escape the bonfire madness ( and the kids ! ) for a cheeky date night. And we will definitely be returning! The tapas was die for and the 2 for 10 cocktails were huge and...

We enjoyed an overnight stay here whilst we attended a nearby wedding. The room overlooked the lake and was bright and airy. The bed was super comfy and.thete was a nice selection of tea, coffee and biscuits. Check in was easy and quick, as was...

We booked the lake lounge for a family meal of 19 people. From start to finish the service was impeccable - the staff are very accommodating, smiley and pleasant. I was blown away by the quality of the food. 19 of us were served at...

We stayed for 2 nights in the rooms above very good we ate in the restaurant the 1st night very good food and big portions we had drinks lager and cocktails the staff are very nice and friendly I would recommend

Dined here on a Sunday with my partner and young daughter, lovely food and friendly service! Got a fussy daughter and she loved the sausages! defo return

What can you say here… Brilliant! The food was exceptional. The service was exactly the same! The blond mature lady that waited on us was really helpful, she served us properly and was very attentive. The Tapas was great the deserts great and the atmosphere...

Went on a Saturday evening so pretty busy but staff were friendly and helpful and service was quick. Had 6 dishes from the tapas menu for three of us which was enough, probably could have managed another dish though. This was the best tapas I've...

First of all the staff were lovely and very helpful, they couldn’t do enough for us. The food was also amazing too. We ordered tapas, which was cooked and presented to a high standard. The portion sizes were generous, so each dish was worth every...

We had a fantastic stay in the Lake Lounge! When we first arrived, Josh was nice enough to help show us around the rooms and explain how everything worked. He was a fantastic host and made our stay much easier. While enjoying some drinks at...

Seen tortoise moves quicker. Averqge food. Shocking service. 3 hours for 2 courses. Wont be back anytime soon

Josh and Georgia were very accommodating and helped us have an amazing night, their service was very appreciated and left us feeling very cared for. Will definitely visit again

Visited yesterday and enjoyed lovely tapas. Excellent service and good COVID measures in place. Food was delicious and atmosphere relaxed … just what we hoped for … thank you!

It was horrific, food and service was terrible, then there was so much fighting that we had to be locked inside the restaurant! The worst dining experience I have EVER had!

I have visited the Lake lounge on numerous occasions.The food is always amazing and service excellent . Tapas dishes are excellent value for money, good choice of wines and beers as well as great cocktails.

visited this evening and have to say I’m extremely disappointed. Was seated and order was taken (fairly) quickly so no issues there, unfortunately the rest of the visit was not so good. When our order was being taken, the waitress commented we were ‘ordering too...

Really disappointed. After 70 mins we questioned where our food was after noticing newer folk getting served. Our order never went through. Such a shame as its usually nice however we won't be going back. Fair play they comped our drinks however

I’ve been to the lake lounge on multiple occasions and I’ve never been disappointed. The food is always fresh and so tasty and the cocktails are amazing too. It’s good value for money and not expensive at all, it’s nice for a romantic meal or a family outing and the views are sensational! Can’t wait to go next week. Never disappointed x

Enjoyed a lovely meal with £10 discount courtesy of Rishi Sunak. We had fillet steak with pepper sauce, chips and veg. The steak was cooked perfectly and very tender, chips hot and crispy and nicely cooked mixed veg. There were 3 of us dining and we could have managed with 2 portions of the pepper sauce which is served in individual little saucepans. Finished off with biscotti cheesecake which was delicious and very moorish!! Lovely place on the lake and nice surroundings to dine in. We have had drinks there before but never dined, we will go again as we all enjoyed our meals.

Just want to say thank you.We was a little nervous and excited as it was the first day off re opening after 15 weeks ... It Was a lovely relaxing evening from start to finish, new rules dealt with ease. Food lush! Service great! Thank you

Amazing food great staff' great place To visit" I would strongly recommend this place you wont be dissatisfied

We are here as a family of 10 last night and have to say the food was as good as the service. The staff had a good knowledge of each dish and were tested by two of our party who were a little worse for wear and wanted to know the ins and outs of each tapas dish which the young lad handled excellently. Every one of us enjoyed our meals with not a single complaint. Great atmosphere albeit a little loud as we were sat directly underneath a speaker. Thanks for a great night

Me and my husband came for a Thursday afternoon lunch. The service was not only fast but nothing seemed to be a problem for our waitresses. We tried the amazing new menu and the food came out fast and hot! We had the black pudding bonbons, haddock croquettes, Spanish tortilla, pulled pork tacos and the Gambas pilpil. And it was honestly some of the best tapas we have ever had! Thankyou for a lovely lunch, and we will be back

Brilliant food and brilliant service. Went in at lunch time and had their lunch time menu. The food was incredibly taste and great value for money.

Came here for my birthday treat off my mum..lovely decor..nice and clean .staff great..and food was fantastic..will be calling again 😄

Great value. Good quality food. Excellent staff. Clientele can be very young in the evening but well worth a visit for something to eat earlier in the day if you are over 35.

Lovely food and all staff members were friendly and polite! Really nice atmosphere for lunch, we will be back soon!

Good food good prices very tasty meal cooked quickly really enjoyed good selection too at dinner time

Had our sons 21st Birthday Party in the function room.... the room is lovely,staff couldn't do enough for us nothing was to much trouble and the food was great especially the cheese n onion pie Thank you

Couldn't recommend this place more! A cosy, friendly atmosphere. We were a group of 5 meeting for our Christmas work party. We had a cosy booth and we're greated and served by Lynsey one of the managers. She gave us fantastic service and was very accommodating of our fun festive games etc. The food was amazing with a great veggie/fish range too, something to suit everyone! Would defo go again.Thanks for a fabulous festive evening xxxx

Late decision to visit due to the weather as we live 5 mins walk away.

recently dined here - the food was lovely and huge portions. asked for a desert menu that never came but the staff were clearly busy so we let it go. my issue with this is place is the clientele (i understand that this is not the restaurants fault hence i have not let it hinder my rating but i thinks it’s important). drunk men at the bar almost fighting each other, swearing, shouting etc. a group of women who had brought their own bottle of gin with them and were just freely pouring it into their glasses. again it really does put you off when you’re paying X amount for a drink and they allow this behaviour. maybe next time i’ll bring a crate of beer in with me

Very nice surroundings and a lovely area to go and look at Hollingworth Lake. Choice of food was excellent and as we all chose the early bird menu because it was 5pm the value was excellent. Definitely go again.

Visited lake lounge for early dinner,food was really good, and staff was very helpfull, found noise level excessive,even after fitting acoustic tile to stop this. Would defo go again ,but would pick a quieter time.🤓👍🏻

We visit here frequently. The food is always of good quality from a varied menu. The desserts, particularly sticky toffee pudding with cream, are delicious. We always get good service from a cheerful welcoming staff.

Lovely fajitas chicken and steak. Both me and my wife couldn’t fault our meals, beautiful restaurant, comfy leather booth. We will be back.

We visited last weekend, first time for us. Although the Whitebait was nice, and Paella good, my partner's Victoria Sponge Cake was stale. We complained and our waitress was very understanding and gave us a refund for both our desserts. We also found it far too noisy, so we had to raise our voices to speak to each other.

We all ate from the early bird menu. The food was well presented & of a good standard. Staff were friendly & helpful, but not over bearing, would definitely return.

If you don’t want staff checking on how your meal is, if you want anything else, available to settle the bill or appreciative of any tip then this is the place for you! It is obviously more interesting in the kitchen as that is where they spend most of their time out of sight! The food was okay but there is much more to the dining out experience such as customer care and hospitality .

So spoilt as another local for me.

My sister and I took my mum and nanna on a visit to Hollingworth Lake yesterday and, after looking at TripAdvisor reviews, decided to visit Lake Lounge for a late lunch. Firstly, I'd like to add that there were a couple of positives: our waitress was lovely, my nanna enjoyed her fish and chips and the dessert was fine. However, the negatives far outweighed these positives. Firstly, as said in previous reviews, the place was freezing! Drizzly, cold weather outside and they had the air-con on! My elderly nanna spent half the meal wearing her coat. My sister and I ordered Tapas dishes between us with bread and a balsamic dip. Our dishes came and every single dish was over-garnished with large clumps of cress (the chef had even thrown a stalk of cress in the balsamic vinegar!) Our immediate observation was: what are they trying to hide? The answer: mediocre to awful food. The chicken and chorizo dish was swimming in sauce and oil and the chorizo was clearly the pre-sliced package variety and there was a very strange sweet bread provided that when combined with balsamic was very sickly. The patatas bravas was nice. However, we could overlook those things as the prawn tempura was truly dreadful. Greasy and chewy overcooked prawns. I took a bite of the first prawn and handed it to my sister and we both had disgusting, coated mouths. When the dishes were collected at the end, we informed the waitress and she said she would inform the chef. When the bill came the prawns were included and they had incorrectly charged my mum for a 3-course early bird meal when she had 1! We explained to the waitress that we were not happy to pay for the prawns as we had each had one bite and left it. The waitress went to speak with her manager. She returned and explained that her manager had said that as we had eaten some, we had to pay half price! The dish cost £8.00 originally and they wanted us to pay £4.00 for something that was inedible! We asked to speak to the manager and she finally came out (after a long wait) with a new bill that excluded the prawns. Even at this point she tried to argue that we had eaten some at which point i pointed out that we had eaten one prawn between us to try the awful dish. Really poor service from the manager to rectify this. On top of this there were really long waits for any attention from the wait staff (while they all congregated near the bar laughing and joking with each other) and no napkins given for dessert- spoons just plonked on the table. I would not recommend Lake Lounge- the price is ridiculous for the food and the experience. We won't be returning.

Great menu, great food, great ambiance, great surroundings, great staff, great view - just Great!! Love this place 👍🏼.

I have eaten twice here before and had an enjoyable meal. Today was a disappointment. I had as usual one of the speciality sandwiches, when it arrived, the presentation was good and there was plenty of the filling of smoked salmon , prawns etc only to be spoiled when it was obvious that the toasted bloomer base was badly burned. It of course was all that I could taste. Not what one expects when paying £9.95 for a speciality sandwich! When I mentioned it there was no apology just the offer of another piece of toast, which took some time to arrive. Not impressed today but will try again.

Informed them of number in party in advance. But still had to wait long time for meals. Dissapointed by meals. Very small portions.

Lovely place with great tapas to eat. The sizes were large so I only needed to buy a couple of things, would definitely go again. Great service too the staff were attentive.

Brilliant place, fantastic food, tapas menu amazing not had a bad meal here always really good, friendly staff

Visited at lunch time and enjoyed a very reasonably priced two course lunch for £13. Whilst the restaurant was fairly quiet at the time of our visit it can clearly cater for many more customers. There was a good selection of Gluten Free options and we were promptly served by attentive staff. Food nicely presented and cooked to our liking. No grumbles what so ever!

Called for an early evening meal with 4 yr. old grandchild to be ignored by staff for 10 mins prior to menus being brought to us and then waited forty five mins. for the three meals to arrive. Both chicken dishes were overcooked as were the chips both the sweet potato and regular chips.

Went to visit friends and we went down to lake for walk and went to find food and went into the lake lounge Very clean and friendly place and georgie served us very helpfull and friendly All 4 of us had 2courses and we all enjoyed Iwanted the gin rhubarb crumble but as so full I passed but will be eaten on my next visit Thanks to georgie for making visit good and will be back on my next visit

Booked here for A birthday tea. All 4 of us had different tapas with no complaints from anyone. Service was quick and food piping hot on arrival. Will return.

I think we might have been too big a group for the Lake Lounge. There were 20 or so of us for lunch. The food was fine and service ok but the kitchen didn’t manage to serve us together. The first meals out had been eaten by the time the ladt person was served. I discussed the problem and was told there was only one person in the kitchen, not good for a pre-booked group. So don’t let me put you off because it is a great location, the food and service were fine and I’m sure the kitchen would manage for an average family group.

Although we had a table booked we were shown to a dirty table, I had to ask for it to be cleaned. Given menus but we had to ask passing staff if we could order after 20 mins. Good Food. Main course came out, when the Veg came out of the kitchen the member of staff stood by our table, looked around then went back to the kitchen to ask where it belonged. Asked for dessert menu yet no one came to take our order. After half hour I asked for the Bill and I pointed out that we would have had dessert had it been followed up. The young man did come back and offer us a free dessert to take home, a nice gesture but as I said it should not have come to that so I refused the offer. In my view there were at least 5 or 6 staff on but they dont pay attention to detail, they are not watching what stage the diners are at , they are not attentive. Two ladies on the table near us finished their meal and sat for ages with the dirty plates in front of them.