Life of Riley in Sunderland

Stinkin, absolutely stinkin place, couldn’t be more stinks if it tried - me ganny took me to some stinks places but never as stinks as this. Place stinks of belly buttons

Lively atmosphere with live music on a weekend

We decided to go last minute after going to the theatre & although it was relatively quiet the atmosphere was excellent & the bar staff were really friendly. We will definitely be returning.

Walked in, place looked untidy, messy empty tables. After paid and ate main sunday dinner, was then told they ran out of desert, thus should have been mentioned before i paid.

Quite nice for a pint. Atmosphere was okay as well. It was an evening and I'd like to try a lunchtime or early evening. Will be back. Thanks. Rock night is good fun and cocktails quite cheap. Excellent evening

Great for late night music & atmosphere

Nice little place for dinners. Always busy but got seated quickly. Very reasonable x

Only go for Sunday carvery, it's always spot on. Chef is lovely who carves your meats, very friendly, beef is always beautiful and tender. Give you a bowl free of charge for infants. Free dessert of crumble n custard with carvery.

Lovely Sunday roast ham chicken or beef and turkey small or large sizes then help yourself to veggies deffo worth a visit

Went in for lunch got the Chinese chicken curry was lovely.

Walked in, turned right straight to the bar. Waited to be served. Barperson came to serve. Then a bouncer came over and asked to have a word took my friend and i back outside claiming we'd upset the DJ???I didn't even see a DJ. Told to leave. We didn't argue just left. My friend did, on entering pass a comment to someone outside but not insulting more banter. Unfortunately the big lad was so precious he took offence. Personally I think because it was `rock night' and we weren't dressed in the appropriate attire this was against us. If you distinguish your customers on dress it's not acceptable.

Awesome place music and karaoke are amazing well done 👏

Refused a real id? Like my actual real id, even though I had my bank card aswell with the matching details? Bouncers were awful to deal with, wouldn’t even give me a second look. I wouldn’t mind if it was a fake id, but it was my actual real one.

I've just been for a Sunday Carvery and it was the worst carvery I've ever had. I couldn't eat it so it feels like I've just paid 11.50 for a p Oi nut of cider and apple crumble and custard with not being able to eat my dinner as the roast potatoes, stuffing balls and Yorkshire's we're burnt and the mash tasted watery.

Fantastic venue. Rock night Thursdays is a must 🤘.

Sunday carvery and dessert for £8. Fresh food, great value. It's worth a visit. I would go back

Food very poor ,cup of tea was just warm .no heating on very disappointing

Amazing food, lovely staff,well worth a vist

Life Of Riley is my go to bar for a good night out. I'm not a huge fan of clubs like Independent or Trilogy, I like a little bit more of a laid back environment. Riley's has a great range of drinks, especially on their cocktail menu. As someone who loves to make cocktails as a hobby, while they're about average strength for cocktails on a night out, they're extremely tasty. This place is always bouncing on a Friday and Saturday night for people who prefer it that way, but I prefer a night out here on Sundays, where it's more chill, and a lot more cheap, often doing triples for £3. The staff here are kind and friendly, especially the two lads who work here. They're funny, and they managed to convince me and my friends to try Chilli Sambuca, which was a good laugh! I've been here 2 birthdays in a row, and I'll probably be back for my birthday next year too. Overall, one of my favourite places for drinks in all of Sunderland.

Great atmosphere, friendly bar staff and the food is fantastic

Wanted roast dinner to day but none got 2 meal disgusting my daughter was I’ll was trip to loo loo

Absolutely terrible! Tasted like something was off. Felt sick now since I left and now actually sitting on toilet with diarrhoea! Staff did nothing, no refund, nothing! Won’t be going back!

Great food at very good prices ,lovely staff always friendly ,have some great specials

Love the food from here definitely be bk, reasonably priced, good sized portions, delicious 😋 thanks to the lovely chefs

Food was lovely... pre Empire drinks

Good night out great time pool table on Tuesday and Thursday

Bank holiday always gonna be busy in Sunderland but fast service good craic and good prices

Amazing meals and a fantastic range of drinks, all at excellent value Great evening entertainment. 10/10

Great place to watch the sport good night out

One of my favourite places to drink in Sunderland, friendly staff, great atmosphere.

Good atmosphere, decent prices, nice staff. A little too loud (music wise) for my tastes, but don't let that discourage you from paying a visit.

Quick service nice pint. Foods lovely

Refused entry because I slipped on a wet day & deemed "too drunk" I see others have had similar issues Well if you don't want my business, I'll take my hard earned coin elsewhere.

Loverly food and pint nice staff too

Nice food, had a burger meal, more than enough to eat,great place

Mitchell gave great service well done

Staff good, drinks reasonable, music pounding

Nice place called in for a quick drink while waiting to be picked up for home. Will go in again x

Canny bar ....somewhere to to dance to some good tunes. Open till late so no need for any nightclubs.

We really enjoyed our lunches and it was great value too. Will definitely be returning.

Lovely clean pub . Great food and lovely friendly staff

Lovely service cheerful staff and always at hand to help thanks ever so much food was amazing

Banging scran, steaks have seen better days

Great place to meet up with friends also good food and drink deals

Thursday rock night had a super band on. Will be back but only Thursday

DJ Scott aka Pinky plays the absolute best rock bangers

I dropped into this place on a Saturday afternoon. I fancied a cocktail which was good value (2 for 1 £9.95) if not the freshest tasting i ve ever had. The food was decent and the service was fine, it s one of those annoying places though which have sport on screens but dont have any sound on. It s clean and while i wouldnt go out of my way to visit it's a decent option.

Had a lovely meal with my friend and a very nice drink.

Absolutely disgusting behaviour from the woman bouncer. Don’t know who she thinks she is but because I tripped up the step I was apparently too drunk to enter. She also dragged out a middle aged couple for no reason whatsoever. No idea why she’s employed she’s awful, even the other male bouncer looked embarrassed by her. She needs sacked

After trying to go to life if Riley tonight, my partner tripped on the step up into the venue! Because of this miss trunchbell and n the door refused her access, to then be. Followed by her brawling in the street with random patriots! Not good at all tbh. No custome with her in the door!!! ….

Thursday nights in life of Riley are the best. The zombies are lethal, would recommend

Food was ok but not fab nothing special about this bar nothing really that screams come back

Would say the music here is second to none. Came to watch englun v Germany and we battered them all owa the shop. Limbs everywhere, two-pinters galore. Not the cheapest but memories to last a lifetime. Ha'way englun, it's comin home 🕺🏻🤸🏻‍♂️🕺🏻🤸🏻‍♂️

Great bar..great staff...music's always good and the good during the day is excellent...Sunday lunch is awesome...one of the best bars in Sunderland ..

Been here many many times with never a issue ,went for the England v Germany game , so after the second pint of what was smelling and tasting of bad stall beer I complained after the second one , staff took said pint away with only a moth full taken , staff brought back so called new drink in same glass smelling the same , I refused said drink and asked for manager , stranglely door were staff sent over saying we had to leave due to someone saying something 2 hours earlier before I was even there and even insisting to still talk to manager we were told was to busy in a pub less than half full , a little strange to say the least ,

There was 2 bouncers on the door and the male seemed really nice but there was this female who was extremly rude and just overall an extremely intimidating person. We were barely just allowed in and about 30 mins into my meal when I went to the toilet she dragged me outside saying I’m not allowed back in for no reason what so ever and quite frankly I’m never coming back aslong as she isn’t working there.

Service is terrible waited over 40 mins to be served and that was asking 4 people for drinks. :(

Was ok no atmosphere but just out of covid to be fair everywhere table service atm so sometimes waiting a while to be served

I wish I could give this place 0 stars. The lack of service we received was appalling to say the least. We arrived at 7pm. Staff went around everyone asking them for dinks apart from our table. After an hour went by and we still had no drinks I went to find a staff member to ask if we could order. I was basically fobbed off as she hid in the back. Another 15 minutes went by and I asked yet another staff member to order our first drinks of the night after being there for 1hr 15 minutes with no drinks and was fobbed off yet again. I then proceeded to ask a further two times this had now hit the two hour mark without a single drink whilst everyone else had their drinks. After complaining the staff did not seem to care that we had went two hours with no drinks, in fact I appeared to be an inconvenience to them and as a result we left. Very disappointing and I will not be returning and warning people about your lack of care and service.

Had to wait 20 minutes to get served

The woman bouncer is a disgrace. She kicks everyone out for no apartment reason! Was much better without her there!!!

Female door staff brilliant felt very comfortable she went out of her way thank you lovely lady

Disastrous night, went to watch the Sunderland game Tuesday 13th April , table booked for 5-30, left at the end of the game freezing cold as no outdoor heating offered, the four of us managed 3 rounds , tried to get served from half time till final whistle, 1 hour waiting never even got looked at , 2 poor kids doing there best, guy who seemed to look like a bar manager never made eye contact with anybody and the barman who had a limp(you know who you are!) was literally the rudest most ignorant barman I have ever experienced in 30 years of going to pubs only serving mates and ignoring everyone else, we literally could not give this place our money, first night out after lockdown and we all agreed we might as well not have bothered, would have given zero but apparently have to give an unwarranted 1 out of five, also it was bookings so they knew how many people were going to turn up....

Cracking food and very good service. All guidelines followed. A safe haven to be enjoyed and supported.

Really nice atmosphere, great drinks deals, good service all round good vibes. Will deffo be going again

Food completely changed since covid 19 used to really enjoy it but has gone totally down hill. The quality and the taste wasn't as good totally disappointed will not be returning as have had a better mcds and n not keen on it

Great food, big portions, very nice

Amazing drink prices food is amazing and also really good staff

Brilliant choice if wines spirits beers and lagers great music and a fun place to be

The watermelon daiquiris are to die for 🤤🤤🤤

Staff really most helpful but food not so good

Fantastic place to visit great drink and food prices and I love a Wednesday Evening here

Really enjoyed the Life of Riley , and will definitely call in again. We both got the hot beef sandwich which had plenty of beef and the chips and gravy were both really good. There were two bar staff working and both gave great service. The only bad thing was it was too cold.

Always good in here! Good drinks @ good prices, banter always great and amazing nights to be had!

Always a stop off on the Sunderland tour.

Dark and dingy. Won't go back again. Better places around. Always trouble and drunkards.

Excellent food and customer service with a smile!

Nice place ..had sunday lunch all freshly cooked veg ...( no frozen ) good home made yorkshire pudding..4 meat choice ( had all 4 ) beef pork gammon and turkey ...was down with a nice cold guiness . A good selection of drink to choose from ...and had a nice surprise to...free desert for anyone trying the subday carvery...will be going again very soon

Good on a weekend play some good music

Lovely Sunday dinner.. Quite basic but very tasty and attentive, friendly staff.

Lovely food which is cooked to order and not just microwaved from the freezer. Loads of choice and cheap too. Will definitely be back .

Good food, good selection of drinks, very reasonably priced you can't go wrong in here

Really good food and service if using for food around about 6pm very quiet. Good selection on menu, real chips with fish and Chinese chow mein superb. We always use this place when travelling to Sunderland.

empty but that just the time of night. does not look good chef sitting and playing with his phone also . menus could do with a clean as sticking together. makes you what no order anything

Late Saturday afternoon visit. Not too busy. Okay atmosphere. Live band bonus. Drinks prices higher end but not extortionate!

Services were fantastic and staff was well helpful

Great pub,but an old guy vaping and could hardly breath,not good 👹

Fabulous food restaurant quality and so very reasonable. Highly recommended.

Great pint friendly staff fantastic atmosphere

I'm a regular to life of Riley. It's always been a favourite bar of mine with the laid back attitude, but the atmosphere of tonight was terrible. I think the band was called Cool as Vegas they were very hostile and not really interacting with the crowd such a shame as previous bands where unbelievablely good. Do believe they should reconsider their choices next time.

Shame that they stopped serving food at 19h. The place is amazing. Very friendly staff.

Not the busiest of pubs on a sunday night but got to be the most exspensive £3.60 for a bottle of becks no the wonder not many people in yet down the road at the borough its packed and cheaper for the same bottle now i no where to go next time out.no the wonder pubs are shutting at an alarming rate with these prices before long sunderland town ctr will be a ghost town on a sunday night.

Our family found ourselves with a few hours to spare in Sunderland and went on the hunt for a bite to eat. After wandering past a few packed restaurants, we spotted a fairly quiet Life of Riley. That did give us a wee concern, but we needn’t have worried.A warm welcome from all the staff, big table, comfy chairs. Wide choice on the menu. Our meal for four with drinks came in at under £40 - excellent value! At that price we didn’t expect anything fantastic, but wow - we were pleasantly surprised. Freshly & quickly prepared, piping hot, massive portions. Great pizzas, great fajitas, great fried rice, great side dishes. Friendly service throughout.Really highly recommended!

Great bar, good music, attentive, polite staff

Live music and DJ - perfect place to socialise and party!

Got some 🦀 and it was lovely and fresh

A great place to go for premature deafness.

Flat, overpriced lager...... used to be a lot better

Absolutely disgraceful! A friend of mine went in the disabled toilet! We assumed after 20 minutes she had gone home as she does if shes had enough. 45 minutes later we found out she was stuck in the disabled toilet unable to unlock the door.. to find the emergency chord is tied up out of reach!!😡 so she couldn't reach it to let people know she was in trouble!! Attitude from staff regarding this was scandalous.

Fab place and fab music for my 50th