Merchants Bar & Grill in Preston

Went here as part of a large coach party, they were very organised and provided waiter service. There was a choice of three starters/mains & puddings all of which looked lovely and my choices and those of my party were lovely. Good service all over.

Stopped off own the way home from an appointment in Blackpool but will now consider just going for a meal out from home (20 minute drive?) because my wife and I were so impressed. My wife had ham hock terrine, homemade I think and fish cakes which I'm sure were but I only got 2 and 3 would have been better value although nothing wrong with quality of either starter. For our main courses my wife had the oven baked cod from the menu de jour which she thoroughly enjoyed whilst I had a whole plaice cooked and seasoned to perfection followed by the homemade lemon tart (I asked) with raspberry sorbet - divine. Our meal was accompanied by a Pinot Grigio, the "wine of the month" which was delightful and not at all expensive. If you are in the area I would recommend or if you don't live too far away and haven't been then give it a try.

Stayed at Samlesbury Hotel for 3 nights, had breakfast and dinner at the restaurant and the spread was good but repetitive. Dinner options were okay.

Ordered the crispy warm lamb salard to start and although it was tasty it was just lumps of lamb on a bit of salard ,not inspiring .the barbaque ribs were among the best i have ever had even in America.plenty of meat full of the bone covered in a rich sauce ,special .together with perfect chips stopped corn for onion rings ,all good ,good service .it may not be a problem for some but ther portion was massive ,it defeated me .

The hostess greeted me quickly and politely. The restaurant is relaxed, and has a comfortable environment. The menu selection was good, and the food was delicious. Service was quite slow. It took a very long time to place my order, and quite some time for it to arrive. No one asked if I wanted another drink when mine was empty, and I couldn't seem to get anyone's attention. It was only after ordering dessert that I finally managed to order a second beverage, and that was after the waitress initially walked away after taking the food part of the dessert order. After travelling through the UK for several weeks, I found the prices to be considerably higher than other locations with similar food and better service. Even if staying at the hotel, I would find another location for my meal.

We visited the Samlesbury Hotel for afternoon tea and really enjoyed it. It was part of the Groupon deal which included prosecco. The cakes were very small but enjoyable. It came with scones and a selection of sandwiches. We have visited before and the cakes were larger on the previous occasion. For the price we paid and the quality of the food though I still have to give it a 5 out of 5. I will definitely return here again and would recommend it to others.

(firstly it was hard to find where to leave a review as searches for samlesbury don't bring anything up! ) We had been given a Travelzoo voucher for afternoon tea for two with a glass of champagne each. We rang on the off chance and managed to book in for 30 minutes time, they asked about the voucher and any dietary requirements. Welcomed on arrival and directed to the restaurant. Offered a choice of table and also if we wanted tea or coffee with the champagne or later. There were four finger sandwiches each and also four hot samosas with dipping sauce. A lovely warm scone and three cakes each too. We each also had a pot of coffee giving three cups each. The staff were friendly and attentive and the afternoon tea was delicious. We will return and wouldn't hesitate to recommend. Thanks.

Nothing outstanding on the menu, standard hotel food, breakfast is buffet style with coffee from a machine I think coffee at least should be served in a pot as more and more establishments try to do it at less cost?

Great meal. Used a Groupon voucher otherwise would have been quite pricey. Good service, pleasant staff. Fabulous fish and chips enough to feed two. Wine reasonable price. They do a nice afternoon tea here too.

My Husband and I ate here, it was our 1st time and the food was delicious, we had the sharing platter, Ribeye steak that was cooked to perfection, the homemade chips were amazing and the sticky toffee pudding was so tasty. The excellent service we recieved for Philippe made it even more enjoyable.

Superb food and excellent service by Philippe. Thank you. A smart dining room, mellow music and top notch food. We ordered mains, Kansas ribs for me and Chicken in Thyme and Sage crust for hubs (like a kiev). Smelt and looked gorgeous and tasted better. The Pinot was lovely and cocktails after (whisky sour for him and French Martini for me - as good as any we have had at our fave cocktail bars). They take Tastecard too. Cannot wait to go back and try the fish and chips, another client had ordered it and it looked fantastic. A whale of a fish coated in a golden batter. Was lacking in atmosphere, though was a quiet night. We cannot wait to go back.

lovely restaurant, excellent service. we got there early but this was no problem they sat us down straight away staff could not do enough, food was great

Did not book a table, but space was found in the busy restaurant-We chose just to have mains... I had the leek and Stilton tart served with pan fried new potatoes and salad dressed with pine nuts and apple slivers, my husband had the half a chicken & fries, which really was half a chicken! Everything was nicely cooked and presented. I had a pud, the apple and blackberry crumble, which was more of a small tart with a crumble topping-when it arrived I thought it looked tiny, but it was enough! Served with a jug of custard. There was a big group of people who I am guessing are on a coach trip? Visiting local attractions. Most of the other guests are business people, so you will hear lots of 'shop' talk.

Dined there as part of a Travelzoo offer. Nice decor and our table was well lit. Starters we had were beetroot and couscous salad and chicken liver parfait both well presented and delicious. Mains were pork Shnitzel with veg and skinny fries and pan fried chicken with baby onions mushrooms and chunky chips. The highlight was my chicken being served in a pan - a frying pan. Brilliant innovation. Desserts were lovely also with warm Choc brownie and ice cream and Lemon Posset with whipped cream, ice cream, fruits of the forest conserve and 2 shortbread biscuits. Wow all that as part of the deal. We will be looking out for a similar offer there in the near future.

Had a birthday meal for three in Merchants restaurant. Great food, pleasant staff, and the prices were spot on. Thankyou for a great night.

Visited at lunchtime with a friend. Good choice of food on the menu. Both decided to try the gourmet burgers. I had the steak burger & friend had chicken. Not the cheapest at about £12 each however the tastecard halved the food bill. Waited quite a while for the food which was a surprise seeing as there was hardly anyone else dining apart from a few tables of pensioners but they were onlyhaving afternoon tea - no cooking even required! The Afternoon teas looked good. Burgers arrived, on brioche buns. The chips appeared to be jacket potatoes which had then been sliced into wedges & fried. They came in a little silver bucket & were very tasty! The burger wasn't the best I've ever had, tasted slightly under seasoned to me. The chicken burger was a breast on a brioche bun. I love burgers so quite enjoyed it however would probably need a second visit to compare meals.

My wife and I decided to celebrate our Wedding Anniversay at Merchants Bar & Grill and we were both very impressed with the high level of service we received from the moment we entered the building to the time we left. The quality of the food was of a very high standard, cooked to perfection and served in a professional manner. The atmosphere in the restaurant was calm and relaxed and the staff were both very friendly and efficient. We would definitely recommend this restaurant and will be visiting again in the future.

As a family we went for Christmas Day lunch here. Wow, what a mistake. The food was absolutely awful, and we were being tortured by saxophone. Saxophone on Christmas Day! WHAT!? The staff were rude, and even the General Manager was impossible. I'll be surprised if the restaurant and hotel are still open in 12 months as I think they're in financial trouble as everyone who ate there had to pay upfront for their meal. On reflection I can see why, because otherwise we'd all have refused to pay it was that rubbish.

Been to this establishment several times, but now our patience have run out I must admit. The bar staff is just not up to scratch. They see you entering the room, they see you sit down, they see you and maybe even hear you wondering whether you have to go and order at the bar or if one of the staff will actually (eventually) come down to your table. On ALL occasions I or one of those I've been with on the particular day have had to address the staff for service! The staff is very nice but they don't have a clue of what basic good service is. They don't welcome you, they don't know what's today's soup is, but they do offer to find out if you (really) would like to know what it is, they don't know what is not available on the menu until you have placed your order and they come back to tell you that what you have just chosen is unfortunately not available. The staff don't know the meaning of words like 'thankyou', 'please', 'excuse me', 'sorry' or ask you if your meal was to your satisfactory or if you would like something else to eat or drink. Neither do they clear the table after you have finished your meal or they remove one plate only never to come back after the rest. You know what? I have given this hotel the benefit of the doubt once too many. Good luck to the hotel.

Stopped by for hot lunch. Food was well cooked, well presented and delicious.Service was good and our waitress took time to explain. Very pleasant atmosphere.

Visited Merchants Grill one afternoon with hubby, big sis and best mate. Had money off vouchers which gave us afternoon tea for 2 for £15 (half the original price). On first impression, the bar and the restaurant area looked superb, very classy and tastefully decorated. Unfortunately there was this awful smell of fish as we walked in. Now usually the smell of fish & chips would get my taste buds in overdrive, but not this smell. It was awful. Anyway we were shown to our table and offered a free glass of sparkling wine or a soft drink. Shortly after, the afternoon tea arrived. It was presented well on a nice cake stand with sandwiches, cakes and scones, and along came our pot of tea. The atmosphere was pleasant but not busy, with only 2 or 3 other couples eating. However, despite the nice surroundings and the attentive staff, I do not want to be particularly negative about our afternoon tea as it was nice, but I would've been disappointed if I'd've paid the full price.

I, like many other unfortunate people, purchased the groupon afternoon tea voucher. I serve my dogs better quality food! It was what I can only imagine the likes of Iceland offer as party food. Champagne was cheap rubbish I couldn't even drink it. Completely disgusting. The staff were polite HOWEVER I am still awaiting a response to my email sent to Samlesbury Hotel regarding this con of an offer. The fact that nobody has bothered to contact me speaks volumes.

A friend treated us both to a Champagne afternoon tea, using a Groupon Voucher. We were very impressed with the refurbished hotel but upon arrival were met by an obviously harassed young lady who seemed to be entirely on her own, acting as meet and greet, bar person, waitress and table clearer. Our booking was for 3.00pm but we were told that there could be a long wait for a table. When we eventually sat down after about 15/20 minutes the food element arrived and we were both disappointed with the paltry offerings, the champagne and tea/coffee finally arrived as we were just finishing our food and we left feeling that perhaps we had received an inferior afternoon tea as a result of using an online offer. But having enjoyed 'afternoon tea ' for similar prices elsewhere, and without an online voucher, we did feel some what 'let down'.Whether this was down to lack of staff and was a blip on the day I can not say but to be fair I will seriously consider a return visit, for the 'Champagne afternoon Tea' at full price to see if it is an improvement on a very lacklustre experience.

I was given a voucher for champagne afternoon tea for two here for a 21st birthday present.It was nice - but no more so than that. Unfortunately the table we were seated at hadn't been cleaned, which was a bit off putting to start with. The food was nice but I would of been very disappointed if I had payed the £30 odd it is advertised as on their website. Scones with jam & cream, finger sandwiches (which were nothing special), a couple of savoury bites and some bitesized cakes.As I say, it was nice but something I'd pay more like £5-£10 for - it wasn't very posh like I thought it would be. However the decor, service and champagne were all very nice. I would definitely do afternoon tea again, but think I would choose somewhere else next time.

Living in Blackburn, we pass The Salmesbury Hotel regularly. I remember when it was the Five Barred Gate, then the Trafalgar, and most recently The Swallow. Until recently, the overall hotel has looked very tired and unloved.The recent refurbishment has breathed new life into it. Now it looks modern and inviting, and so we were excited to try the food.My wife saw the Groupon deal for afternoon tea for two and we booked.We went in to the hotel via the door from the car park, rather than the main entrance. We told the bar staff that we had come for afternoon tea and were told to go round the bar to the restaurant area where we would be seated.When we did this, one of the waitresses was cleaning a table at the other side of the restaurant. She then came across to greet us and showed us to our table.We were then given our glasses of Prosecco. We were under the impression that we would have a choice of sparkling wine, but the one we were served was fine.Within a few minutes, the rest of our afternoon tea arrived on a modern three-tiered stand. On the top were a dish of clotted cream and jam, and two small plain quiches with what looked like vegetarian spring rolls on top of them. The quiches and rolls were slightly warm.On the middle shelf were the sandwiches - smoked salmon, egg mayonnaise, and ham and tomato. These were 'finger' sandwiches on either brown or white bread. There was one of each variety of sandwich for each of us.On the bottom shelf were a plain and fruit scone, macaroons, two pieces of lemon drizzle cake and two pieces of chocolate cake.My wife was impressed as she doesn't like fruit scones and thoroughly enjoyed the plain one.We were told that whenever we wanted our hot drink, to ask a waitress. We asked for two pots of tea partway through our meal. This was brought in individual teapots.The icing on the proverbial cake would have been to have loose leaf tea and a strainer, rather than tea made from tea bags (there were two tea bags in each pot, which we thought was one too many as the tea was rather strong).We thoroughly enjoyed our afternoon tea, and after looking at the dinner menu, we will certainly be returning to The Salmesbury Hotel for an evening meal in the near future.

I bought the afternoon tea from amazon local as a gift for Mother's Day (a few months late) we turned up and it looked lovely. Car park pretty full for a Wednesday dinner time we were taken to a table by a waitress who said she'd bring our 'champagne' (prosecco) - 10 minutes later she emerged and dumped them on the table. a waiter then came over with our afternoon tea. Mine and my mums face both dropped. It was appalling, we laughed. There was two tiny bowls of thick double cream and jam on the top tray along with some sort of cheese quiche/flan which was supposed to be warm! The finger sandwiches certainly lived up to their name. Vile is one way to put it, egg mayo and cress on one (not for me thanks) funny looking smoked salmon on another (no thanks) and then ham and tomato, okay. The tomatoes made the bread moist so obviously they had all been lined up in the kitchen waiting to be served. The ham merely covered the bread and tasted sour. The desserts were two macaroons and then two slithers of dry crumbling chocolate cake clearly from asda with another two slithers of extremely dry lemon cake with hardly any lemon and then two scones which were not homemade and fell apart. The image shown on amazon was far from what was presented and wasn't even on the same stand. It was so awful we walked out without finishing the food or even getting onto the tea part! I will not be going back.

We went for dinner on Monday evening with an Amazon Local voucher. I had previously had afternoon tea at the hotel and thoroughly enjoyed it. The set menu had plenty to offer choice-wise and everything arrived perfectly cooked and presented - the chips were just as chips should be, crispy on the outside and fluffy on the inside. It may seem a simple thing but so many restaurants crash and burn trying to get the simple things spot on - not this one. I commend the Lancashire Bread & Butter Pudding to the house - scrummy. Service was with a sunny smile, efficient and not intrusive. Like Arnie, "we will be back"!

Attended with my wife after getting a Kgb deals voucher for afternoon tea for two .Never been here before , the hotel has been completed to a very high standard and the restaurant and general decor around the hotel is excellent . We really enjoyed the sandwiches and cakes although by far not the best we have had , and the portions were a tad small but good enough for us ! , would definitely visit again though...

when we arrived at the hotel we were made welcome by the waitress the 'afternoon tea' wasnt up to my standard and didnt look anything like the picture. They had tried to cut the crusts off my sandwiches and they left crusts on. The cream in the chocolate eclairs was watery and the other cakes were taste less would not reccomend!!!!!

We booked the 'Afternoon Tea' on a special offer from www.livingsocial.com at the Merchants Bar and Grille, Samlesbury Hotel and what a delightful surprise. The layout and décor is contemporary 4 star, as was the 'tea' and service. Our waitress, Kylie booked us in and escorted us into the dining room where she immediately brought our glass of champagne.She then served a small selection of warm savouries, finger sandwiches, homemade scones and baked treats with English preserves and clotted cream along with tea or coffee. The service was first class and we really enjoyed the experience and will definitely visit again. You must remember an afternoon tea is just that and not a 'filling meal' but was enough for me on the day.

The hotel was newly refurbished, we weren't staying just going for afternoon with Champagne.We arrived and were shown to a table in a large interior room where others were having afternoon tea, there was no natural light, the decor was neat but with no flair, personality or charm. We were shown to a table and told we would be brought our Champagne, after a while a waiter came to pour our wine from a bottle - well swaddled with a napkin - it didn't taste in the least sophisticated and the swaddling made me suspicious... Afterward I took a good look behind the bar and noticed several empty Prosecco bottles to match the swaddled bottle's dimensions, it must have been a cheapy too as I usually like Prosecco as much as Champagne, or maybe it was the onset of the bitter taste of disappointment?The wine was by no means the worst aspect, I think that accolade goes to the (my bet is on frozen) vegetable sausage sliced diagonally in half and not even hidden but placed proud as punch on the top tier of the afternoon tea tray... which by the way we had a long anticipation building wait for.So tea for two was made up of; the aforementioned sausage, two over baked small cheese flans (both slightly warm), three small finger sandwiches each, egg mayonnaise and cress / cream cheese, pickle and very tough dutch holy cheese / wafer-thin reconstituted ham and tomato, all made well in advance of serving the tomatoes making the, tasteless bread soggy.The bottom tier carried the cakes, a slice of dry chocolate loaf, cut in two, a slice of dry citrus sponge cut in two, two mini eclairs (like the frozen ones you can buy from frozen food shops) and two passable scones (there was also jam and clotted cream - which was more like thick double cream).It took until we had finished the food (we were hungry due to having had no lunch) before we managed to get the attention of one of the staff to get a drink. The drinks arrived, no tea pot or cafetiere but poured from a keep warm jug.Ohhh it was shameful, it was poor, it was cheap, it was embarrassing.Don't bother.

We booked here using a voucher for £15. The greeting was very friendly and we were shown to our table. There was only 2 other diners having afternoon tea also in the restaurant at 1pm on a Friday. As has been said the hotel has been very nicely refurbished but i was facing the mural wall and felt the restaurant need more natural light.We were served our champagne first (though i suspect it was Prosecco) and then the food followed. A warm spicy potato cake and a goats cheese croquette. The finger sandwiches were very fresh, egg and cress, ham and tomato and smoked salmon and cream cheese - not very inventive and very sparse fillings i thought. A slice of chocolate cake, a bit on the dry side, and I gave my husband my slice of Madeira cake. The scones were one plain and one fruit with clotted cream and jam.So, not the best afternoon tea I have had, and I have had many. Possibly if you paid full price you may get a better selection and more filling in the sandwiches. I certainly wouldn't pay £30 for what we were given on this occasion.

Admittedly we obtained a discounted voucher for Champagne Afternoon Tea and that I had to give half of my drink to my better half because I was driving and she wasn't. So having set the beginning and being very new to the concept of Afternoon Tea, I should tell you of my my experiences. Having had Afternoon Tea in Manchester, Barton near Preston and now Samlesbury, this was the best one. The Ritz or Stratford-upon-Avon it wasn't, but then again you have to have realistic standards.Between the two of us we had six small sandwiches with Ham, then Salmon then Egg. A selection of delicious little savouries, a warm Scone (not Scon but Skone) each with jam and fresh cream, and a selection of cake. The cake constitution was just the right texture, not too moist and not too dry.My only criticism is that the coffee was weak and that the tea was a tea bag. Yes, that's really a small point. Would I go again? Yes.