The Ambleside Inn in South Lakeland

What an absolute amazing place, highly recommend

Been here 3 times over the last couple of years and each time the food was amazing and staff absolutely lovely!

Amazing food here at a very reasonable price! Very cosy inside too. Our waitress Gabby was so friendly!

Friendly staff and AMAZING food (esp the vegan stuff)!. Our meal was so delicious that we came back the following day so we could try more of the menu. Did not disappoint :)

Hidden gem in Ambleside. Lots of tables for 2 in bar area, outdide seating and larger group tables available in 2 other rooms. Chilled vibe and excellent tapas food.

Very nice meal, good drink selection, quesadilla and enchiladas were probably the pick

My partner and I visited this restaurant once before. Food is without a doubt very delicious and some of the best we’ve ever had. My partner and I were so excited to come again and had a reservation but could not fulfil this. I tried ringing in advance to change the booking and we did this eight times and had to leave a voicemail. I only received one voicemail back to say if we would make it which we could not. We arrived after our reservation and they had no spaces as they were busy. I am disappointed that they could not answer our call or find the time to call us back as this is something we were really looking forward to. Such a shame.

Great food and friendly, helpful staff make this place one of the best restaurants in Ambleside. A full vegan menu is available.

Enjoyed eating here, we ordered 6 dishes and 5 of them were perfect, the chilli beef enchiladas in particular, only giving 4 stars as the meatballs that came out were slightly cold. Overall though we couldn’t fault the friendly staff and definitely would return.

Visited for dinner as they have a fabulous vegan menu with plenty choice. We ordered padron peppers, onion rings with dips, mushroom tacos, patatas bravas, potato wedges, avocado salad. Absolutely gorgeous fresh food could not fault it...service was excellent from the front of house team. We're visiting Keswick in November so will visit Bar Es there too.

What a great place, lots of character and atmosphere. Food was brilliant!! The soft tacos were lovely, the squid rings and prawns were particular favourites of ours. We'll be returning on our next visit to the Lakes. 😁

Love this place. tapas was delicious 😋

Really great little find. Service was amazing throughout - really dog friendly and helpful finding a table where he wasn’t by any other dogs. Food was delicious and served in good time. Good pricing and a great little evening out.

We came here on our first nights stay in Ambleside, and it turned out to be our favourite restaurant of the week! The food was excellent, and the cocktails are also very good, particularly the margaritas. They were very helpful with accommodating my gluten intolerance with a lot of gluten free options to chose from, and also dog friendly! Highly recommend.

Had dinner here and I ordered the Cumberland sausage. I had never had it and it was very good and far better than I expected. The waiter Josh was very nice and friendly, complete opposite of the bartender who was rude, snippy and completely lacking a hospitality gene! He should be in the kitchen instead.

The staff were very friendly, the food was so tasty. We love this place.

You won't walk out, you'll roll out of Bar eS! Great food, great cocktails. The tequila options were appreciated and we had an overall lovely time due to the staff and the service. Would happily come back! Came back the next year the first night of our stay in Ambleside. Everyone silent as they're enjoying the tapas. Had the white peach sangria, that was SO refreshing and delicious. Will be back again and again. Thank you!

Friendly staff, gave great advise re meal selection..free dips and tortilla chips while we waited for our food to come. Great vibe here will be back.!

One of the nicest places we found in Ambleside, food was fantastic as was the table service.

Absolutely fabulous meal this evening, filled with amazing flavours. The chorizo was especially delicious! Thank you to David for looking after us, he’s a real gem of a guy

Lovely meal here and thoroughly recommend it. The refried bean enchiladas were gorgeous and everyone enjoyed their meal. Great selection of vegetarian and vegan dishes. It worked out quite expensive but I think we ordered too much food, probably 2 dishes per person is enough.

Busy little place decent food, good atmosphere. We were lucky to get a table (got the last one in the bar and several parties after us got turned away), so recommend calling and booking.

Great food, with great staff, there is also an offering of live music Saturday evenings

Service was great and all of the staff were lovely but sadly the food was not. It is not authentic Mexican (some dishes are more spanish themed). The guacamole tasted like the prepackaged stuff you get from Tesco along with the tortilla chips, which definitely were not fresh made in-house. I really wanted to love this place but the food is nothing like what you get in Mexico or the Mexican food in the US.

A very disappointing visit after reading recent positive reviews and after having a great experience there myself a couple of years ago. The tapas was mediocre; certainly not to the standards of other Mexican restaurants I've visited. Our quesadillas had pretty much no filling inside (in fairness, the manager did take the item off our bill) and after waiting a long time for our last item, it turned out the server had forgotten to add item to our order. To top things off, I got a phone call half way through my meal from the restaurant as they thought I hadn't turned up for my reservation! Hopefully my experience is a one-off, as other reviews here suggest it might be.

Very good mexican restaurant good food & drinks.

Lovely spot lovely staff but the food was kinda tragic. It’s the kind of Mexican food you would make yourself at uni but overpriced. Basic food should be done better than this.

Excellent, tasty and fulfilling.

Great food and welcoming, attentive staff, plus an extensive vegan menu which is very welcome.

Great selection of food and drinks. Would definitely return.

What a find! Lovely little Tapas bar tucked away down a side street. Cosy, great decor and some of the best Tapas I have ever had. Clearly freshly prepared, absolutely delicious, topped off with Lemon Posset which was first class. Service and servers, faultless. In Ambleside then don't miss out, highly recommended!

Had a really great night! Great experience, standout food was the goat cheese nachos. The bar service by Seb was fantastic. Cocktails were really great and we loved sitting at the bar. Would recommend the amaretto sour - big thank you to Seb and the team

such a fun restaurant! the people were so nice and the food was lovely! doesn’t take long at all, and the staff are super helpful and polite!

Had a lovely meal here last night. Rustic mexican atmosphere with great food and service, definitely will be coming back here.

Anaversary meal and cocktails with my wife

I don't like tapas, but this was ace! Thank you guys 🙏

Really delicious and fresh served food.

Wow. What a treat this place is. Wonderful service and great food that's a blend of spanish tapas and mexican street food. Simply tick the boxes on the food menu and they come as and when they're ready. There's a great cocktail and beer selection but we opted for a couple if jugs of Sangria. The layout of the restaurant is also wonderfully quirky with outdor tables, an indoor bar area, leading to the top floor dinning room, with extra tables downstairs... it's like the tardis. Will definitely go again. No photos I'm afraid, we were too busy enjoying the meal.

Great tapas. Loved the goats cheese nachos and the chicken tacos. Great menu - it all looked delicious

Lovely atmosphere , regardless how busy was they found table for me without booking . 🙂 Food delicious and fresh, cocktails looked and tasted amazing 👏 Highly recommend 👌

Super celebrating Georgia's Birthday

Food which will punch hard at your taste spuds. The ticket after a day in the fella.

Well.....what an absolute taste sensation! The best food I've had in years, no exaggeration. The chorizo......oh my God! Waiting staff were friendly, genuine and unpretentious which contributed towards a memorable and very enjoyable evening. My only regret is not leaving a bigger tip! I would gladly have paid more! The first thing I'll do when next in Ambleside will be to reserve another table in Bar eS! Very dog friendly, which was a huge bonus for us too.

We have had an amazimg evening. Food drinks & service excellent. Staff were lovely. Dog was so welcome. We can highly recommend this resturantx

Delicious meal last night, lovely fresh food and amazing cocktails! Definitely recommend the goats cheese nachos and the enchiladas

Absolutely faultless! Food, service & atmosphere was perfect. Great that there’s a full vegan menu which is very rare. Vice Boss & Big Joe were very welcoming & friendly. To be honest, I think the prices are super reasonable for what you get. I would’ve been happy to have paid more. Can’t recommend enough :)

Lovely people and gorgeous food, we will come back next time we are here

Excellent. Fresh as a daisy. Brilliantly cooked. Best meal I've had for ages.

Mushroom tacos were an unexpected delight!

Amazing tapas!! The staff was very helpful. Highly recommend. I forgot to take pictures of our food, 😞

Brilliant restaurant. I’d suggest 6 tapas for 2 6ft+ adults + dessert. Speaking of which, it’s one of the best desserts I’ve had. A+++

Incredible food and vibes! Front of house for the night was super lovely too

Whst a lovely meal we had for my birthday very tasty food and service was a great to will definitely call again

Friendly staff, with a decent selection of items for lunch. However the value was poor. The hot meat sandwich with gravy and home cooked chips was £13.50. It was one slab of beef from Sundays carvery which was overcooked there weren’t that many chips either the gravy was delicious. It was not very good value at all for £13.50 - should’ve been more like £9.95 max - would not return for food again but would drinks. Partner had an okay fish sandwhich and chips

The food is great, the staff is amazing, but we waited for more than an hour for food to be served🫤 Very slow… Would have been lower but they offered us drinks for free.

Fantastic food, fantastic service, fantastic atmosphere! 10/10

The potato bravas was 7£ for a small bowl of chips with garlic dip on it, instead of tasty potato cubes with a nice sauce. The goat cheese salad tasted only of vinegar. The nachos tasted great, and the mushroom tacos were bland but ok. So i recommend to only order the Mexican food, the rest isn't that great. Service was good.

That was the most interesting Mexican food that I have ever had.

Tucked away and quite hard to find but well worth it. All food was lovely and very friendly staff.

Fantastic mexican tapas! The food was fantastic quality & very tasty. The staff were friendly & very helpful with advice on how spicy certain food items were going to be. They have a fantastic choice of beers, ales & drinks as well. I only wish I lived nearby so I could return all of the time, as it stands I'll have to make do with returning when we are next in the area. Thank you all for a fab meal!

Food was very good with a good selection of tapas. Would recommend to book a table as the restaurant area can get busy at times. We were a bit let down by the service as the waiter took a good while to take our order, however he was very polite and nice after this. We were sitting in the bar area and when we were there they had an issue with the music, it kept going on and off and the waiter at the bar seemed to skip songs every so often which really affected our experience. However, you come to a place like this to eat and the tapas are great! They would benefit by improving their guacamole though

Beautiful place, kind and nice staff and chilled atmosphere for a friends hangout or even a date. The food is amazing and freshly made.

Had a lovely quick dinner here. Each dish came out one by one. They were all nice. Tacos could have done with more filling/sauces - was a little dry.

Really lovely place. Great decor, our dog was allowed, good selection of food for coeliacs. There is a food choice of wine and drinks. Ate there this evening and the staff are excellent, helpful and friendly without being intrusive. Definitely recommended.

First time visit...Amazing place....Best tapas I have had outside of Spain (I haven't been to Mexico)....service was brilliant and the beer choice offered up a sour which was a perfect accompaniment. Would definitely recommend. So give it a go.

I went with my mum and kids a few days ago and really enjoyed. The food was really nice, we really enjoyed the nachos and the chimicurri chicken. We also had mocktails and they were 👌. Service also top notch, the lad behind the bar and lad serving us later on had both exceptional customer service skills. And the place itself is also cool. I’m going to go back with my partner who’s vegan as they have a vegan menu too.

We had a great evening at Bar eS! The food was nice (we shared 6 dishes between the 2 of us) They were very attentive to my partner's allergies and changed some dishes to ensure she was fine. Goat cheese nachos was a great discovery. As a non drinker I was very pleased to have a selection of non-alcoholic beers (most bars only have one!) that was very interesting. Would go again! Highly recommend

Really enjoyable evening with excellent food and service. We probably ordered one dish too many but everything was fabulous. Our waitress was fabulous and managed things effectively throughout the evening. Dishes arrived as and when they were ready and it was all tasty.

Great tapas, food was perfect everyone enjoyed it!!

£11.50 for pint and half nah not for me and I live in lakes absolute rip off and I even asked if price was right and she said yes 😬 just head to any other pub reasonable prices

5 star for this place... Called in last night ( Pre booked) and the food, service and atmosphere was excellent. Have been before and it's fab. Well worth a visit.

We always spend our last day in Ambleside. We liked to have lunch in the Ambleside Inn as it’s a lovely setting and very dog friendly. The Staff are lovely but they need to have more on the bar as there were queues, several of the menu items were unavailable ( not good for the start of Easter bank holiday) ended up with a roast of the day in a bun and chips, poor to say the least and for the price very disappointed. Don’t think I’ll be back, such a shame as it’s a lovely place x

A wonderful selection of Spanish tapas with mexican dishes. A nice range of tastes, even some not spicy !! Friendly staff. Relaxed atmosphere

Really nice vibe to the place, felt the menu was limited, food good quality, great range of ales and craft beers

Although the atmosphere is great, unfortunately the food was a hit or miss. The meal started with some amazing food and after the forth dish just went down hill. Some food was absolutely amazing and some was underwhelming. The reason for 3 star review is due to the food quality but also the service. The person who was serving us was very attentive and nice to start with but as the night went on, we struggled to get anyone’s attention. We had to wait 10-15 mins to ask for the bill. I would suggest having the Battered Salt & Pepper Squid, Goat’s Cheese and Roasted Green Peppers Quesadillas, Re-fried Beans Nachos, Cheese Garlic Bread Stay away from Pulled Chilled Beef Tostadas, Spare Ribs, Churros

Fantastic food, speedy service and the waiter Hugo was fanastic. Had a slight problem with one of dishes, he fixed the problem instantly. Highly recommend eating here!

Great food, excellent staff and a fantastic Long Island Ice Tea!!

We ordered slightly more than was recommended and it wasn't too much food- it came out in waves and not all at once so that was quite nice. We did have to ask for a few things as they were forgotten, but all in all it was a really nice night. Would definitely recommend and will be back

Had a few pints and was really jealous of everyone eating because it looked really nice! The staff were incredibly friendly and really helpful! Would 100% recommend

We visited here for both drinks then food and was not disappointed, great Christmas atmosphere, the food was really nice, liver cooked to perfection in-fact I didn’t want it to end.

Lovely range of tapas with excellent service

One of the best places for beers in Ambleside They have an outstanding range of canned beers and a food place serving some delicious tapas 🤤 I'll be back for sure 😁 STAY HOPPY ✌️ As always for more beery adventures from around the UK and beyond feel free to follow my Instagram page and YouTube channel @beerguideworldwide #beerguideworldwide

Visited with family for my birthday, Barbara eS is one of our favourite restaurants in Ambleside and it did not disappoint. There was a fantastic selection of dishes, each one cooked to order and utterly delicious. Staff were fantastic, helpful and attentive. We had a wonderful time and will definitely be back!

Poor cold haddock dish. In a plate of ??? Yuk.£17 Chips old and reheated. Hospitality is struggling but it would be better to try cater for the returning market. This food is for tourist travelling trade where you don’t care about what is served. Sorry but poor quality, staff were nice.

It was OK.... but just ok - food average and not a lot of flavour - server probably just in experienced - started with filling the carafe of £20 sangria too full so when he poured it 1/2 a class full went all over the table and je didn't really know what to do - bit pricey for average food

Excellent service and food from all the staff. Lisa didnt serve us but has the qualities that hospitality needs. Very friendly and stood out as a genuine person. If Lisa reads this look at Lenclume for your next post. 👌🏻

Not bad food but accommodation is appalling. Outrageously expensive, drab, cramped and generally unpleasant.

First class in all areas. As a group of 8 hungry fellas who’s been walking all day, we were ready to eat. We’d booked a table at 9 and originally advised we might not be able to the sit to together. Yet, the manager (i think) went above and beyond to get us together. The food was incredible, and we ordered far too much, but we were able to take the remainder away with us. My favourite was the ribs and also the chorizo. The staff were top class too, embracing us as a larger group and helped us to have the best night we could. It’s a place we all hope to go to again. It’s a definite place to put on the list of places to eat. Thanks so much. I’ve told everyone how good you were.

Nice ambience. Good food. Good place to relax.

Table didn't leave much space. Food was mostly really good but service felt a bit rushed. Cocktails were great. Music didn't necessarily fit the vibe. Very pleasant night overall.

Food is nothing special, overpriced for what it is. The pheasant was dry with a couple of pieces of shot in it. Most annoying though was ordering a Bailey's after dinner, which was either watered down or a cheaper brand. Not at all impressed, wouldn't return.

Better tapas than Spain, good beer choice and great service. Possibly best place to eat in Ambleside IMO.

Just awful Sunday lunch. 1 slice of roast beef that was tough. 2 soggy roast potatoes, uncooked veg and instant gravy. Yorkshire pudding had been keot warm for too long and was dry. Don't waste your money - go somewhere else!

Absolutely fantastic - food, service, cocktails and atmosphere! Our waiter did a great job despite it only being his second shift

The four of us shared ten different dishes (and a couple of bottles of wine). Wide variety of tapas dishes to choose from so something for everyone. Service was very good and the staff were very friendly, polite, professional and helpful Would recommend booking in advance (as this is a popular place) to avoid disappointment

£18 for this!! Worst Sunday dinner I've had. Beef was chewy, seasonal veg must have been a bad season as there was hardly any. Have eaten here before and food was lovely but this was a big disappointment after a long hike.

Gorgeous food, lovely atmosphere, friendly staff.

Always have a fab time at Bar Es! Lovely staff who always do their best for you. Plus they always have Fell Brewery's Session IPA and a good range of guest beers 😋 Only down side is that the food can be a bit inconsistent in quality depending on the night you go. Always tastes nice however ☺️

What a cracking little gem hidden in Ambleside. Great staff, great food , great drinks. Thoroughly recommend

Staff friendly and attentive. Good drinks selection on offer however food is average for tapas but by no means bad - it might be because we are well versed in tapas and 50% of the party was Spanish!