The Blackstone in Ballymena

Had 40th birthday party upstairs on Saturday night, everyone loved it, price of alcohol, atmosphere, cleanliness and staff were all amazing! Highly recommend

Only parked out side it. Gave it 5 stars because I worked on the interior when it was being rebuilt.😉

Just love the place,very comfortable and relaxing bar.

Crack n banter was great on Saturday evening/night. You always bump into a few familar faces. Was great to have live music n even get a wee boggie 💃💃 Great wee bar will be back for a "proper" night out soon ☺️

Great company and great Guinness.

Comida carisima y mal preparada, la mitad de la carta solo bajo reserva, personal lento e indiferente, la dueña sin mascarilla, vino congelado y mucho mas caro que en otros sitios de la zona y la copa no llegaba a la cantidad que hay que servir, local sobrevaloradisimo, mejor comer de bocata que tirar el dinero aqui.

From the outside at first glance you would just walk on past this place when looking for restaurants but we have eaten in the Blackstone a good number of times over the last three years and despite being seated downstairs in the pub on the last few occasions the food has still been to an excellent standard and overall good value for money. Other local hotel restaurants may have a busier atmosphere and new decor (though charge a little more for their dishes) than the blackstone’s quiet pub but at the end of the day the quality of food and interesting menu brings us back every time

Delicious food and drink with friendly staff!

Beautiful small bar. Would be definitely back, but some of the staff needs an additional training as I was waiting for my starter about 30 minutes because the guy who took my order, forgot to pass it to the chef. Thanks to the lady with blonde hair who sorted it out.

visited midweek for an evening meal with friends as recommended by someone who lives locally and dines there. Outside area nothing impressive but the food was very good and the staff were friendly and helpful. Had lamb and it was cooked to perfection with a little pink and it was so tender. Big portion too, Others had steak, Duck and fish and all agreed that the food was really tasty.

Good food, portions healthy and great service.

Good food. Great service. Pleasant atmosphere.

Ci siamo trovsti benissimo per uns cena tra colleghi. Il personale è gentile e disponibile. La bistecca buonissima. Consigliato

The dining "area" is in the corner of a busy public bar which it has to be said is fairly run down/grotty. We almost turned on our heel when we saw the 3/5 scores on the doors which isn't usually a good sign. Bizarrely the menu is quite ambitious with some very odd/pretentious combinations. Don't go if you like vegetables as out of two meat based main courses there wasn't a green/coloured vegetable in sight. A strange fascination with pureeing everything was also apparent. The food when it arrived was cold/congealed. A real disappointment. We will not be back.

I'll be honest, when we pulled up outside, I did not have very high hopes, as the area is not much to look at. Inside, I thought it seemed more of a pub environment and was not expecting such a high standard of cuisine. Amazing choice. A couple of us had steaks - cooked to perfection. Beautiful wines and desserts. Great choice of food. Staff friendly and attentive. It was the best place we visited on our holiday in Ireland. It was such good value too. I actually would have been prepared to pay more for such outstanding quality. Keep it up, it's an excellent place.

Very good place. Nice service and friendly staff. Really recommended.

What’s a fantastic time in Ballymena, amazing shopping topped up with an excellent Lunch at Black Stone Pub and Grill

Had a lovely meal here last week. I had the chicken which was succulent and the presentation accompaniments were superb. We went in the evening and were seated upstairs. Young waiting staff were excellent.

Went here with my husband for dinner on a Saturday evening. We had the chicken wings to start which were delicious. My husband had the duck for main and I the slow cooked beef. The food was delicious, excellent combination of flavours. Staff were very attentive and helpful. Very well priced for such delicious food and drinks were also very well priced. The restaurant is clean and atmosphere is friendly and warm. We will definitely be back, thank you.

Food and service were terrific. Have been before and will certainly return again. Good work. Keep it up. Thanks.

Accueil plus que moyen.. On a fait l effort de parler anglais, mais de tout le repas personne 'e s est occupé de nous. Nous avions demandé la carte des desserts, qui n est jamais venue. Puis directement un Irish Coffee qui est arrivé sans couvert ni paille... Et évidemment personne (sur 5 serveurs) qui se preocupait de nous. Ils nous ont superbement ignorés du début à la fin..

Établissement catastrophique. Comme nous ne parlions pas tres bien l'anglais, tous les serveurs ont fui notre regard pour ne pas s'occuper de nous... Et ça pendant 30 minutes... Hallucinant... Nous étions totalement invisibles. Une genance totale et sans fin.

The food in this place is done of the newest in the local area. It's a hidden gem of a restaurant which I would highly recommend to anyone.

The Blackstone is our favorite restaurant in Ballymena so we organized our daughter's 30th birthday party there with a group of 25 family and friends. The staff were very good at accommodating our requests and were kind enough to let us adapt the menu , decorate the room ,and sort the cake etc. The food was beautiful and I heard lots of great feedback. The chinese beef in black bean starter was amazing, as was the seabass as ever. Steaks were a bit overdone with too many massive onion rings was one opinion though . The place was really busy but staff were more than pleasant and attentive . It is a pity they don't have a fully stocked bar or till upstairs ?? No rose wine even ? Felt for the staff running up and down all night . We had a thoroughly enjoyable night and will certainly be back. Lunch is on the cards soon. Really think if they made the downstairs more comfortable to sit in people would have an even better lunchtime experience as the food is first class and should have surroundings to match . Thanks for a great night!

I ate here with two friends and we all had delicious meals the table service was very good and I would highly recommend a visit here for a tasty meal.

We visited again last weekend for dinner. Unfortunately the service was very slow and we waited for ages for our meal. The food was very good when it did arrive although the portion of slow cooked beef wasn't that big considering the price. We will go back though it wouldn't be our first choice in Ballymena.

Very good meal here , Malaysian butternut squash curry was absolutely beautiful.

One of my favs lovely atmosphere very friendly the food is amazing .. last week i had the chicken with chive sauce yum today I had the fillet of hake just amazing .. well done guys

Food is normally good but tonight was disappointing

Good food at a reasonable price with a nice relaxing atmosphere.

The food here is the best in Ballymena, hands down. For £20 you get a 3 course meal that wouldn't be out of place in a Michelin starred restaurant! Absolutely delicious. However, there's not much variety on the menu, and we have sampled every meal several times, visiting once or twice a month - it gets a bit repetitive, and it would be lovely to sample some different recipes from this very talented chef. As a venue, the bar is nice enough but pretty loud if there's a party upstairs. It's not the most atmospheric or luxurious place to eat, although lovely to get a table in the beer garden in summer. Still, we go back for the food. :)

I’ve been in twice this week, once with my kids and once for my partners 40th birthday meal.

I am a regular here. At least once a month. I complained about the fish and after arguing with the waitress ( she came back to the table to tell me the chef said everything was made fresh twice). The hake and the sauce tasted like ammonia. The chemical smell actually burnt my nose and turned my stomach. Put me off the rest of the meal. I wouldnt recommend the fish in this place.

Had a lovely meal here nice and relaxing. The staff were nice and friendly and attentive. Only complaint maybe upgrade the toilets but will be back again and would recommend it.

In Ballymena for the Christmas holidays, I once more went to The Blackstone with two family members. There was a pre-Christmas party in the upper restaurant so we had our meal in the downstairs bar: not as comfortable as the one upstairts but not bad as pubs go. Because The Blackstone was busy the service suffered but staff were friendly and kept smiling. We had two courses from the Christmas menu. Two of us had the pan fried fillet of hake and the other the roast beef. Being generous, the fish course looked like a brave attempt at nouvelle cuisine: lighter, more delicate dishes with an increased emphasis on presentation. The piece of hake was not much bigger than a good sized fish finger,slightly over-cooked, on a bed of asparagus and swimming in sauce, with a side potato dish. The roast beef was more traditional with all the trimmings. We had three separate things from the pudding menu, all of which were unremarkable. Not up to your usual high standards Blackstone but I will be back, hopefully, later in the year.

Delicious food, beautiful presentation and reasonable price. Highly recommended.

Good bar to be in all the time and the food is good

Can never fault the Blackstone! Very pleasant and attentive staff. Only ever have a lunchtime starter which is ample for me, but it's a difficult decision as I want to try them all SO my sister and I have 2 different starters and split them. The best of 2 worlds! !

Called in on Friday night for dinner, we where seated downstairs which i liked, the staff were excellent very friendly, but the food was top notch, beautiful goats cheese and beetroot starter ( and im a big meat eater) the wife had the crispy beef that will be my choice next time, i went for the hake topped with crab it was perfect and the wife had the chicken dish, both plates cleared, for desert we had a cheese board, washed down with pints of heverley beer and pinot grigio, looking forward to the return visit.

We recently had a meal in the restaurant. It has been a while since we visited here but we weren't disappointed. We had duck and the slow cooked beef which was excellent and very tender. Definitely will be back very soon again.

The BLackstone never fails to impress ! Different menu from others ! Brilliant value ! Monday to Thursday 3 courses for £20 pounds per person ! Lovely attentive staff and nice ambience 😊

Was slightly disappointed that the dining was downstairs in the bar, but it was grand....thankfully great staff and great service. Food was grand for a lunch, had to wait whilst the tart was made, but that is okay, as it was freshly cooked. Carafe of nice red and couple of coffee to finish one Irish, which was good.....will be back that is for sure thank you Blackstone...........

Service was good food was delicious compliments to the chef

Fab meal, love the Blackstone, best food in Ballymena!

Had lunch here and it was great

Excellent food excellent service

Great menu, reasonable price, lovely ambience, and impeccable service! I had the panfried fillet of Hake and banana peanut butter cheesecake. They were absolutely delish. I would highly recommend this place to travellers and locals!

I have only eaten here once for lunch. My goodness it was delicious! The seafood is to die for as is everything else. I would definitely go back!

Fantastic food and service at a very affordable price. Keep up the great work!

Booked the restaurant, but found we were in the pub downstairs, which we should have been told at the time of booking. Noisy with very loud 'musak' and small children running around. Menu looked interesting and potentially good value, but what we saw coming out of the kitchen looked less than appealing. We 'bailed out'. Won't be back any time soon.

Visited here last month for a family dinner and really enjoyed it. We went for the 3 courses for £20 and it was great value. Would definitely recommend and will definitely be visiting again

I came here with a friend for lunch (the time we tried before it was shut) and we were very impressed by the quality involved at the price. The menu is quite sophisticated and there are great options from the simple to the complex. The staff were friendly and helpful. I would go back here without hesitation.

Great food at a great price. Good surroundings and pleasant staff

Fantastic lunch, wonderful menu, food delicious, especially the duck burger. A joy to discover, should be top of the list and very celebrated.

Great atmosphere and music. Menu is fantastic. The food will tantalize your tastebuds even more. Service is quick. Staff are great and know the menu so well and are very pleasant. Establishment is very clean. Do eat here. This is an education.

I've eaten here 4 or five times now and it is my favourite place locally to go to. The food is always perfect and it's never an issue when you have you children, they're happy to help out.

Stopped here for lunch and was really surprised by the fantastic food. The prices were really good for food that is expect on a higher end restaurant. Worth a visit and try the hake.

Had fabulous 3 course meal and bottle of wine yesterday. Very well priced and the food was fantastic. Beautiful prawns, slow cooke beef and to round it all off the most amazing g gluten-free apple and plum crumble with ginger ice ream. Highly recommend 👏👌

Fabulous food every time .. prefer to eat upstairs thou ... very consistent and great variety always

We are visiting from Liverpool and our host recommended this place for good food ... he wasn’t wrong!! The Blackstone looks rather boring from the outside but the food was amazing! We are used to excellent restaurants at home and The Blackstone would fit right in. The staff are really attentive too. Shame we aren’t here longer otherwise we’d be back!

Hadn't been here for years, so gave it a try. My food was ok. My husband opted for Christmas dinner. He had to send everything back to be reheated.

Everytime I come back to Ballymena I usually visit The Blackstone at least once. It is consistently good and the pub grub is excellent. There were four of us and for a main course we had fish (2), scampi and a chicken salad.

Top class food at reasonable prices. Service is excellent. Would recommend to anyone.

Not home yet and no I'm at the hospital had a fantastic night the food was excellent

This is my husband and my favourite restaurant in Ballymena. Food is always top class and the Specials change on a regular basis. The menu is comparable to a Michelin star restaurant in my opinion- not just the normal restaurant fare. The staff are always very pleasant and very accommodating with our toddler. The downstairs decor could do with a bit of updating but upstairs is lovely.

Really friendly staff and the food is first class.

Excellent menu with very good service! Food was delicious and setting was ideal. Great location for lunch or dinner when shopping in Ballymena

Menu gotten few fancy items on it but food was lovely staff friendly and place spotless

Great food, choice and flavours.

This restaurant was a great place. We had great service, food and atmosphere. Would definitely eat there again.

Nice atmosphere but only a limited menu not things I would eat alot of fish unless your into that kind of food. Now people do say it's lovely but I left as wouldn't ate anything on the limited menu

The food we had here was some of the most delicious food I’ve had in a while, it blew my expectations and the price was in my opinion very reasonable £25 per head starter and main (drinks not included). We had a variety of dishes between 3 of us both starter and main that were all faultless. I highly recommend. Thai beef salad to start was incredible.

Fantastic eating, good country portions, a hare salty for my tastes, but here boy, you won’t starve that’s for sure =)

It's been a few years since I had dinner here but at the time it was fantastic and that was for a party of 20. My partner had never been here so it was a first for him. Service was polite and friendly but it was incredibly slow. We both had starters, soup and the monkfish tempura, they were very good. It took ages for anyone to take our order initially and it got worse as the night went on. We eventually got our order for mains taken, I had the Barbary duck and my partner opted for sirloin steak. The duck was overdone, quite dry in parts although would have to say the dauphinoise potatoes were incredible. We then waited so long on somebody taking the dessert order, we decided to call it quits and paid the bill and left. The couple across from us arrived later, had their main meal and dessert and had left before we finished our mains, we just wondered had we been plonked in the corner and forgotten about. Very disappointed Blackstone, considering I had been raving about how good you were

Had two fantastic evening meals here. Great service, delicious food, not your average menu for the price charged. Recommend without hesitation.

Great food staff excellent beautiful decor

Really tasty meal once again. Dauphanoise potatoes are stunning!! Lol duck great, red snapper really snappy and Indian spiced rice pudding on a par with the haggis scotch eggs!! Lol full tummies lol

If you want something a bit different from other restaurants in Ballymena then this is the place to go. Lots of different dishes on the menu including duck bon bons, crispy marinated beef with Asian salad, duck burger and steak to name but a few. It was really difficult to choose a dish.

Food absolutely first class. Every time. Cooked to perfection

Nice friendly bar . Food not so good

I’ve eaten in the Blackstone a number of times with my wife and kids and it is consistently delicious. I had the black pudding and pork beignets recently and they were outstanding and my wife’s burger was top notch. They have colouring and crayons to keep my two kids happy and the service is always great. This place is a top class gastro pub, with fresh ingredients and only marginally more expensive than taking the family to a McDonalds, say. Best place to eat in Ballymena, hands down.

Was my first visit here. The bar was busy (Christmas time) so we dined downstairs. Very good menu. Nice range. Lot of thought put into it. The service was good. When the food came out I was a little surprised how good the presentation was....

I was recently at the Blackstone Bar and Restaurant for Christmas lunch. I'd contacted the restaurant beforehand to check if they could adapt any of the dishes as I'm vegan. They very helpfully laid on a bespoke three-course vegan Christmas dinner for me with absolutely...

My friend and I have had the most delicious 3 course Christmas Lunch today, lovely little cosy pub with gorgeous...

As a chef I have it hard to eat out at times, but every time I have eaten here the...

I visited the Restaurant on a Saturday evening as part of a group of 8 for a birthday celebration meal. We hadn't been for about 2 years or more. The interior has been revamped from our previous visit. There are fewer seats and it seemed a bit less busy than before. The menu was a bit smaller also, though all felt it adequate, except a member of our party who is coeliac. She felt there was a fair bit less choice for her dietary needs particularly in starters. When our food came it was beautiful and well cooked. I had crispy chilli beef which was served with a lime wedge. The only drawback here was if you applied the ample lime juice as I did, the crispy texture was lost and it became soggy chilli beef... Lesson learned! My main of grilled whole fillet of plaice was a very tasty bit of fish in a nice butter sauce. Other mains all looked good - nicely cooked and presented. We had some very refreshing Sauvignon blanc with this and some guys had beers. Most finished after 2 courses, but a few had dessert and some coffees including our coeliac who had said she couldn't find a starter that appealed. She declared her dessert a successful choice and we all went home happy. The bill including tip came to £35 odds each. The manager here has occupied the role for a long time and it was nice to see her again as she is very competent. Some of the young waiting staff were not quite as present when we needed things as they might have been...

I have ate here on a few occasions with both family and alone with my wife. I find the ambience...

Delicious food with an extremely low cost lunch menu. Always guaranteed something different on the menu. Loved it with staff that can't do enough for you! A wee gemstone!

We love the food here (always seasonal), service is great, lots of selection and atmosphere is comfortable and cosy. Anyone visiting Ballymena should call here, perfect for couples and / or big groups. Most of all the food is 2nd to none in the area, they have a snack menu which is just like tapas of lots of tasters, yummy!! Love visiting here.

Just been to the Blackstone for dinner. service was amazing! We had a wobbly table and didn't even have to say anything. Staff automatically fixed it so we could dine in comfort. Food was delicious! Good size portions as well. We will definitely be back.

Love coming here for lunch very keen priced and tasty food can't fault this place at all and desserts are perfect

This is a nice pub/restaurant for a quality meal. I gave it 3 stars because of the menu, I find it quite fancy so it's a personal score..... I would advise to check it out before booking as the choice is limited, but the meals are well presented and full of flavour. ... it would be more expensive than other restaurants in the area

beautiful meal, all dishes were delicious in a calming no frills atmosphere.

Great menu and good value for lunch.

The meal was completely amazing!! I genuinely was so impressed, every bite was lovely... I actually can't wait to go back. Couldn't speak high enough of my food, service was good to nice helpful staff xx

Although a fairly standard pub, the food was particularly good, very tasty. Service was good too and not expensive.

We had a Lovely Evening meal downstairs. Great atmosphere. Lovely cocktails (so my wife tells me). This is a hidden gem, if you are looking food in ballymena this is the place to go! It will not disappoint!

Ate sea bream on bed of risotto with prawns in tempura batter and crab meat. Beautiful meal. Staff very friendly and helpful. Good experience in a new town.

Our first visit to blackstone and will definitely go back ,lovely fresh food ,excellent service by friendly staff.One of ballymenas hidden gems .

We went Sunday evening for a fantastic 3 course meal. We've been to Blackstone on many occasions and it never disappoints! Excellent food cooked to very high standards. Flavoursome, generous portions at reasonable prices...in our opinion by far the best in Ballymena