The Deerstalker Bar & Bistro in Ballymoney

From booking with the lovely Louise and ringing her about questions for a birthday dinner for my brothers 30th was so kind and patient, and all the staff. But the food top class did not disappoint 11/10 , will most definitely be back.

We had a roast dinner for lunch. The menu was set and you could have up to 3 courses for a little extra. We stuck to one course which was £17. You had the option to choose 3 meats to add to the potatoes, carrots, Yorkshire pudding, cocktail sausages and roast potatoes. I chose the traditional turkey, ham and roast beef. Portions were perfect and service was excellent

Used to be a great dining experience.. But gradually getting worse. Have ate here regularly since it opened but unfortunately standards are definitely slipping. Had to return a meal and witnessed tables around us returning food. Sides coming out after mains were nearly finished , long waits for food, etc. Much better options in the town centre. Very disappointing.

Sunday lunch was excellent. Particularly desserts. Service great, lovely atmosphere; really enjoyed experience until ieaving and needed to use the toilet. As a wheelchair user I need room for the wheelchair. The Deerstalker does have a wheelchair accessible toilet albeit the access is via doors which are not easily opened and the toilet door is not a bifold one. I got locked in. Luckily my friend was outside waiting and quickly realised what had happened. A staff member said that the door did stick! The toilet hadn’t been cleaned and the toilet seat didn’t fit properly. There are no dedicated disabled parking spaces. Petty comments you might say. An experience which should’ve been 5* brought down by a lack of care/oversight regarding some environmental issues. I contacted the hotel who were apologetic and assured me that the matters would be resolved and passed up line. A super meal otherwise and despite being stuck in the loo would wholly recommend.

To celebrate a significant family birthday, Lunch - Sunday 13th, August, The Deerstalker was something we were all looking forward to, and it failed in so many ways - * Waited 20 minutes for our menus, and it wasn't even very busy * The restaurant had a live singer, and the music was so loud that it was hard to have a conversation at the table * It was a family lunch, yet there were no menus for the children * The meal itself was awful - cauliflower undercooked and barely edible, Yorkshire puddings so hard the knife could barely cut through them * After the main course, we couldn't easily get a sweets menu. Just simply avoid this place. The service was dire, the food awful, and the loud singer, you couldn't make it up.

Treated my boyfriend to a meal here on Thursday with a few drinks and I must say, the food is to die for! I ordered Nachos as my starter (Amazing portion and so filling) Could have had it as a main. Boyfriend ordered Chicken Wings - So tasty and has a nice kick to them if you like a bit of spice. Onto the mains, I had the bean burger with halloumi along with salt and chilli chips - Again, good portion and so yummy but I couldn't finish it due to being full from the starter. Boyfriend's Classy Bird burger was the same. Service was excellent and very attentive.I'd definitely recommend their Pornstar Martini cocktails!! Will 100% be back and soon.

Horrific food. Worst ever. We visit here tonight and woukd never go there again. Food was terrible. My husband had a chicken burger and the chicken was boiled and totally disgusting. My daugthers food was over cooked and had a bad taste. Can easily say thie place serves the worst food weve ever had. Avoid at all costs.

I am not normally one to complain, but the food was so bad I felt I needed to say something. My wife and I ate here tonight and I can honestly say it was the worst food we have ever had anywhere. I had a chicken burger and the chicken was boiled and cold - it was disgusting. My daughter had fish fingers and they were burned hard and had a funny taste. It was honestly terrible. I would avoid eating here at all costs. Save your money and eat somewhere decent!

The restaurant were offering half price for their bistro menu from Monday to Thursday, so we visited again for dinner on Monday. Food was delicious, i enjoyed the lasagne, although the chilli chicken pasta which is served here is probably my favourite in the North Coast. Wine was a great price too. We’ve eaten here many times, and the standard of the food is always great. The midweek offer of half price was super value for money.

Food was reasonably priced and service was amazing. Staff where super friendly and informative and food was brought out in good time and tasted delicious.

Food and service has always been good but really impressed by the new menu for value, taste and presentation. Chocolate and chilli cheescake was like something from a 5 star reataurant! Chef and staff are excellent - always a good vibe about the place. Hard to beat!

Visited the bistro this evening with my wife and 11 year old daughter. We arrived at our pre booked time of 7pm and were greeted and shown to our table at which point we were advised we had 1 1/4 hours before we were required to leave.At 7.26pm we placed our food order with our starters of nachos and chicken wings arriving at 7.45pm. Both starters were tasty with no complaints. At 8.15 our main courses arrived after having to ask a waitress. Two sirloin steaks again tasty and cooked as asked, but the kids pasta dish was not eaten as my daughter just simply didn’t like it (personal choice). Chips were overcooked and greasy.As we were eventually eating our main course a young waiter entered the restaurant from outside and upon speaking with another waiter was clearly upset about something and cursed f**k which my daughter clearly heard. At this point I asked to speak with the manger who approached and listened to my complaints as listed above. He was quick to apologise for the bad language and advised that they are currently training up staff but agreed that the language used was unacceptable and offered us our desserts free of charge. He never really offered anything by way of apology for the long wait or overcooked and greasy chips which he agreed with when he saw them.The bill for 2 starters, 2 steaks and a kids meal along with 5 drinks came to £82.96, overpriced I think for an average meal with very slow service.During our time there it was clear another family nearby we’re having similar issues.In short we were very disappointed tonight and will not be returning anytime soon.

Stayed at the hotel for 2 nights and on the second night we dined in the restaurant , the service and food where excellent friendly staff big portions and very well priced for the area . We had the chilli beef on flat bread and the scampi dishes with sides of salt and chilli chips , garlic chips and tobacco onions al washed down with cold beer and cider . Lovely food , nice atmosphere and all done with restrictions in hand . Top notch

highly recommended to all If your wanting to go as a couple or take the kids it’s suitable for all Food was great as usual and a few we cocktails aswel Great to be back

Just had a quick meal with the offer of £10 off per person, the restaurant didn’t honour the price and claimed they couldn’t check their own till, so it was £57.80 instead of £37.80

Great food - amazing value with extended dine in deal! Lovely colleagues - loved it! Highly recommended

Excellent food in the bistro bar, both meals were cooked to a high standard and tasted brilliant, desserts were also lovely. Staff very friendly and quick.

Visited here on Wednesday night for dinner. It was the first time we’d been and I felt we were a bit too close to the next table although we were up a few steps. I had scampi and my partner had haddock. Portion size was a little on the small size. The desserts were better than the main courses to be honest. The Eat Out to Help Out discount was an unexpected bonus though.

The food here is really poor. My other half had fish and chips and the batter on the chips was soggy with oil and had a really strange taste (cumin? Curry?). Presumably from a shared fryer? I had the chicken wings ‘marinated in a fiery house sauce’ and a side of chips with sour cream and chilli. The chicken wings were in a sickly sweet chilli sauce which was full of sugar and clearly from a jar. The sour cream on the chips had curdled which made them inedible. I don’t understand how this place is in business. I kept expecting Gordon Ramsey to turn up with cameras for his kitchen nightmares show as it was that bad. Avoid at all costs. I’m sure there are far better restaurants locally.

Went twice whist on holiday and have to say, the food was tasty, plentiful and the service was good. The dessert menu is AMAZING too. Also, it was one of the busiest restaurants I’ve ever been to but the staff coped really well! Would recommend to everyone

We arrived tonight to find no one to greet us at the door. After waiting, a member of staff did arrive & took us to our table. Drinks orders taken and arrived quickly. So far so good, but went quickly down hill. We are a family of five. The adults meals came out, then eventually the sides, then a delay before the kids meals arrived. Kids had pizza which they enjoyed, our food wasn’t great. We had the chilli chicken pittas. I think it’s just sitting in a massive pot and it’s ladled out. Definitely not freshly cooked. Took a while for our plates to be cleared. Asked for dessert menu. Then waited and waited. Had to ask again. Eventually had order taken. Then waited and waited. Had to find a waitress and ask where it was. Eventually arrived although I was ready to just leave at that point. Desserts were really poor. I definitely won’t return. Food and service very poor.

As a family of 5 we booked a table for an evening meal. Our drinks order came reasonably quickly and our food order was taken. Unfortunately things went down hill from here. After a long wait our order was delivered to the wrong table with only 2 pizzas making it to our table. About 10mins later a children's pasta arrived which was cold. I suspect that this was the one returned from the wrong table earlier but we were assured that this wasn't the case. It took another 10-15muns for our remaining 2 dishes to come which also were luke warm. Our sides took another 10mins after begging 3 staff members, they are the only thing which arrived hot. The food tasted nice but the service and the temperature of everything ruined it. We didn't want a dessert which was lucky as no one came to clean our table of offer us dessert anyway. On a plus note, the table who received our order seemed to get excellent service. They arrived after us, ate before us, were asked several times if they were happy and had ordered dessert by the time we left. Our table must have been too far from the door to be bothered with. Portrush has many great restaurants so luckily I'll have no need to return here.

Horrendous meal and experience. Booked over a week in advance and informed them we required vegan options. We stood in the foyer at the “Please wait here to be seated” sign and no one arrived. We made our way in and were greeted by a lovely staff member who informed us the chef had prepared a vegan option. We thought this was fabulous and great attention to detail, how wrong we were. We were informed that the vegan option was butternut squash risotto and asked if we could order 2 of them, we were told yes. We ordered 2 soups to start, a sirloin (rare-medium), sea bass, and 2 risottos. The soup was good, but it all went downhill from there. We waited over an hour for our mains to arrive, and when they did we only received 3 of the 4 orders and all of which were cold. The risotto was topped with deep fried tender stem broccoli which was freezing and a questionable choice of garnish. We hadn’t received the other risotto and were informed by the waitress 5 minutes later, AFTER the other mains were served, that they had only enough for 1 risotto and the only other alternative was a nut roast. We specifically asked before ordering if we could have 2 risottos and were told yes. Usually when something is not available you are informed once you’ve made your order, not after everyone else has received their food!We ordered the nut roast and sent back the cold risotto and sea bass. The steak wasn’t sent back despite being cold and not cooked right, at this point my father had waited long enough and needed to eat. After waiting over 25 further minutes our food arrived, at this point my father had finished his meal. The risotto was still lukewarm, bland, and the once deep fried tender stem broccoli was now cremated, leaving a disgusting burnt taste to everything. It was absolutely vile and mostly inedible. When we had finished the waitress came to remove our food and we explained we were not satisfied. An additional 10% was deducted from the bill for both vegan dishes. We have left feeling very unimpressed and will not return nor recommend this restaurant.

I recently visited with friends.A fantastic experience, relaxed atmosphere, excellent service and great grub!Everyone had an excellent meal, great wine and port selection.A refreshing dining experience in Portrush with hassle free parking, no traffic and a fun outside bar area to comply with covid regulations.Highly recommended- if you fancy a change from the norm - treat yourself! You will love it!

Visited deerstalker, Tuesday evening for meal, service, food etc were excellent as always.. ravan is that we can pop in anytime, and we can't wait to be back. Thanks team.

Good meal with friends. Excellent menu choice. COVID precautions reasonably good. Not the cheapest meal I had but food good.

After many visits and thought would give it another go after many bad ones tonight was no different. Over an hour waiting on meal to be served burnt food then replaced then another 40 minutes for dessert got up and left. Will not be back

Went early mid week with family food lovely and great social distancing compared to other restaurants in Portrush visited since Covid 19 measures introduced Deerstalker doing well not over crowd and was comfortable. Well done.

Deerstalker showing little regard for their customers safety because they don't take it seriously. None of the staff were wearing masks/PPE even though they're coming into contact with 100s of people, customers who got drunk and weren't social distancing - nothing was said to them. There are small changes and improvements but it's barely enforced. Other restaurants in the area have shown and reassured customers they are doing it properly by wearing PPE but the deerstalker seems to me money hungry and willing to sacrifice their customers/staff health for the profit of a busy restaurant. Their social media shows a different story to customers than whats actually happening and that just really puts me off. Hoping that it was just a first night back blip and it will be sorted out soon - but I'm not going back for a while.

Lovely meal - great selection of courses and reasonably priced. Good atmosphere. Staff were all very friendly and attentive

Ate here on Friday night as we where staying on the caravan site. Group of 4 adults. We had a meal here about 2 years ago and it was horrendous but decided to give it another go. Place was fairly busy but got a table straight away. Two of us had pizzas which where superb! and the other two meals where very good as well, large portion sizes, just what we like in NI However the service left abit to be desired! Drinks taken to wrong table, garlic bread starter didn’t arrive until after main courses, hard to get staff to get another drink order, and nobody asked us if we where enjoying our meal. Why can you not allocate tables to one staff member? and then they can look after the customers properly. Sort this out and this place would be A1.

This is definitely a hidden gem of the north coast, fantastic pizza, efficient service and friendly staff.. Great for families..

We have ate here now a good few times, and it is currently always our first choice when eating out as a family or date night. The menu choice is always fantastic, portions are always very generous and the food is always impeccable. Staff are always very attentive, even when very busy. The seating is great, very spacious.. which I love!. The restaurant is very clean and well presented, I also love the upbeat background music that always seems to be being played. My Husband also tells me that the best Guinness on the North Coast is served here Plenty of parking outside too!.I would recommend booking in advance as it can get quite busy at weekends.

Ate here a few months ago and it was so good that we were telling everyone we know to try it. Tonight however was a different experience. Firstly it was only a bistro menu which didn't have any sirloin on it so I took chilli chicken pasta which would have taken the skin off the roof of your mouth...I should mention that this was my second choice as I would have loved the battered scampi only to find out that it was breaded. My fiance did opt for the breaded scampi and chips which came out without the chips and when they eventually came they were reheated and tasteless. I might just give it another try but only at the weekends!

Had sirloin steaks with onion rings, mushrooms, choice of sauce - we chose mushroom sauce - sides of creamy champ and garlic fries. Steak was delicious as was the whole dinner. Left half my steak as it was so big. Waitress was very efficient and really nice. Definitely worth a visit!

A trip to Portrush never disappoints and who new Kelly's Complex which I pass when travelling to and from Portrush had such a fab Bar and Bistro.

Reduced menu on offer ...4 or 5 starters and about 8 maincourses ....I thought, ok am sure to be able to find something. On ordering 3 of the mains were unavailable...could have seen through that if the place was packed but it wasn't. I had heard the pizzas were good...but they don't do them on a Monday (even a bank holiday...we arrived around 3pm) and the main bar/restaurant wasn't open either...for the same reason. Having made our choices AGAIN I was brought the wrong type of soup, my husband's chicken breast was more like a sparrow and thrown on the plate, no garnish or veg just chicken , sauce and chips. My burger had cheese on it, the nasty, plastic tasteless kind and again, no garnish/salad. Staff were pleasant and apologetic....but the chefs could be heard shouting at whoever was unfortunate enough to enter the kitchen ( tip for future consideration....if you have an open kitchen, hire happy chefs ). The manager was unavailable but should have been there on what would surely have been a busy day?..lovely restaurant let down by managerial incompetence

Went to this restaurant with family including three kids. We were told 7.30 / 7.45 before we would get a table. We waited in upper bar and at 8 pm we still had not been seated and the children were hungry. Other tables who came in later were being taken to main restaurant. We asked could they possibley at least bring children’s food out. We were shown to a table and kids food came out 20 minutes (poor portions)later we had to wait another further 20 minutes for our food. The chicken fajitas tasted of black pepper and had a lump of pasta through it. The food was not good and unpleasant to eat for all of us. Fajitas should have came with peppers and onions. Very little in it. Staff were not apologetic or checked if our food was okay. We complained about the poor food and extremely poor service. They gave us our meal for free but this was not the point. They need to seriously sort out their staff and kitchen. Will never be back here and wish I had of read previous reviews beforehand. Poorest meal I’ve ever had out and poorest service. Bar staff however were very pleasant.

Took my grandchildren in for their dinner around 6.30pm. Place was lovely and clean, lovely staff but the meal was absolutely horrendous. Ordered gammon for myself which was horrible as you can see. The Kids meals were just as bad, chicken goujons were over cooked and dried out.

Booked a table for 7.30 pm - not particularly busy - we were shown to our seat and then left there. 30 minutes later I had to approach staff at the bar to ask if someone could take our order. 40 minutes later and we still weren’t served our drinks - again had to ask staff. We were told before ordering that instead of the chilli nachos, bacon nachos was being substituted. After we placed our order we were told that they’d run out of nachos. Food was just ok. We visited here because of convenience as we were staying at nearby caravan park. Will definitely not return.

We came here for my Mum’s birthday and were very disappointed in the standard of food and service.

Queued up at the restaurant bar behind 8 people, waited around 10 minutes to be told by a server thst they had stopped serving food because it was too busy...we were happy to wait at the bar, as was the infuriated woman in front of us but were told no! We asked if we could get a quick pizza to take away but were immediately told no and ignored! Dominos it is...Will not be back in a hurry

Booked table for 8pm. Not busy. Waited 45MINS for meals. Very poor service. Young staff. No communication after ordered meals. After 40min wait called staff member who said food was on the counter ready. 10mins later called for manager. Got food then. Went to pay bill and got it wrong. Added Irish coffees to our bill that we didn't have.. Didn't even wait for desserts as had enough of a wait.. Terrible service all in all.

Called in for lunch today and ordered pizza, it was really really tasty. The service was brilliant and a large variety of food on the menu.Really good value for money too. Enjoyed it so much we've booked to go back again next week.

No complaints about the food, decent price nice enough.

Really good Pizza’s. Waited near an hour but worth waiting on. Piping hot & very tasty. Good variety of Homemade Desserts. Efficient & Friendly Staff. Great Atmosphere, Old School tunes playing in the background. Will definitely be back.

Although i live locally, i have never eaten here before and only i heard they had a special 3 course with a bottle of wine advertised on the radio i probably wouldnt have gone. However we are glad we did. Met by friendly staff. One of us was driving so i had the red wine it was very pleasant and accompanied a really good meal and nice atmosphere. I will try it again. Thank you for a lovely evening.

Visited the restaurant in the evening Good choice on menu , comfortable seating, good service and lovely food. The bar area is great for watching the rugby

the waiting staff very attentive and food 1st class would highly recommend to anyone we were very well looked after and cant wait to return

We had originally booked for ladies night but the date was changed and after much discussion we stayed with origional venue on that date which was a great call. Food was fab comfy seating great service and we were then able to go and enjoy great music and choice of gin in the bar. We will be back

Really loved this place so warm and cosy waiting staff are great and the food was also 1st class would really recommend will definitely be back

We had dinner here after a round of golf, and although the food was very good the service was lacking. Were seated reasonably quick, but then took a long time for someone to come over and take our order. There was a bit of confusion over drink orders, and could see servers bringing wrong orders to other tables. The big issue was waiting forever for the bill, then again for it to be collected. We finally just went up and paid at the bar. Enjoyed the food but poor service when you’re hungry and travelling is not fun.

Booked The deerstalker as we had a large booking. The staff were incredibly rude and the sirloin steak I ordered was raw in the middle (medium cooked). Would not recommend this restaurant to anyone heading to the north coast. Very disappointing!!

Have eaten here every time we come 2 portrush. Never disappoints. Staff are always friendly and service was amazing

there very little choice on the menu no presentation my steak was just plonked on my plate with was meant to be a salsa was splodged on the new potatoes that came with the dish were so small I needed an extra side order on the plus side the staff were very friendly and helpful

Was there on Fri 15 June for dinner with friends, the evening was a success from the friendly pleasant waitress who showed us to our table & gave us menus. All our questions about the menu & wine list answered knowledgeably. The food was fantastic we all had different mans, sticky ribs, peppered chicken & fish & chips......sweets were brilliant too. We were not rushed at any stage of the evening. The restaurant was busy but the staff were never to busy and aways pleasant. Compliments to the chefs food outstanding. We will be back

Staff were very friendly. Menu doesn’t have great selection and very inflexible about swapping side orders or anything. Quick service nice presentation and food was quite good!

Called in on a bank holiday Sunday of the May holiday weekend. The town of portrush was packed and every eatery was full or had a waiting time of over an hour. We spotted the old “Kelly’s” and nipped in. They’d be busy too. A few dishes were sold out. I get that, busy weekend, staff rushed of their feet, but there a few basics that were just poor.

Went here for a meal with my wife as we had been given a gift voucher. I am so glad we did. Such a relaxing friendly dining experience compared to other restaurants in Portrush. The food was lovely. I would highly recommend the mushroom bruschetta and the monkfish Penne. Our server Adrian was so helpful and friendly it added to the experience. He is a credit to the business and we will definitely be back. Thank you for providing a dining experience as it should be. Relaxing and not feeling the need to vacate your table in a hurry. Food was excellent. Would highly recommend!!

booked sunday lunch here last sunday for my husband and myself, to start with my husband ordered a Hendricks & cucumber 1783 gin and what he got served was an ordinary gin with a tonic, what is the point of having a card on the table advertising this product if you do not serve it.

As you may already know, the North Coast has a wide selection of eating venues to choose from and a restaurant at the side of a night club automatically wouldn't be your first choice...until now, that is.

Stopped here for lunch a few weeks ago and it was delicious...i had the lasagne and i couldnt fault it. The staff are friendly and the stmosphere was good. Would highly recommend

Had early meal with family, mixed ages. Menu provided a range of choices to suit all. Place was very quiet so service was efficient, staff were friendly.

We went midweek for a drink. The interior was lovely but we were the only people there. The night after we went for a meal. Advertised on the local radio a midweek offer of a main meal and drink at a set price. Other people there had gone for the same deal which they said had been taken off at Easter yet still being advertised in May. Staff were aware that the offer was still being advertised but not interested. No apology and seemed to be amused that the radio station were still advertising. Once there it was highly unlikely that people would leave. So not impressed.

chilli chicken pasta- rubber chicken with some sweet chilli sauce poured over it , by that I mean the dipping sauce you buy in the supermarket. Even a student could do better.