The Philharmonic Dining Rooms in Liverpool

We had a night planned at the Philharmonic Hall and wanted to grab some food before we went, I had been the Philharmonic Rooms before, but only for a quick drink and was really impressed by the grandeur of it all. Having researched the menu before hand it all sounded tasty, so we chanced it on a Friday at 4pm. The place was rammed, customers looking round like headless chickens trying to get some direction from the staff, I approached the bar and asked did we need to book for food, the man struggled to grasp what I was saying, eventually he said 'no no walk in till 5pm, can sit over the, just not in the grand dining room as its closed'. Well 'over there' was to little side rooms with about 6 two seater tables in each, both packed. We spotted a table with no chairs and jumped on it before anyone else could get it, we hunted out 2 chairs and we were at least sat down anyway. You'd think the staff would be used to this level of business and offer more direction to customers, not everyone is a regular patron. Ready to order we went the bar, when I said I wanted to order food another staff member said 'ill need to check if that's ok', puzzled I waited and when he came back he said 'sorry we only do walk-ins till 4pm' stunned in amazement, after battling to get a table and already been told it was ok till 5pm, I asked him to check again, he came back and apologised at his mistake. As I was new to the pub app I got a free cider voucher (Yay, highlight of the visit!) We were squashed against a doorway, with people constantly going in and out, unsurprisingly it took a while to get our food, but when it did arrive it was hot and tasty, but the prices are premium for the portion size and quality so could only give 4* for food. We didn't have much of a chance to look around because there was just so many people, it was also incredibly hot in them side rooms, was melting. Overall the visit didn't go the way id of hoped, I think it would be of much benefit to the venue if the staff offered more guidance and direction to customers who haven't visited before or who are clearly looking confused. We did get our food and it was good, it just would have been nicer in a more relaxed environment. I would visit again, when I was able too during a more quieter day / time of day.

We had a late 'Sunday Roast' vegan nutroast option. The food was good and the staff obliging with a birthday cake we brought with us.

Long way to walk to look at oldest toilets Bar and food ok

Good place in Liverpool to have a few drinks in peace

Brief visit. Good beer and food. Amazing Victorian toilets.

Wonderful building beautiful architecture good food and selection of drinks friendly staff

Beautiful building inside and out Great customer service Good choice of food

Spectacular huge high Victorian pub whose interior and exterior make it worth a visit alone. It’s owned and operated by a chain - Nicholson’s - food was OK, steak not brilliant - you can feel where they’ve cut corners for profit but the young serving staff are excellent. Glad we went but won’t rush back for food.

Absolutely beautiful bar that is a listed building. Excellent beer and atmosphere. Didn't eat there but food was on and looked amazing.

Great traditional pub with good selection of ales.

Excellent food service and staff

Impressive place to eat or drink.

A must do venue if visiting Liverpool. The building inside and out is amazing. The pies were delicious and beer excellent. Service was super friendly too.

A gorgeous iconic pub. Lovely atmosphere and good Guinness 👍

Worth a visit to see the interior, didn't eat but the food looked great.Beer great but not cheap but it is a city centre location.Well worth a visit.

Beautiful & fascinating place! Especially the gents! Great, even just for coffee.

Big old traditional pub across the road from the Philharmonic. It has a lovely warm and cosy atmosphere despite the size of the place. We hadn't made a reservation and were lucky enough to get the last free table for a pre-show meal. A good pub menu offering plenty of choice for a hearty meal or lighter snacks.

A real institution in Liverpool. Great beer, great food and bags of atmosphere. The gents loos have to be seen! Love this pub.

Pub food, not the best. Drinks very good!

Historic pub. Good selection of beers. Nice pies.

I didn't eat, so didn't rate that, beautiful building and friendly service

I had the deep dish steak pie. I've never had such a good pie. The pastry was top notch and the contents were excellent. I'll be back soon enough.

Great food and service in a lovely building. Table for 2 only just big enough though. Not many desserts to choose from and the pies were not proper pies due to a lack of a pastry bottom. We would consider going back though as these are not big issues.

We came to The Philharmonic Dining Rooms on our first day from the US. We were pretty jet lagged, and arrived for a late lunch during their off peak time. The restaurant was not busy, which was great. The food & beer was delicious. We had watched the Carpool Karaoke where Paul McCartney performed here and I think that added to our experience!

One of the best original pubs in Liverpool

Decent enough pub good range of beers and nice but pricey pies

We had dinner at The Philharmonic Dining Rooms due to a recommendation from our driver, and he was spot on. The food, the service, the ambience were all outstanding and this was, hands down, our favorite dining experience in Liverpool.

Most unfriendly service ever!!! We ordered online on the homepage and the asian looking barman asked us in a very aggressive sounding what we ordered, looked as if we did something wrong and finally served us our food without our ordered drinks. After telling him we ordered some drinks too he just answered "I don't think so!" as if we are stupid or wanted to scam him and wanted to see the e-mail receipt we had already deleted expecting no problems at ordering online. About five minutes later he came with our drinks and a short "Sorry.". Definetly the worst service experience ever!!!

Food very nice good place to eat and drink 👍

The room alone makes it worth going. The pot pie was delicious

I highly recommend dining here. The food was amazing and the atmosphere was wonderful. I had the British steak & Nicholson's pale ale pie and it was the best pie I had in Liverpool. Paul McCartney performed here in the Grande Lounge in 2018 so it was fun seeing the pictures displayed.

This art nouveau pub is the face of Liverpool. It’s enough to appreciate the decoration while having a conversation over some drinks, but to have a full dining experience is another level. And I highly recommend it! I opted for a lighter calorie meal of grilled sea bass filets. It was lovely 🥰

Stopped in for a couple drinks but ended up having some lunch after checking out the menu. All our meals were fantastic and will definitely be returning again!

We came here for my birthday a table of 14, the service we received were exceptional. I went for a beef rib pie, which was to die for and a sticky toffee pudding for dessert. All of our party enjoyed their food too. The manager, I think he was Scottish or Irish?? Was brilliant. We will be back.

Nice pub/restaurant with period look and feel. Restaurant is very smart. Furniture in pub part looking tiered could benefit from some TLC. Range of wines and beers very good

A delightfully quirky experience! I called in en route from one Cathedral to the other for a quick lunchtime refresher. Lots of gleaming brass, polished wood, ornate ceilings and all sorts of nooks and crannies. The Grand Lounge looked exactly that. I didn't eat here so can't comment on the food. The interior is a photographers dream.

Bar staff cold and arrogant with non-English speakers, too bad it lowers the bill immediately For the rest the cuisine is rather good (steak with pepper sauce), retro or even rokoko atmosphere, we love it or we hate it. Cozy atmosphere at least at midday As for the toilets, nothing transcendent either, it seems that it is something to be seen…

Beautiful looking pub with the dining rooms upstairs. Service was fast and friendly. Food was superb. I started with duck croquettes. Main was a huge beef pie with mash and gravy. Very tasty, very filling. Handy location for the Phil, just over the road.

Go for the building if nothing else. Absolutely fabulous place, so many details in the architecture. But pleasingly the building is matched by a great choice of drinks and food. We had pie and schnitzel. Both were lush. I had a grapefruit radler as well which was lovely. Would not hesitate to go back. Fabulous.

Great old pub famous for its men's room. Ladies are expressly invited to take a look if it is not busy.

Nice spot for dinner, lively good service. Lovely pink marble urinals.

I was home in Liverpool for the day and brought some family to the pub to see it as it's so beautiful I was really disappointed to be told you could only eat if you have booked in advance ? This is a pub in town . How many visitors from outside of Liverpool would know to book in advance . It took the shine off going there .

The place needs a huge renovation. As for your toilats, they stink. The tiles are falling off the walls. Spend some money on it.

Went for lunch on the final day of our stay in Liverpool. We visited last year for a drink on the back the seeing Carpool Karaoke, we were not disappointed, what a stunning building so vowed to return. Lunch yesterday was everything we hoped it would be. I had the Shepperds pie and my partner the Beef Brisket and Shin pie, both were excellent so we had half each. We have already said we will be back same time next year for more of the same.

If you are a Beatles fan,you have to come here for a drink and check out the Gents 😎

Great pub, always good to visit before/after going to see a show

Super pub with very interesting interior features. Great selection of beers, good choice of menu options and excellent service. Very happy to recommend.

A bit of a disappointment we were looking forward to visiting when our cruise stopped in Liverpool. Two disinterested youths behind the bar, no interaction, beer average though the price of a pint was more than we had paid in another independent pub. Loved the rest of the city, would like to return sometime but this pub will not be on our to visit list.

Disappointing dinner tonight. We had great expectations walking into this place...stunning architecture. Lovely vibe. Food wasn't great. The waiters hardly spoke English and looked scruffy, almost like they'd been dragged off the streets. They should have a smart uniform, have people skills and interact with the clientele. They were abrupt with little interaction with the diners. Plates were cold ...food not that hot either. The garlic mushrooms on very dry toast had no garlic and were as dry as the Sahara desert. The mains appeared like they were cooked and then pushed aside and forgotten about as we waited quite a long time. If you want to see an example of good service, go to Miller and Carter Steakhouse at Albert Docks and train your staff to look and be just as good, as they are the face of your business. We complained at the end and they took the service charge off at least. What a shame.

60 minute wait for food....don't think so.... the saving grace was 20% off drinks with the city bus tour

Amazing interior. Definitely worth visiting if in Liverpool. We only stopped by for drinks but the food looked lovely as we watched the waiters deliver to the tables. Will definitely return for lunch next time.

Wow the mens toilets, such a wierd thing to write

We were keen to visit the iconic Phil pub on our weekend trip to Liverpool, as the historic interior is impressive. However, we were very disappointed with the quality of the food, which is ironic considering the Phil has now been renamed a Dining Room. Whilst the meat pies we had were acceptable, the vegetables were limp and overcooked, and the chips has not been properly cooked in a microwave and were inedible. Whilst we were offered a 20 % reduction on the bill when we complained , we would not recommend anyone to eat there. Nicholsons pub chain should stop trading on tourists visiting the famous pub and feeding them sub standard food but instead offer decent meals as the Dining Room name implies.

I looked at booking our Christmas Day lunch here, which we did in July and received an email with confirmation that we pencilled in for 3pm and they would be in touch in September to confirm the menu & deposit. We booked a hotel and we were really looking forward to a Christmas away. Received a call early September to say they could no longer accommodate us as they had lost the booking and the email had gone into a spam folder. Very skeptical about this as an excuse, they offered a 12pm sitting that really didn’t suit us due to having to see family. Really disappointed, it was too late to get any other meal booked so we had to cancel the hotel which left us out of pocket. Thanks to the Philharmonic for really poor service and excuses and leaving us with a hotel bill that we will are no longer able to stay at. If this is how you run a business that wants to upset people then carry on with this approach.

Excellent experience for a group of 20 . Good food value and service

Pub so relaxing great selection of ales

Interesting and quite different pub. I'm not sure how many many places are bragging with their toilets but this is one of them . Outside is even a sign about that.

Went for drinks only. Great atmosphere and old city world charm. Definitely worth a visit

Had a family dinner here last Saturday, 9 of us. We expected the usual pub fare which we got but it was of such a high standard. The fish pie was delicious as were the meat pies & the fish & scampi . We enjoyed very tasty starters too. What impressed us the most was the fabulous staff looking after us. Tia, Mona & AJ were superb, attentive, friendly but not intrusive. They could teach many London hotels & restsurants (we live in SW London) how to deliver the best customer service. They are a credit to you. We had a really special evening at the Philharmonic & would recommend this pub without hesitation.

Overcooked food, burnt and dry. Out of main dishes as well. Beer was beyond warm. They may call it a dining room, but we’ve had better cafeteria food. Expected a lot more, and we were sadly disappointed.

Great place, full of olde world character. So glad they have not changed anything inside - gent's loos worth a visit.

We had an excellent meal as a family of four. Great food for everyone, including the children. Highly recommend the Beef Shin Pie, which everyone enjoyed tasting. Tom was our server and did an exceptional job during our visit.

Great choice of food, excellent atmosphere and good friendly service, definitely recommend

Amazing setting and establishment

Great pies and pints with an amazing interior view!

A great disappointment I had been told to visit by numerous people but it did not live up to the hype. A couple of disinterested youths behind the bar, the beer was not up to my standards for real ale and the prices were about 70 pence more per pint than I had a paid for far better kept beer in the city centre at an independent pub, not spoons! I had thought of having lunch but decided against it. Such a shame my one disappointment in this lovely city.

Our waitress Kaedance was fantastic. Great pub grub, lovely atmosphere.

Just go here to marvel at the concept of building an art nouveau pub (dining rooms) at the turn of the 20th century that people come to 120 years later. Please visit the men's room as well. Food is lots of delicious pies. We were looked after by Kayden. She was an absolute delight and made us feel really special.

Fantastic pub. The building is amazing. Popped in for lunch, had a delicious pie in beautiful surroundings. The gents toilets are great.

Beautiful inventory, check the mens toilet! Very popular pub, but have it become "too big"! Poor service. If you want to have a meal, choose the smaller rooms. The big room are filled with noisy groups of tourists. Go for a pint, and stay in the smaller areas!

Amazing historic building. A must visit pub.

What a fabulous building to dine in: and the pies were as good as .you could hope for

Nice pub, really cool interior. We only stayed for a few drinks as we were there, waiting to go on a shiverpool ghost tour, which was also incredible.

Went here as a recommendation for the architecture and arts. Fair enough as that is the only + in this establishment. We made reservations and right off the bat, the gentlemen who approached us for our seats looked like he couldn't be bothered, although he did show us to our seats. It was very very warm as well. First encounter with the server was 30 mins after we were seated (albeit it was busy, but would've appreciated anyone coming to let us know). I went to the bar to just order (before the server approached us) and the barman asked if we reserved seats, I said "yes" and they said it will be table service because we reserved. Our server was very pleasant and warm, but the service is slow. We ordered 1x appetiser, 3 drinks, 2 mains, and a dessert to which we asked to be brought out altogether (anticipating the wait time). The appetiser came out first, then the rest with the dessert. Dessert which was meant to be warm was cold, seemed like it was sitting out for awhile and brought out together with the mains (which was fair enough since we asked -- but the appetiser was served first?). To be fair to our server, we did see her take orders, then make our drinks -- we were joking between each other that she's probably also the one making the meals etc lol But yes, not the best experience. The old fashioned was super sweet, the duck croquette was really sweet as well and the salad.

Beautiful decor in this listed building.food superb and reasonable value. Price of alcohol is extremely expensive. £6.80 for a pint of cider. Daylight robbery. Clientele mixed. Drunk customer sitting outside puked 🤢 all over paved seating area. Bar girl said I thought he looked a bit drunk when I served him? 🤯 Mind blowing. Would I return. No. 2nd edit. No point in shutting the gate after the horse has bolted.

Great pub - lots of atmosphere and character! Good pub grub options, although a bit limited for gluten free options. Liked it here - recommend a visit

One of the best pubs in Liverpool

Had lunch here on Saturday......absolutely beautiful pub with great staff and amazing service, food was wonderful☺️ I had the chicken and mushroom pie....I put my order in wrong initially, entirely my fault but they bent over backwards to sort it out...highly recommend this and i'm looking forward to going back.

Cool venue, decent food, and wow gents toilets!

Beautiful bar, we went in from the hop of hop off bus for a glass of fizz. Very low quality fizz as you would expect since it was free but we also bought soft drinks for the kids and guys had a pint each. The pub itself is gorgeous, rich in history and nicely set out. Still worth a visit.

Haven't eaten here, but lovely pub for a drink. Thru decor, particularly the toilets are must see.

Fascinating place but the food was a bit of a let down.

A majestic setting for a drink or a meal. A must see !!

Only stoped in for drinks and glad we did. What a fantastic place. Very unique, and the menu looks great. This is an iconic spot in Liverpool and every visitor should stop by.

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Definitely one of the best pubs we went to in England! We tasted pies which were excellent (one with salmon and one with beef). Honestly a delight. Then the decor is magnificent, the place is legendary, because it is a pub where the Beatles liked to go. It is also classified as a historical monument, you will have to go to the men's toilets 😊 First you will need to locate a free table, remember the number, make your choice of menu and order directly at the bar.

A very beautiful historical place. We were there with a large group and everyone really liked the service and ambience. We ordered a buffet for the group that arrived on time and looked excellent. Unfortunately, it just wasn't enough. The last 10 actually got almost nothing. That was very frustrating.

Very beautiful historic pub which allows us to follow in the footsteps of John and Paul. Good choice of casked ales. Classic pub food but well done.

Everything was good, family gathering budget food ordered by host quite good can't compare too other food types clean tidy room bar staff attentive.

I Love big jewels like this one. I've been a patron when visiting Liverpool, over quite a few years. Shocked at the price of a pint of beer, which was undrinkable.

Legendary Liverpool pub with a smashing pint of Black Sheep

Me and my grandson visited. It's such an iconic place. The food and atmosphere were fantastic! The cathedral of pubs!

Can’t rate the food, unfortunately, as the very off putting smell forced us out immediately. The building looks beautiful, though.

The woman serving had fluorescent green 💚 hair. I mentioned that this pub was where the king of acoustic comedy, Alexei Sayle, had his first alcoholic drink. She said, "I'm not interested in comedy, but I have a few mates who are comedians." Interesting visit ti my Fathershome town.

Stunning architecture, excellent range of ale, but staff really disinterested and needs some tidying up - surely management could make sure toilet roll holder in gents is working?

Amazing place and the food was great Staff very friendly and helpful with our allergy requirements

I went to watch the England-Spain match. The staff members are good and friendly

It is by far the best pub in Liverpool in terms of building and decoration. It completely transports you to another time, to the Victorian era. You have to visit the interior and look at all the luxurious details, of which there are many. You have to see the toilets!!! Since it was initially a club for gentlemen only, there were no ladies' bathrooms. Externally it looks more like a palace than a pub. The owner wanted to make a luxury pub and boy did he succeed. John Lennon was a regular at the Philharmonic and once said that the price of fame was not being able to drink beer at the Philharmonic. Paul McCartney filmed a video performing a surprise performance in the main hall of the Philharmonic. An essential place in Liverpool and especially if you are a fan of The Beatles. You can not lose this.

Great time capsule of what genuine british pub should look and feel like. The interior is brilliant and it hasn't changed in all the years I've visited.

It's a great place to eat. The food was excellent, and the service was amazing; the staff were so friendly and attentive. The value for money was great, and the portion sizes are fabulous. I would definitely eat there again.

A Beautiful space to have a drink in. Didn't eat but they do have food. The decor is all wood panelling and stained glass. The gents loo is a work of art; in itself. Well worth a visit.