The White Lion, Hankelow in Cheshire East

Quite a poor choice of proper beer and ales. You'd expect more from a country pub. Service inexperienced and not knowledgeable on basic things.

Warm, welcoming and a great atmosphere. Delicious meal and a really friendly team.

Good food, rather few customers for Sat night, hence lack of ambience

Still a great place to eat and would highly recommend. Portions are too big for me and some attention to basics would turn this into really good to great.

Been wanting to visit since the refurb a year or two ago. Really tastefully done and has a quality country pub restaurant feel. Cosy nooks and excellent food along with attentive staff. The covered outdoor area at the back looks great and can't wait to visit when it's a bit warmer. What more do you want?

I ordered fish & chips. The fish was lovely. Did not like the crushed peas. Just tasted like old dried up peas. I believe you should not mess with traditional pub grub. stick with the mushy peas. My friend ordered the steak burger. It was a real let down considering the price. He said it looked & tasted processed but he ate it and did not want me to eat alone. The whole dish was not nicely presented and eaten far better in chain pubs. A shame really as its a lovely pub. Also disappointed not to be asked if we enjoyed the meal.

Fabulous meal with a large group of friends pre Christmas. We were really well looked after and the food was beautiful and great value for the set menu. Certainly worth a visit.

We had a great brunch, it was really delicious.

Cosy place. Nice atmosphere, really nice service and staff. Chicken wings are super delicious!!! Fish and chips are very good, big portion The lamb burger was good. The lunch set menu is good value around £12 to £15 depending if you have a starter and the main or just the main.

Saturday afternoon meal, excellent choice across three menus, and we could mix and match to get our choices across three courses . Very warm and welcoming staff, lovely ambience and the food was superb , and excellent value . High standards of ingredients and presentation across a range of dishes. Meat, fish , vegetarian starters and mains were delicious, and the black cherry soufflé was one of the best desserts we've ever tasted . Thank you for making our pre Christmas lunch with our 90 year old mum such an enjoyable experience

Absolutely brilliant A1 in every way we were all welcomed by friendly staff and a warm comfortable atmosphere 😀

Very enjoyable experience, food ,service, atmosphere all good .Will be going again

Beautiful interior, great ambiance, very friendly and attentive staff, excellent craft beer and delicious food! It’s a very special pub, owned and loved by the community! If you’re in the area, you must visit!

Lovely atmosphere with warm friendly service, and great food!

First time and will be back, I could become my new local..

Excellent food and service. Would absolutely recommend 👌

Had a fabulous lunch at the White Lion today. Sublime starters - mushroom risotto & arancini. This was followed by gorgeous main courses, he had pie of the day - mince beef & onion & I had vegan "fish & chips" which was actually a battered banana blossom! Just a wonderful place with really lovely & friendly staff.

Lovely service, gorgeous home cooked food & a lovely warm cozy atmosphere! 100% recommend & will be a returning customer! 💯😍

The white lion is a great pub, however it is severely let down by a certain member of staff (I cant remember his name but he has a moustache and glasses). He is very rude and really does not cope under pressure when large quantities of people are in the pub and becomes very stressed and rude. This opinion is of many around the Hankelow/ Audlem & Buerton area who actually avoid going to the pub when he is working. Other than this, the food is great and the other staff are absolutely fantastic. It is definitely worth a visit (Just not when this Bar'Man' is there.

Noticed recently the fact that White Lion were serving breakfast, so decided to try it out today. Lovely, warm welcome and happy to have our dog with us. We were served promptly with 2 coffees the 2 full English which were presented beautifully, and more than I could eat. Great value for money too. We will definitely be back 👍

Had a family birthday tea here, party of 12. Sat upstairs in a private area which was nice and didn’t feel out of the atmosphere of the pub. Service was attentive and food was delicious, only down fall was the portion size of the chips served with the burgers…the men were disappointed 🫤Will return though and order extra sides to keep them happy!😊

Fantastic place and lovely to see business is good and there is always a lovely feeling when dining. Been several times over the summer and never been disappointed with the food or drink. Staff are lovely, friendly and helpful with any menu or drink questions.

Stayed a couple of nights Only 3 rooms, good quality NB check whether breakfast is available on your day(s) Great local pub, recently refreshed as "community pub" Selection of local real ales Outrageous well curated global selection of whiskies Attentive, friendly staff Good selection of well prepared food, lunchtime and evenings

We stayed one night at the White Lion and would definitely recommend it! Our room was tastefully decorated and immaculate. We had dinner which was great and the staff were amazing, so friendly and attentive. The only reason I have not given 5 stars was because they're was no breakfast availability on a Thursday morning. However we were given recommendations and had a breakfast in a lovely wee cafe, No. 11 in Audlem. I think I'm correct in saying this is a recent community venture and would encourage people to support them. Thank you to all the staff at the White Lion. 👍

Interesting community owned country pub in a pleasant location. Initial reason to visit was the local cask ale selection but this matched by the menu. Recommend the venison in season accompanied by Titanic Plum Porter.

We were staying nearby on holiday and they fitted us in last minute as a table of 9 and a dog! Really friendly and helpful on the phone. Great find, dog friendly and didn’t disappoint. The food was really tasty, good value and really nicely presented. We had two courses, and everyone cleared their plates or bowls. Something for everyone on the menu including meat lovers, vegetarians, allergies and children. All staff were very friendly, helpful and attentive. If we ever return to this area we will definitely be back!

I have wanted to visit this place for a while due to working there many years ago. We even travelled an hour to try it out. I was impressed with the makeover, the outside space is brilliantly done, the inside has been done very tastefully and overall I was very impressed with how it looked. Unfortunately the same couldn't be said for the food. I tried the butternut squash soup which just tasted of cornflour. For my main I tried the Cumberland sausage ring that was the strangest sausage I have ever seen and tasted!! It tasted like it was meat free, it didn't resemble a Cumberland sausage. My partner informed the lady of the issue with my main when she came to collect the plates. I couldn't fault the service and the two girls on the floor were efficient and apologetic when we pointed out the issue. She said she would inform the chef. After 5 mins she returned and informed me the chef had sampled the so called sausage ring and they too said it doesn't taste right. I find this some what worrying that the chef is serving food totally unaware of how it tastes!! The lady took my main off the bill as I hadn't eaten it. My partner didn't eat her starter mini sausages as she didn't like it but I didn't mind them so I ate them. My partner had the katsu curry which she said was just OK. Such a shame as what a great venue this is. The first and a last for us unfortunately.

First time at the white lion, staff are very polite and it's a lovely pub

Breakfast was great .. Lovely relaxing way to start a Sunday! Could have stayed all day...

Great food, great atmosphere, amazing setting

We have frequently visited the White Lion at Hankelow since it reopened normally for drinks and a quick lunch and we love the atmosphere of the pub and surroundings. We booked for a meal for my mum’s birthday on our recommendation. We were seated upstairs which wasn’t a huge problem but would say the décor downstairs is nicer. When it came to ordering we were disappointed there were no specials available so I ordered the duck from the menu sadly to be told that this had just sold out about 5 minutes after ordering. I changed my order to cod assured that it was a lovely dish. My husband and I both had the cod which was priced at £22 when it arrived we were both underwhelmed to be honest at what was on the plate with hardly anything to accompany the cod. The cod was tasteless and the sauce underwhelming and both of us wished we been advised to order a side dish as there simply wasn’t enough to constitute a main meal on the plate in particular for the price point. We did feedback to the waitress who was polite and disappointed that our food hadn’t matched expectation I opted for a cheese board to compensate for our main meal which was very nice. There are a number of pubs that we visit to eat within a 10-15 miles radius across Shropshire, Staffordshire and Cheshire borders we have some exceptional meals sadly our experience at the White Lion was not and was at a higher price point than some of the competition that we also frequent.

We went for Sunday lunch with two friends. There was a great selection of starters, main courses and puds, just difficult to choose! Friendly staff, great local beers on offer. Thanks v much! We shall be back.

Great Sunday roast and great service would highly recommend.

Having organised a celebration meal with 4 friends, we were made welcome on our arrival. We all enjoyed our meals, the staff were excellent, and we all had a great time at the White Lion

First time here since it’s been done up and what a lovely place. The staff are very attentive and the food is very good. Will definitely be back.

Lovely atmosphere and decor and friendly efficient staff. Very tasty and plentiful Sunday Lunch.excellent value. Will definitely visit again.

Pros: A beautiful pub, great beer garden, good choice of beers and a great location. Cons: not great for vegetarians, £16 for a veggie sunday roast which had no meat alternative on it. Literally a plate of vegetables (which were cooked beautifully). My son had mac and cheese which turned out to be penne pasta in a slightly cheesy soup. Overall, a great pub slightly spoiled for us by the poor veggie options.

Great venue, good atmosphere and lovely food. Gemma was a great waitress, very attentive. Thanks

Brilliant service and food highly recommended

Wow what a lovely place. Fabulous, friendly staff and amazing food. Visit, you won't be disappointed.

Lovely food. A beautiful inviting establishment. Very good service. Neil is an excellent host.

Great service, fantastic food, friendly staff. Highly recommended.

We have supported this place since it’s reopened and have really enjoyed our experience with the place. However after going for lunch today we asked the lady serving us to ask the chef a simple question this resulted in a barrage of absentees from the kitchen including the chef explaining in no uncertain terms how he wished for us to suck on his male appendage. I have taken this as a clear case of sexual harassment aimed at my wife which I think is absolutely disgusting. All this was clearly heard from the restaurant. Completely discussed by the fact any employee of the white lion thinks this is the way to talk about and deal with customers. We will not be returning to the white lion until a new chief is employed. Unfortunately this means that we will not be able to have our work’s Christmas do here as we did last year but there is no way I will allow my customers to be in a situation we’re they could receive the abuse we have received today.

Nice relaxed atmosphere. Decor is lovely. Food was great. We were served by Hope, a lovely waitress.

Didn’t feel like cooking so popped to the Local and had a superb meal. Roast Pork and Cajun Chicken, followed by Strawberry Cheesecake (which we shared). Lovely meal. Possible won’t cook a lot in future, shall just pop down the road👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻 big thumbs up

Lovely Sunday lunch. Seven of us cleared out plates.

Lovely Sunday roast with sizable, hearty portion. Service was great.

Enjoyable meal and great service, sure to come again

Had a lovely meal with the family, great service by Neil and the food was amazing. Will be coming back!

Lovely food, good selection of beers, pleasant friendly staff and Neil the manager was a star.

Early family meal on Saturday evening. Staff very friendly and helpful. Food was delicious and piping hot. Lovely building with a large beer garden and dog friendly. Highly recommend!!

Popped on here at lunchtime for a beer as we passed it on the way to visit someone. Pleasant pub was busy for Saturday lunch which is good. Didn't have time for food but the menu looked good.

First time to the White Lion for a light bite birthday lunch, lovely atmosphere, great staff and most enjoyable food. We had the two course light lunch at £14.95 a head and couldn’t fault it. Thank you.

Lovely celebratory evening. Food was excellent as always. Great atmosphere and helpful staff especially Grace our waitress who was very attentive.

Really enjoyed the food and the atmosphere the place to be for a cocktail 🍸 just ask for Neil 👍👍👍

We love to come here with our family. Tasty food for the kids and us, as well as an excellent wines and staff.

Tasty food, friendly, excellent puddings.

Yet another fantastic meal in a wonderful setting - highly recommend you all visit here. Great service from Gemma and the team.

Wow, talk about food! Dont get me started on the staff, top notch. Natalie, Tom, Niel and Gemma all so accomodating and found us place when we walked in randomly at 8pm. Lucky us!

Natalie, Neil, Gemma and Thomas were great. Service was amazing and food was just as good.

I have just had the most amazing lunch and will recommend to all of my friends.

Lovely meal and Gemma was excellent !! Will defo be coming beck!!

This is our first visit snd we’ll be back, Sunday lunch was fabulous, we all had the roast beef, perfectly pink, just the right sized portion and wonderful gravy. The interior is very comfortable and tasteful and the staff are lovely. We will definitely return.

Lovely meal in a warm and welcoming pub that is well worth a visit. Catered with care and understanding for my rather demanding food allergies. Great staff… thank you !

Great food, lovely birthday meal will return

Came across the White Lion by accident so stopped for quick bite early afternoon. So glad we did. Quick bite turned into chicken schnitzel for 2 followed by cheese cake and chocolate brownie. Great freshly made food of good portion size. Also serves alcohol free Guinness! Will definitely stop here again.

We went there for a nice family dinner the 4 of us. Place is nicely located and interior decor is on spot! The staff was attentif and taking good care of us. The two stars rating on the food comes from the fact that out of 4 eating there 3 of us got sick from the food... not à really nice result after 100 pound dinner, isnt it?...

We just dropped on The White Lion driving home from our Campervan weekend. We dropped the van off and headed over for lunch. What an amazing place!!! Service was fab, drink choice perfect and the food was outstanding. We can't wait to return. Thank you so much for a lovely afternoon finishing off our bank holiday weekend ♥️

A surprise find. Turns out it's a community owned pub and a really good one too. Great service and great food.

Lovely place so chilled what ever you want they got

Wow, fab pub 👌🏼 a warm welcome given instantly which made the experience just fab. We came on the day of their annual music festival which was just amazing 👏🏼 Plenty of outdoor seating. Go find the secluded sun deck which is a nice touch. We didn't eat but the food looked rather nice. Will definitely be returning 💯

Lovely tasty meal, those Yorkshire puds and gravy, meat vegtables cooked to perfection, strawberry shortbread cheesecake well I thought I’d died and gone to heaven - very tasty. A ‘nice’ pub environment, all staff all really welcoming knowledgeable and attentive thank you for a lovely experience.

Lovely pub, very friendly staff and helpful. food and service A++++ will definitely be going back . 🤞🤛👍

This was our second visit and it was just as good the second time. Food was lovely and staff were friendly and hilarious. Will be returning for sure!

The team at the White Lion did an amazing job looking after us. Service warm, attentive and super friendly. Dinner was amazing and a couple of friends booked rooms to stay overnight and they were lovely too. Honestly, one of the nicest pubs I’ve been too.

Absolutely amazing first visit here. The staff were amazing, very friendly, attentive and professional. The food was delicious and the pub and grounds are beautiful. Thank you for making our Wedding Anniversary so special 🥰

We live this place. Never disappoints. Cozy atmosphere, great food.

The decor is beautiful. The staff were lovely and welcoming, they encouraged us to have a wander around and look at what has been done (it had been a long time since my last visit) Unfortunately we had to wait a long time for our food even though it wasn't very busy. This surprised me for 2pm Sunday lunch, especially with it being beautiful weather and the garden stunning. We asked for our beef to be medium to well done rather than pink (as advertised) It was still pink with some blood. The roast potatos were very hard to cut in to..sadly I couldn't eat all mine. I don't usually review but felt this time I had to because the pub itself has been renovated to such a high standard and the staff were amazing, it's just such a shame the food didn't quite match those standards

Fab pub, really nicely done inside and outside. Great outdoor terrace and very nice upstairs decking area. Good range of beers.

We had recently stopped for a snack after an underwhelming visit to Audlem (we're fairly new to the area) and after some decent snacks (Black pudding Scotch egg, chips etc) and a nice beer, we returned for a meal tonight. Firstly, the beers (Draft and keg) are great and it's nice to see a pub clearly trying to appeal to a wide audience get a decent ballance. Jute from Salt is a lovely beer, it must be said. What left us a bit despondent was the food. When we had snacks previously, we had high hopes, so ordered Chicken wings and garlic bread to start, followed by thr brisket pie and fish and chips. Nothing overly complicated but perfect for us. Short version was that the starters were simply OK; the lime chilli sauce that went with the wings was nice but the wings themselves lacked meat and were dry. Cheesy garlic bread is difficult to get wrong so no complaints. The mains are where it got difficult. The pie was impressive st first glance; solid, pulled brisket but when you got going you realised that it lacked gravy or any kind of veg to break up the meat. I'm not complaining massively here; I like a good meat pie but it was dense. Thr fish and chips, visually, was epic. Massive piece of fish, thick batter and big, chunky chips. However, that's where the good news ended; the batter was thick and stodgy like uncooked bread, and while I'm no expert, the fish was, average. My partner left most of it and whilst our hunger sated, our initial hope for good pub food does feel a little dashed. On the plus side, the bar and waiting staff were incredible and couldn't do enough to help, the beer was decent and the venue was a lovely place to dine. I would just ask that the food matched everything else as we'd be regulars, otherwise. (Footnote: No, we didn't complain because there were a few locals and we didn't want to cause an issue. The pub itself is beautiful and maybe we had a less than positive experience so I think we'll try again in the future. We may just leave it for a while)

Nice pub with an good selection of beers. Pub quiz was a bit hands off as youre handed the questions and left to it, an interesting concept but different. Staff were friendly and fun

Very poor lunch choice. Quality of chosen meals...terrible.

Went to the Murder Mystery on Friday 19th May.....superb night. The food was delicious, the bar has a fantastic choice and the real ales are well kept and all in lovely surroundings. Will definitely be visiting again. As for the Alsager Community Theatre, what a night they put on....I would highly recommend attending one of their Murder Mystery nights; so much fun.

Amazing, food was ace and staff were great 😊

Boxing Day lunch was our first visit to this old country pub. Impressed by the refurb, which has been tastefully done. I had nut roast for the main course, which was good and there was plenty of it, but the portion of vegetables was not by any means generous. However my mother, who had pork, was served with hardly any vegetables and no potatoes. As she eats very little, I just gave her some of my vegetables but I did ask the waitress about the conspicuous absence of potatoes. The waitress asked the chef and the answer was that the menu did not include potatoes with the pork. My response to that somewhat baffling reply is...why not? Why on earth would you not serve any potatoes with pork on the Boxing Day menu? In fact, why would a country pub serve any main course with no potatoes, a single cabbage leaf, ( seriously), one floret of cauliflower and a squirt of some kind of purée? If my 92 year-old mother had a bigger appetite I would have complained, but I'm sure that anyone with a normal appetite would have been very disappointed. I see that other diners have been very complimentary about the food, but personally I could not recommend it, ( unless you don't like vegetables!) Four months on and no comment about my review from the manager. They only seem to respond to good reviews, which I find quite strange. I think this probably indicates that negative customer feedback is unwelcome and likely to be ignored, which means they are not willing to improve. Needless to say we haven't been back and we won't be going again in the future.

Lovely building, friendly staff and stunning food. Would definitely call in again if we are ever out that way in the future.

Lovely food great service lovely pub

Ten of us went for my mums birthday meal..we had a fabulous time. The food was lovely. The service was amazing, the staff couldn't do enough for us, going above and beyond to make sure we were all ok especially my 3 year old nephew. A very enjoyable visit. We will definitely be returning and highly recommend to everyone.

An absolutely stunning meal at an absolutely stunning pub! We really had a fabulous time there celebrating a friend's birthday. Staff were really attentive and helpful. Food was stupendous- we were blown away to be honest. The White Lion is now our new go to pub!

Great food. Great atmosphere. Great staff. Thoroughly recommend.

Fantastic surroundings and food, complimented by exceptional service from Claire E. Look forward to a return visit.

Great atmosphere, great service and even better food. We love it here!

Lovely place..warm cozy and the staff are superb

Really nice inside and out .. food was good too ..👍

Lovely pub! Our local. Food and drinks are top quality, and staff are always lovely.

Friendly staff and great place for relaxing couple of beers on Friday afternoon 😁

Most of the menu had run out. Very poor food

Excellent service and friendly staff. Enjoyed the fish & chips and the rhubarb panna cotta the best I've tasted. Will definitely be back.

I haven't eaten there for a while as the servings were very small with very much of a nouveau cuisine style with nouveau cuisine prices. I believe that this has has all changed with more standard fare so I am willing to go back there and try their new menu. Stunning atmosphere and the staff are great.

Had a lovely meal here for the first time tonight. Lovely pub, nice atmosphere, lovely quality food at a good price. Service was excellent, I can only describe it as a happy environment. Will definitely go back, the garden areas looked lovely too for the summer.