The best restaurants serving British food in Chester City Cheshire West and Chester North West

Food excellent but service lacking unfortunately, think they may have had a rush on just before we arrived (but quiet when we arrived). We went for a special occasion and ordered the glasses of champagne for £10 each on arrival. We felt forgotten for at least the first 15 mins, which is a long time to wait without even a drink, this put a dampener on the rest of the meal unfortunately. We felt that we were a little inconvenient and left out.

Having been for afternoon tea once before, we were looking forward to a quality experience where we could sit outside in the garden and enjoy the ambience. When we arrived we were taken through to the garden room and when we asked if we could sit outside (on a glorious sunny day) were advised that work was being done and it would be noisy and dusty. Someone was stood waiting to take our order the second we were handed the menu for afternoon tea and it felt rushed a disorganised. Our order was taken, and then another staff member came to take it again… before the first staff member came back to take it again! We waiting a long time for a pot of tea to arrive and even longer for the afternoon tea. The food looked lovely on the stand and there was a good selection of flavours. The savoury snacks tasted fresh but the sandwiches were dry and the bread crispy, while the scones had the rubbery feel of having been microwaved. There was no butter with the scones but it came with jam and cream. The small desserts were nice but again a little dry. We ordered cocktails which were nice but the staff did not know what the drinks on the menu were, we asked for a long cocktail and got rocket fuel. The wait for the bill was ridiculous, well over half an hour and nobody came over to check we were happy with the food / drinks. When we went to the bar to ask for the bill, the team leader (who was lovely) came over and did apologise and take off the automatic service charge from the bill, but it still felt like a huge letdown after previous experiences. The staff were clearly new and inexperienced, with some just staring into space at times. There didn’t appear to be a teamwork dynamic and it led to poor service. I have sent a message to Oddfellows as I do not like to post negative reviews, but they have not replied so here we are.

The Boathouse seems to have got everything right, just quirky enough to stand out without being over the top, perfect location, beautiful relaxing restaurant where you can watch life on the river. Could have sat watching the ducks for hours. Rooms were newly refurbished, clean and had everything you could need. Free parking. Really made special by lovely welcoming staff from our early arrival to breakfast. Thanks, would definitely recommend.

Absolute belter of a night on a Friday

I was whisked in by my husband as he fancied a roast lunch. The small serving of meat was good but the rest of the dish was awful; the potatoes were hard and tasted odd, the stuffing ball was from a packet, inedible, the green beans were dried out, inedible, the carrots overcooked and the Yorkshire pudding was impossible to cut with the ridiculous wooden knife and fork! The meal was served in a cardboard box, smothered with glutinous gravy very disappointing and expensive for what it was.

Visited Chesters for lunch. The staff were all pleasant, After reading through the menu decided on fish and chips [£10.95] and coke. I didn't order the small portion as I was hungry. When it was brought to the table I've never seen such a small piece of fish and queried the portion size as I thought they had brought me the small one. But they hadn't. I can only assume the small size would have been half a fish finger. On paying I noticed they were charging £2.30 for the coke. It had said on the menu £1.95. When I queried the price I was told the £1.95 was for coke on tap and I'd had a can. RIP OFF PLACE [Or plaice}. AVOID

Better than last time I stayed, would recommend