The best restaurants serving British food in Read and Simonstone Ribble Valley North West

Delicious full English by the River , lovely log burner too

Firstly I have to make clear that the restaurant manageress understood what a terrible experience we had here and did not accept any payment for the food, although we did eat only a little of it. We booked as a group of 6 to celebrate my wife's birthday with her family. On entering we were put off to begin with by the dated and odd surroundings - with a trendy name such as 'Fitzy's Restaurant' it was not at all what we expected. It had a 1980s feel about it - certainly the high backed dark faux leather chairs were popular in that era. They felt that old too, no longer having padding in the seat. Some of us tried changing but they were no different. After a 40 minute wait and a reminder to the bar staff 5 of our 6 starters eventually arrived. The manageress herself brought the missing one a few minutes later apologising. She then saw for herself that the food was not cooked - the crumbed coating being hot but the centre stone cold. Clearly an error with the microwave. Meanwhile my wife was served her chicken wings covered in a thick gooey sauce, not something to attempt to eat with a knife and fork. When asked for a finger bowl a waitress arrived with a bowl containing no water. Fawlty Towers at it's best. It became clear that none of the waiters were trained - not having the skills or knowledge required to work in a restaurant. Nothing was offered by any of them - everything that is usually on the table had to be requested such as salt, vinegar, ketchup. Not once were we asked if there was anything we needed. The menu on the day bore no resemblance to the sample menu published on the restaurant's website which was the reason we chose it hsving two vegetarians in the group. As it turned out they had a choice of a pasta with a tomato sauce, or cheese and onion pie, obviously again microwave meals. Tiny pieces of overcooked pie were served with a few chunky 'chips'. Our great niece was served undercooked, gristly chicken in her burger which we did not allow her to eat. Our great nephew ordered a side dish of garlic bread which arrived as a small slice of bread cut in two with a spreading of garlic butter. This was an extra for £6 ! He then ate his first chip to find a hair on the plate underneath. It was at this point we all gave up to return home to order a takeaway. My wife and I, both in our mid 70s have eaten in many restaurants around the UK and around the world when travelling. We can honestly say that this was our very worst experience in any restaurant.