Reviews in Ambleside

A proper traditional pub set within arguably the finest scenery in the world. A drinkers/diners heaven

My husband and I first visited Lucy4 on its opening night in1999 whilst visiting Ambleside to celebrate our engagement. We revisited this weekend to celebrate 10 years of marriage and the whole ambience of the place is superb, just as we remembered. The food was fabulous with a fantastic variety on the menu. The staff are very attentive. We both particularly enjoy tapas and found the portions to be very generous. I would not hesitate to recommend this restaurant.

Popped in for tea and cake at 2.30pm on 25/10/09. We got lots of cake! We ordered a carrot cake and chocolate sponge. Huge portions! Made fresh on site. Moist and delicious! Well worth a visit. They also have a dining menu if you require a meal.

Wonderful food at this artisan cafe restaurant. We had a chicken Tagine and a rosti with freshly squeezed orange juice. The venue has real charm and the service was good. A must for lunch if in Ambleside.

Fantastic stripped down raw pub the ODG. This place has real character. It used to be a cattle shed and still retains those features. Its full of hikers and rock climbers so the food is hearty as well as being tasty. Great selection of beers too. Its very popular due to this and its awesome location in the Langdale valley. It is also a hotel and has a more refined restaurant if thats more your thing. A must if in Langdale and better than its newer namesake.

If you only eat at one place when you are in ambleside it must be Lucy's..We go up to Ambleside twice a year and Lucy's is always a definate for us. From reading the menu to paying its always been an enjoyable experience.. The menu is a excellent choice of food..Starters are a plenty ...Main Courses make your mouth water and the puddings (if you can manage one) are wonderful If you get the pleasure of meeting Lucy it's a pleasure..She is lovely and has always made us feel really welcome

Visited on Thurs 23 July and we were so impressed we returned the following evening. Prawns in tempura batter were the best ever, deep fried brie was light and tasty. The steaks (T-bone and fillet) were full of flavour and cooked perfectly. Not exactly cheap, but worth every penny they were so good. On the second night the stroganoff and the wild boar were also excellent. The service was attentive and charming. Wish we could have stayed in Ambleside longer to sample the whole menu. Not much to add, except that both meals we had were truly excellent, and we're thinking of returning to Ambleside in the future just on the strength of this restaurant.

During our holiday in the Lake District my boyfriend and I had a wonderful dinner here. They have a varied and very tasty menu, for very very reasonable prices. (at the time 20 for 2 course meal and cinema ticket) But don't expect a dirt cheap meal in a dirt cheap atmosphere! Expect a dirt cheap meal in a very classy environment. This newly opened restaurant is is very stylish and gives a total experience. Both the quality of the food and staff approaches some high profile (Michelin) restaurants I've been to, but paid 10X more. (and by the way, it's vegetarian)

I visited this inn a few years ago and can honestly say this was the most unwelcoming experience I have ever had in the Lake District. Our presence at the bar was ignored, any decent ales were off and we were asked to move from the fire (despite being completely drenched and the only guests there.)

Reasonable prices for Ambleside,service very slow though, we waited half an hour to place our order and then a further 15 minutes for the food and the pub was only half full. Meals are nothing to write home about, just bog standard pub food really, with plates looking full due to plenty of lettuce!. OK but average.

small pub so get there early. The bar meals are lovely and the steaks cooked to perfection to your liking (with proper chips!). Friendly staff and reasonable prices for food and drinks. Would definitely recommend.

We never visit the Lakes without visiting this restaurant. The food is superb and Chris, Busara and their staff are polite and attentive. Be sure to book at busy times, the premises are quite small and we see people turned away every time we are there.

Pricey, poor service, but great food. If you can put up with the prices and lack of service - ie. if you ain't in a hurry, the food is very nice.

We have visited the Spice of Bengal many times over the years and have never been disappointed.The curries are wonderful (and we are from Bradford, the home of curry houses!),very authentic dishes.we always look forward to going. Only drawback is that they charge extra for poppadoms etc. which are always free back home, but hey, it is in a tourist area. Well worth a visit if you like curries.

I visited "Lucy's on a plate" yesterday (02.03.09) with my family. We stumbled across it by accident when out for a mooch around the town! I was very disappointed. Firstly, the cutlery they brought was dirty, the salt & pepper mills were dirty and there were crumbs and slops/spills all along the windowledge. Not very appealing. Decided to eat anyway and give it a whirl as it seemed quite busy. After waiting quite a while to be served (it was busy though) we ordered and waited around 10 mins for food (nice and quick for a busy afternoon. Me and my Mum ordered the rarebit which was quite tasty but nothing special (just one piece cut into 4 with some salad in the middle). My dad however ordered one of the rostis. When it came you could see it was completely swimming in grease. My dad is not a fussy eater at all, but he really did not enjoy it and could only eat about 1/3 because it was so sickly from the grease. I tried a bit and was not impressed at all. OK it could have just been a bad choice but when the waitress asked if our meal was ok and my Dad said his was quite tasty but far too greasy to eat (he was very polite and was not expecting money off or anything) she was very short with him and said "well that's just a hazard of ordering fried food isnt it!!" She really seemed to take offence that he had criticized the food. I can forgive anything apart from rude staff and she certainly put me off going back. I always try to give restaurants the benefit of the doubt and think maybe we just ordered the wrong food but general uncleanliness and the attitude of that one particular waitress made me think I will definitely be giving Lucys a miss next time I am in the Lakes.

First time visit to Zeffirelis after a recommendation. Was wary at first (being a dedicated carnivore) as the menu is vegetarian but the food was excellent and a really nice atmosphere. Didn't do the meal/cinema offer but wish we had!

We were hopeful of a good meal at Lucy's on a Saturday lunch time. We were shown to our table for two, a young waitress took our order and we waited for our drinks. The drinks eventually arrived, we started to wonder where our food had got to, eventually after 45 minutes we were told our order would be a few minutes, 10 minutes later it arrived and it was the wrong order! The waitress apologized and said they could send for the food again, it would only take a few minutes! All this for Soup of the Day and Cheese on Toast. We walked out in disgust after wasting an hour waiting for our lunch. Lucy you need to sort out your service problems or you will lose your customers. We will not be returning.

What a find! Ambleside has a host of eateries, but this one outshines them all; friendly knowledgeable staff, reasonable prices and above all, great food cooked by someone who cares about flavours. Go for the early evening option, before 7; 3 courses for £14.95. The place was busy, but we were served promptly and even had time to go to the cinema opposite for the 8.30 showing.