Reviews in Blackburn

We have eaten here a few times & as we live locally we have ordered food to takeaway and I have to say each time I have been disappointed. Not cheap to eat here & I would say no differnt to any other restaurant, nothing special, not a lot of meat & alot of sauce, food catered for the english market - should be more authentic. We went to celebrate an 18th - they actually forgot to 'sing happy birthday' everyone else seemed to have their turn but not us, i telephoned the next day & i was told to come back & they would make a fuss - Sorry but you only have 1 18th & 1 chance to make it special - let down.

Staff very hard working, disagree with 1 comment of a high staff turnover, we have been eating here for years & mostly the same staff have stayed there, other than that staff stay a few years then go to university - the same for any restaurant. Food is excellent, reasonably priced, nicely decorated, would recommend anyone trying.

We had an excellent meal at The Clog yesterday. A superior Ploughmans Platter to share for a starter. Followed by an exceptionally tasty Mutton Pudding with Black Peas and capers and A toad in the hole. The Chianti was good and reasonable at only £20. Great value considering the quality of food, service and ambience.

I ate here on Sunday with my friends, the service was good and the portions sizes are massive….well price and make sure you are very hungry before you go because you will be full to bursting when you leave!!!

Visited the Clog for the third time, since the refurb. I Have not been disappointed yet. All members of my party enjoyed the food and service was good as always. It does get very busy from about 6pm on a Saturday so you need to go early as they don't take bookings. It is much more relaxed on weekday evenings. recommend the steak with green peppercorn sauce.

3 of us went to The Clog last night and it was superb. It is really hard these days to find a gastro pub/restaurant that gets everything right, but I am pleased to say this has been done by the owners of RVI. The wine menu is superb and caters for every pallet, I do recommend the Chablis (at £29 a bottle it is a bit steep considering it is not a premier cru but still enjoyable). On the food aspect, we really could not decide what to have as the choice was excellent. We decided to go straight to main course and save room for dessert (and we where right to do so as the portion sizes where very good !) We had lobster and partridge from the specials and Goosnargh chicken. We did have to wait a while for this but presume this was because of the lobster (the delay was very well handled by the staff and we were kept informed of the wait at all times). This food was well worth the wait though. We could not fault a single thing about any of the meals. For dessert we had blackberry crumble (off the specials), jam roly poly and choclate and orange pudding and yet again we where not disappointed. Never before have I had a crumble in a restaurant that was cooked just like my Mumm used to! It was evident all through the meal that this food is prepared and cooked in house by excellent chefs (not bought in pre cooked like so many places). The decor and layout are perfect for any occasion, service, staff and atmosphere was very good. We were lucky when we arrived and got a table straight away but some friends have advised of 20 - 30 minutes wait for a table. Bookings are only taken on tables of 6 and over. On the whole this was an excellent night and as we were so torn between what to choose on the menu I am sure it will not be long before we return and try something else!

5 stars! A better option than any of the other choices in the area. Particularly liked the nibbles.

Well done to the chefs and waiters - we had a great night. Everything was perfect. Thank you.

Went to The Clog & Billycock last night and was thoroughly impressed. All 3 courses were delicious but the clear winner was the tripe, trotters and black pudding. The presentation of all the food was great but there was a very big wait for our desserts ... luckily it was worth the wait!

I always like to be at the opening of a new ribble valley inn. So here i was with friends on a tuesday evening. I know that they were probably still bedding in. Therefore my gripes will have hopefully disappeared when i go the next time. For starters we went for the lightly battered cauliflower with a curry mayonnaise and the mini sausages. Love em. Then i ordered the ribs.. Gutted, they hadn't been cooked long enough. Still tough. Lets just say i'm using the three fishes ribs as the bench mark. Then i ordered the mutton pudding, absolutely gorgeous, the mutton tender. What completely spoiled it for me though was that it looked like they had used the sauce from the ribs with the peas in and covered the mash with it. The venue itself is what you'd expect from the RVI group. You cannot fault it. Oh and the Pinotage was at the right temperature and drunk a dream.

i wouldn't recommend going, i found there wasn't much of a variety on the menu, yes you get alot for your money but on the sign outside it says homecooked, i got a chicken curry with rice and chips the curry and rice tasted worse than a microwave one and the chips was frozen ones, i also waited 45 mins for them to bring desert which i thought was terrible theyd cleaned other peoples plates away who had finished and turned up after us. overall 3/10

We went to Clog and Billycock the next day after their opening. We enjoyed the very British menu. I had whitebait for starters while my husband had the pork ribs with chick peas. Both were excellent and the quantities were big. I had the lobster from specials menu and hubby had mutton pudding for mains and they were deliciously cooked. Starting quibbles or teething troubles...I don't know but the waitress offered us to look at the desserts menu even before we got the mains!. And she did it twice?? Nevermind :) We had to skip the desserts as we were too full by this time. The wine list and beer list was good too. I recommend it highly, kids are welcome and its a great place for family meals. Its a very posh looking pub and they have refurbished the place with a bit of class and style.

Tried the Clog and Billycock on Sunday night. I've always wondered why this place has not done well - and in this refurbished guise it ought to. So, first impressions are good - well laid out, welcoming, unfussy and good decor. Bit of a wait for a table but handled well. Pleasant service and good wine list. Nice varied menu. Starters were ribs, whitebait and potted shrimps - all good, good portions and well presented - to be honest the ribs were probably the best and the devilled black peas were a good touch. Mains were veal, chicken and toad in the hole. OK portions, well cooked and presented although the plank is a bit OTT ( you'll know what I mean if you go). Desserts were lemon meringue and a superb ice cream - both excellent. House champagne is good value and good. Overall I'd say this deserves to do well as it provides decent value without pretension. Starters and desserts ( in that order) were the stars.

Very nice new restaurant by the Northcote team. Great location, service, atmosphere and food. We has 3 courses, all perfectly cooked and served - the tripe, trotters and black pudding was spot on.

Having just returned from The Clog And Billycock in Pleasington the first thing i am doing is writing this review as the experience is still fresh in my mind. The food was excellent! To start we had some deep fried cauliflower and sausages which were excellent! For our starters i had the ribs done in lovely sauce which came with some really nice black beans to garnish and my wife had the deep fried whitebait - equally delicious! Our main courses were hot pot and fish pie which were cooked perfectly and tasted great!! No room for desert as the portions were very generous. Will definitely be going again and recommending it to my friends!

Very average food. Dirty and stained seat covers. Rude barstaff. Never again.

Yu & Yu is at first blush a highly desirable anglicized Cantonese restaurant in the very pleasant Ribble Valley. On further investigation, the substance is revealed to be far less than the form. Once you are over the exotic cars in the parking lot, ranging from Bentleys to Porsche Cayenne Turbos, the weak service, average food and pretentiousness will be all too clear. I have visited Yu & Yu maybe 5 or 6 times in the last couple of years with an average spend of approximately 60 pounds per person. In the Ribble Valley there truly is no comparison. The interior is like a “W Hotel” on steroids, the music is cool jazz / ambient music and the ikea-esque furniture creates an interior atmosphere that is by any account “cool” for the 20 and 30 somethings, all the way through to my retired parents. The food similarly, has not much to compare to. In my world, compare the food, at a basic level, to that of Guide Village Cantonese from the early 1990s. (Note that it should be pointed out that the food comparison is really only valid for my early visits to Yu and Yu.) Tonight, I have arrived home deeply disappointed. The food was ok. Not exceptional by a long way. The shrimp / prawn dishes contained few prawn, and were more Cho’s Takeaway than an impressive Cantonese restaurant (and 16 pounds for very few small shrimp with ginger borders on the ridiculous). The duck however, remains an impressive dish, though at 21 pounds for a half duck, so it should. (For reference, either branch of the Peking Duck House in New York, considered to be likely the best in New York, charges US$40 for a whole duck). The Vermicelli noodles had the spice of a limp cucumber, and the shrimp tempura batter was like chip shop batter from the Blackpool seafront after it has been regurgitated by a drunk football fan. The biggest disappointment however was the service. From walking up to the bar and asking for a menu, through to the coffees at the end of the meal (we gave up on the coffee: more than15 minutes wait with only approximately 10 other people in the restaurant, and 5 staff at 10.15pm on a Monday is unacceptable) the service was woeful. I spoke to the gentleman who appeared to be in charge after the initial appetizers about the service, but the improvement in service lasted barely a course or so. His father, who I understand maybe the owner, was sat at the bar listened when I cancelled the coffee at the end of the evening and did nothing. My personal viewpoint is that there are enough people with silly money walking into this place that there is a fantastic complacency here and that the management team doesn’t care. I had zero bill credit, left a “standard” tip, and only received a response that my comments were appreciated. For those who wish to flame me, I have lived in Hong Kong, and traveled and worked widely in Asia, and currently live in New York, so I have visited many of the comparable restaurants, in Asia and New York, and understand the balance between service, food quality, experience and price. In summary, in my opinion, Yu and Yu is overpriced mediocrity, with a bent towards miserable service. Management would be well advised to wake up to how much the place has slipped over the last couple of years.

We visited last night for the first time after hearing so much about it. The restaurant was packed and we were lucky to get a table straight away. The atmosphere was very authentic and we liked the way that we could see right into the kitchen from where we were sitting and could see everybody hard at work. I opted for king prawns in garlic, tomato and ginger which were served with rice and salad and were lovely. My husband had mussels in a creamy garlic sauce (both starters were on the special menu) The mussels were cooked to perfection and have converted me! With the starters being so good we awaited our pizzas with eager anticipation, however we were sorely disappointed. I can only describe mine as a sloppy mess which was a nightmare to eat. My husband had chosen from the special menu (smoked salmon crayfish and spring onion) and again although the flavours were good the pizza was spoiled by the fact that the cheese and tomato were so gloopy and would not even stay on the fork. That said we will go back as we had seen some lovely food go out to the other tables - we just won't be having pizza!!