Reviews in Liverpool and Merseyside

A little known and seemingly under appreciated small bistro in Birkdale. Recently had the lamb & ham dishes, both cooked to perfection. Decently sized portions, anything extra not needed as such excellent quality food. All reasonably priced, where as other restaurants would charge well over the odds for the same dishes. Will definitely be returning again soon.

Found esteban in the Liverpool good food guide. I came on Halloween and the atmosphere was lovely. Definitely best kebabs in Liverpool! Staff looked great in costume, not too sure about the witch that was floating about though. Reasonably priced as well. Next time we're on the lane we're coming back

Really enjoyed the food nice and spicy

Cant understand why I am the first to do a recommendation on this lovely restaurant! Have been to Bistro Pierre many times over the years and found Bistro Franc a month ago and had a brilliant lunch. Last night we booked for the Pre-Theatre menu at 6.00 and arrived to find the place almost full to bursting. The service from all the staff was absolutely fantastic - they were SO busy, SO professional and SO pleasant! The Maitre d runs a very tight ship and the result is a great experience for everyone. Absolutely couldn't fault it - fantastic meal and SUCH good value - I don't know how they do it. Thank you all x

I came here a few times a couple of years ago and always really enjoyed it, the staff were friendly and attentive, the food was reasonably priced with good portion sizes and everything was clean. Last night was a different story. While reading this please bear in mind I'm not a food snob in the slightest, we were debating nandos/chinese and ended up going for a chinese. Four of us arrived and the waiter said 'go over there in the corner' and handed us one menu. The table cloth was dirty. Eventually one of the female staff members we recognised from coming a few years ago apologetically came over with more menus and took our drinks orders. Then the waiter came for us to order our food. We decided to go for a banquet for 4 and change some of the mains, the waiter laughed and said it would cost £2.50 extra. He didn't make it clear if this was per head of per meal that we changed, so we had to keep asking him til he made it clear that it was £2.50 extra per head! The banquet was already £17.80 per head and the difference between the meals we were trying to swap was clearly not £2.50 a head, so the waiter said he would go and check. He came back and confirmed this. We said it didn't make sense, so he offered to go and get his manager, we agreed...then he just stood there! We decided to get a banquet for three and my boyfriend ordered his own main. Now in this and most other Chinese restaurants, when I order a banquet I expect the starters to be a portion of each, and that was our logic so that my boyfriend could share the starters with us but not have to pay £10 extra to change meals around! Starters turned up...3 bowls of soup (we expected that, fair enough) but it wasn't very hot. Then they put out 4 plates (one dirty which we changed) 3 ribs, 3 quarters of prawn toast, 3 satay sticks and 3 spring rolls...and a bit of seaweed in the middle. I was not happy in the slightest, but the staff didn't come over once to check if the food was ok, only came to ask if we wanted more drinks when they were clearing the table. I'm not one that likes to complain so I didn't know what to do/say, ended up not saying anything. Then the duck came. Two legs and 12 pancakes...it probably equated to a quarter duck. The mains came, in fairness they were really tasty and on dishes the size you'd get at a normal banquet, but the rice was a bit cold. My boyfriend had ordered his own chicken fried rice and this wasn't very hot but he said it was ok. Then we had the usual fruit at the end. We had to wait ages to find a member of staff we could ask for the bill, then had to get up and go to the till ourselves to pay. I left feeling full but ripped off. My boyfriend left feeling hungry and ripped off. We didn't feel like we had been treated as valued customers or even customers, we were practically ignored. The portions might have needed be down sized in the recession but it stops people coming back for more. Used to love it here so really disappointed. Won't recommend. Won't be visiting again. No wonder it was empty in there.

Went for the first time last night. Absolutely wonderful! Service was excellent, staff friendly and helpful. Seasonal produce superbly cooked and presented. Cannot praise Bistrot Verite highly enough. Looking forward to going again.. and again.. and again!!

I went for a working lunch with 10 colleagues and have to say this place was fantastic. The food was of a superb quality, and stater and main course was served within a hour, with a drink (san miguel), all for £9.40. It was just enough to not leave me uncomfortably full, and perfect for a lunchtime bite - highly recommended and the service was second to none, unlike other venues in Liverpool one.

WOULD NOT RECOMMEND THIS RESTAURANT AFTER THE WAY THE MANAGER SPOKE TO US ON THE TELEPHONE REGARDING A BOOKING. HE WAS VERY RUDE AND UNPLEASANT. WE'VE BEEN GOING THERE EVERY YEAR BUT WILL NEVER GO THERE AGAIN. THE STAFF WERE PLEASANT BUT THE MANAGER NEEDS A LESSON IN POLITENESS.

we have been the gate so many times we've lost count,we love the :bunko booths!: food is always excellent been to many others but always go back to the gate the chicken pokoras are the best ive ever tasted,it could do with up dating but this does not have any bearing on how gooood the food is . the staff are very welcoming and not pushy! always 10/10...

Lovely meal, simple but lovely! We went on a Sunday teatime because we had a 2 for 1 voucher on main courses! So we got two steak frites for the price of 1! The steaks are lovely and we had mussels to start and the french onion soup yum! Didnt try the puds as we were too full but what we saw other customers having looked good! give it a try, well worth it and even better if you have a 2 for 1 voucher!

Fabulous, cosy meeting place. Great loose leaf teas and the most delicious paninis and cakes. I'd highly recommend the Mars Bar Cheesecake...mmm! Friendly staff and relaxed atmosphere. Kid friendly too with child-sized snacks, cups and plates :) Really clean loo too (weird thing to comment on maybe, but it's important to me!)

had a great meal at spire on saturday night ,love the laid back atmosphere and the attentive nature of the staff.

thanks to everyone at spire for my daughters 30th birthday. food ,service superb,chocolate plate with candle was a wow factor which went down very well .thanks again .paul

The best scones in Liverpool!

Karma quite simply delivers the finest Indian / Bengali food I have eaten. I have eaten at the Red Fort in Soho, Heswall Tandoori, Shimla Pinks in Solihull and other leading establishments and non compare. Not only is the food fresh and always impeccable, the setting and ambiance is also first class. Their menu is perfect, has around 10 starters and 15 mains with a small number of classics. Well done to Karma for not trying to be experts in preparing 150 dishes that can normally be found in typical asian establishments. It’s not often one can find themselves in a position to pass a rave review but in this case its entirely justified. The whole experience of eating at Karma is backed up through exceptional service and Makon, Babul, Pepe and Hussain are in my opinion worthy of world class status. Great food! Great setting! Great service! Keep up the good work.

What can I say - best Meze in the Business, we keep saying we will have something else, but the Meze is that good we choose it every time!! Gerry really is the best Greek Chef and we are lucky to have this restaurant on our doorstep. We are regular visitors to Greek and Cyprus and his Meze is by far the best. Maria is smashing too, all in all a great double act - do yourself a favour and go to Othellos you will not be disappointed.

one of the best restaurants i have been to, amazing food and value for money, with stunning views................................... will visit again and again.

I would like to thank you all for making my Mum's 80th birthday a really memorable one on the 3rd October. We had a fantastic time and Maria, Gerry and Paddy(?) made such an amazing impression on us all. The food was simply brilliant and the bottle of ouzo hit the spot for most of us! The kleftiko was as good as I’ve had, even the ones I’ve had in Greece! I didn’t realise but we were in the restaurant for 4 hours but the time flew by and we weren’t hurried out at all. We must have got really loud at the end as well, oops sorry! If I lived closer I would be in there every week, it was that good, but alas I will now have to wait for Christmas. Once again, many thanks Simon