Bar & Kitchen at The Whitaker - Rossendale

Helen M.

Sadly, The Whitaker Bar & Kitchen has gone dramatically downhill. It now seems to be run/supplied by a large catering company. The menus feature a logo for Elior and they've started displaying calorie content, which generally means you're eating in a business or chain with more than 250 employees.

You used to be able to get a really nice meal here, with fresh ingredients and staff that cared about what they were serving. Since reopening 2 weeks ago with a new menu, it now seems like the freshness, quality and portions have fallen off a cliff. My partner had a tiny jacket potato with tuna and an undressed salad. I had an absolutely tiny quiche with barely any filling and bizarrely sweet pastry. The chips were possibly from a bag in the freezer, or at the very least highly processed and ordered in. The Whitaker is a beautiful park and the museum is a local gem, but the bar and kitchen now unfortunately lets it down. The cost of living crisis is making it difficult for hospitality businesses, and I understand they're trying to cut costs wherever they can, but the quality is gone here. It feels like a total waste of money as a customer.

There are so many nicer places to eat and drink in Rawtenstall. Try the Stinky Chef, Siphon, A'Vucciria, the market stalls, or one of the many microbreweries and small bars instead.

Danny Y.

Used to be nice, somthing has happened to the kitchen /food... absolutely appalling, small and the food looks like it came ame from the supermarket reheated and served. I definitely wont be back, really disappointed.

Hayley S.

Great Sunday Roast. Really reasonably priced. My only negative would be how early they close on a Sunday, so I would say go before 14:00 so you have plenty of time.

Andrea H.

What a shame. I was really looking forward to the Sunday lunch today, only to be very disappointed. The menu was tiny, only a choice of beef or gammon, with a veggie option. We got both the beef and gammon but the meats were very dry. The Yorkshire puddings were flat discs, far away from the crispy, voluminous pudding that we had been used to. The mash tasted like it was out of a catering bag. We were one of two tables taken when we walked in and when we left, it was empty at peak Sunday lunch time.
£18.95 it was not.
Please return it back to what it was, if it’s not too late already.

Nikki W.

How disappointing!
We used to visit the cafe regularly and were looking forward to visiting again now the kitchen has reopened. Breakfast was awful. Limited opinions, basically sourdough with avocado plus toppings. The bread wasn't sourdough, more like cold dry hard farmhouse. The poached eggs were hard and the whole dish was cold. On a positive, the flat whites were nice. We offered feedback to the waiting staff, but no sign of the chef. Surely to improve the quality of the dishes, the catering staff need to engage with the customers and not just take 3rd party feedback!
The Friday morning atmosphere used to be buzzing! Today the cafe was virtually empty. Unfortunately, we won't be back anytime soon which is so sad, especially as this used to be our favourite spot.

Elaine K.

When paying £18.95 for a Sunday roast you would expect it to be exceptional. Sadly it was far from that. We ordered both the beef and gammon, the only other option on the whole menu was the veggie alternative. Both meats were very dry and tough, the mash potato looked and tasted like it had been microwaved, the yorkshires were tiny soggy flat discs and the veg very basic dry broccoli, half a carrot and red cabbage. There were only us and one other family in there today at 1pm. I understand it’s in the very new stages of having been taken over so I’m hoping that with constructive criticism it can get back somewhere near to how good it was before.

Linda H.

This review is delayed somewhat but recently went to the cafe with a friend for lunch and it was by no means busy. Several members of staff were stood chatting and 20 minutes later we had to ask one of the staff if we could order. We ordered coffees and Caesar salads. The salads arrived with spicy chicken, hardly any dressing and no parmesan cheese. When we complained the waitress said they had no plain chicken left and also no Parmesan cheese. At no point were we told of this. We were asked if we would like anything else but declined and refused to pay for the food which we didn’t eat but paid for the drinks. Will not be returning as the service has been bad for quite some time now. It’s a shame really as the food is nice usually.

Niela S.

My husband and I used to come to this cafe a lot but it’s really gone downhill and the prices are scandalous! On Sundays, they now only do two options on the menu which is a meat roast dinner or vegetarian roast dinner, that’s it - will set you back £19!!! Manchester prices for a little town is ridiculous! We also got an old mout cider for £7.50!! What?! Anywhere else it’s about £5! Honestly, I was shocked. Definitely won’t be returning unless something changes.