The Whitchaff – Townsend Fold (A Tasteem Review)
Where to eat for my blind date? I have in the past been to restaurants I have never eaten on a first date, but not a blind one.
As I’m happily married now it’s unlikely Ill be having any blind dates in the future, and visiting this one may have worked out depending on the potential partner, what they ordered and their tolerance to screaming babies!
The Whitchaff at Townsend Fold is highly rated on TripAdvisor. So much so that we picked it to visit today for my mothers birthday.
With four hungry mouths to feed it had better live up to expectations. I booked ahead as reading the TA reviews it does get busy.
No problems with reservations several hours before, so a good start.
The residence looked like a typical pub from the outside and I got that impression when stepping in. The difference was there were no pissheads propping up the bar; more families eating in the bar area.
So far so good; I’m not a fan of the old style pubs where people gather just to get drunk, and not much else. Fortunately these kinds of places are becoming scarcer now in the UK.
We were ushered though to the restaurant section which is an adjoining room. There were a couple of tables already taken, one with a large family with two screaming toddlers.
OK, so not the best start. @dismayedworld, my 14 year old daughter is not fond of screaming nippers and showed her distaste to us. We tried to ignore the family trying to calm down their toddlers and turned out attention to the menu.
The selection was quite large compared to some places we have visited.
A specials page too, and then the traditional roast which seemed rather good value compared to some of the other dishes at £8.95.
After some deliberation I chose the Whole Tail Scampi at £9.95, @bingbabe the Chicken & Steak Sizzler at £12.95 (she always goes for the expensive stuff!), @dismayedworld ordered the Chilli Con Carne at £8.95 and my mum, the Homemade Lasagne at £8.95.
That’s quite a range of food and surely there must be something good among all these?
The service was OK at best. The restaurant was starting to fill up at this point so I can understand there may be a little waiting but it was probably 25 minutes before the food arrived. Not quick but not overly slow either.
The food was something of a mixed bag. I thought the Scampi was a little plain but enjoyed it. Maybe at £2 cheaper it would be a better deal, whereas @bingbabe was stating that the sizzler was bland. She finished it before everyone else though. That’s hunger for you!
@dismayedworld’s verdict was simply, ‘OK.. yeah good’, while my mum was raving over the Lasagne.
We decided to try the desserts and I wish we hadn’t. Not because they were bad, but it was another 25 minute wait for delivery. Does a Sticky Toffee Pudding and a Strawberry Crème brûlée really take that long to prepare?
I got bored waiting and had to visit the bathroom. On my return @bingbabe had already finished the brûlée denying me a photograph. The sticky toffee was very rich and with pouring cream even more so.
Fortunately @bingbabe helped me finish it off! I really don’t know where she puts it all.
Just over £60 for people with an extra drink and two desserts should be considered reasonable, but I felt a little short changed. If the food is wonderful, I really don’t mind but considering only a portion was I don’t think we will be going back to the The Whitchaff at Townsend Fold.
I usually post these reviews on the Facebook pages of the restaurants. I’m not sure if I should on this occasion. Not all reviews can be positive and this one is somewhere in the middle.
Other Links:
https://www.robinsonsbrewery.com/pubs-inns-and-hotels/find-a-pub/t-z/thewhitchaff
https://www.facebook.com/TheWhitchaff/
Restaurant Information
The Whitchaff Inn
371 Bury Rd, Rawtenstall, Rossendale BB4 6EH, UK
This post participated in the Tasteem contest Where to eat for my blind date?
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another great review! looks like a nice place for some good food. Shame about the service tho. Keep up the great work!
FOR TSE: I rather feel sorry for restaurants and the problem of children who misbehave. Nobody like to listen to screaming kids ... or ones who wander over to your table and make a nuisance of themselves while their parents don't seem to notice.
Short of creating a scene, I don't know how the managers or owners can handle that though. There are places who've tried banning children under ten -- and they get all kinds of flack.
They'd get my business though -- in a heartbeat.
I guess it's a good thing I live to cook. <--- That's actually a Freudian typo. I meant to say I love to cook, but it seems my subconscious mind has a grander idea about that. So I'll just leave it, untouched, uncorrected. Truth is where you find it.
To be fair, the parents of the squawkers were doing a good job of gagging them, its when they ignore them and it continues that I get somewhat pissed.
I have been accosted my angry mums before when challenging them, they are a dangerous breed, so I keep away these days.
Lasagna looks tempting because I really like lasagna.
The good review
Nice write up! I can totally tell what you were talking about with the food just by looking at the pictures. That is too bad that it didn't live up to the hype, but good that you were able to get a decent meal that filled you up.
OMG! That sticky toffee pud looks GOOD! I'd go there just for that.
It was good, but I felt quite bad for just eating it... if you know what I mean :)
I don't know what else you'd do with it! I never feel bad about eating sticky toffee pud!
That was quite a meal! I like you are doing this ta steem thing! Maybe I should do it in some of my places here in Romania, they surely also have some interesting restaurants! I am going to read a bit more about it.
Delicious food and for 60 bucks considering what you brought, seems fair to me, at least when you live in the UK:)
Now if you don't mind, I'm off to eat cause I just suddenly got hungry AF. lol.
There was some variety as well all ordered different things. Not good on the whole though, there's better places in the same town that have worse TripAdvisor reviews.
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Looks like a very nice place a cool style outside and very nicely laid out on the inside,
The screaming toddlers can be annoying at times, but I remember when I had young girls and a couple of times one of them was grumpy so i try and not let that get to me, but sometime sit is hard.
the food sounds great i would have gone for the Chicken & Steak Sizzler
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