Lucy’s of Ambleside

i could not believe the previous reviews of this restaurant on your site. My husband and I have both travelled extensively worldwide and we loved this restaurant. There was none of the pomposity and subservience of so many good restaurants, but a relaxed, friendly atmosphere created by Lucy and the staff. They seemed to really care whether we enjoyed our food and we certainly did. We ate there two consequitive nights. In four meals we sampled chicken, venison, lamb and steak and every meal was cooked and presented superbly. The two desserts I had were 'to die for'. Additionally for me, with a recent diagnosis of Coeliac Disease, virtually every dish on offer was naturally or could be cooked 'gluten free' (even the desserts). To us this restaurant was the perfect combination of wonderful hospitality and great food. It made our holiday memorable. 

So disappointed with this place, so many restaurants get the basics badly wrong, good service costs nothing and can make a bad restaurant half-decent, the staff here although friendly enough, were not at all skilled in basics of hospitality, after ordering the £30 bottle of Red, to have it plonked onto the table already open raised a few eyebrows for a start! It would surprise me if there was a qualified chef working here, the starter, antipasti, was straight out of the packet crap and the mains: Venison - overcooked, fish & chips - undercooked and the rib-eye - overcooked and more like a minute-steak than a prime cut of rib-eye, and as for dessert, we'll never know because we gave up waiting for a waiter/ waitress to take our order after 25-minutes...A good restaurant manager and a qualified chef could really improve things here, but until then, save your money and go elsewhere! 

On this, our second visit to Ambleside in July, we decided to book here as we had read good reviews on trip advisor. After waiting for almost 20 minutes outside in the heat, we were all herded in and led to our tables. Drinks took a while to arrive at the table and all the waiters and waitresses were running around almost in a state of confusion before our drinks order was taken, probably because there was not enough of them to serve the needs of a full restaurant. We could hardly understand what the waiter (who was actually a nice chap) was saying because he seemed to be quite shy and nervous. We both had the sharing board to start which looked rather uninspiring and unceremoniously dumped in small white bowls on what looked like a small cricket bat! Overpriced ! for what was actually on the plate. We then both had the venison, which was beautifully cooked pink, was very tasty and well presented, unlike the first dish and was the only saving grace of the evening. We decided to opt out of a dessert as the restaurant was beginning to empty, ready for the qeue of people already beginning to wait outside. We were almost ignored by the waiters because they obviously had too much to do to be worried about the needs of us mere diners! An elderly lady, who I presume is the manager briefly spoke to us but was not as nice toward her waiters, which made us feel uncomfortable. Overpriced for what is actually on the plate and not a very welcoming atmosphere, rather a hectic one. A different experience for all the wrong reasons. We will not be returning.