Hollow Tree

I made the mistake of ignoring the poor reviews which date back over the last 18months.

I am so sorry I didn’t just take my party of 8 relatives elsewhere.

Insufficient staff to deal with the modest number of customers.

1 bar staff

1 food server

1 cook?

We had to wait 30 mins to see our food. it was not busy.... 

And what a load of rubbish was served, 3 out of the 8 meals were inedible, 2 were barely warm

The real ale was cloudy sour tasting and left on the table when we left.

The assistant manager accepted our complaints and reduced the bill accordingly from £105 to £92.00

I still feel aggrieved that I have wasted £90 with your business. Luckily you can’t really spoil coke ….

But the family get together was completely spoilt by your failure to provide an acceptable level of service

I did not expect al a carte but I did expect edible food and not some fish slop in batter passed off to look like Fish and Chips looked great in picture and on plate

But a real disgusting mess once the batter revealed the cheap nasty substitute for the usual quality of deep fried fish.

Can I respectfully suggest you

employ enough staff,

stop misleading customers as to what quality of meal to expect,

look after your beers

clean the cutlery, most of it had remnants of food stuck on them

clean the pub, the flooring was filthy throughout.

I fail to see how you expect to ever have a good customer base when you deliver such a shoddy service

Having said that the 3 members of staff we had dealings with worked very hard and were very polite

Such a shame their employers leave them to struggle to deliver any acceptable level of service

I am horrified by some of these reviews as I used to frequent this pub years ago, and had many great memories of it. The rural location was marvellous and the architecture is exceptional. But all this is meaningless if the attitudes of the staff has gone down.

I recently called in and found the prices of the meals and what people were offered to be very poor. I found the staff, which had clearly changed from when I knew it, to be distant and non-communicative. Even an attempt at desultory conversation was dashed by the general attitude of the two staff behind the bar, so I left any attempts to make friendly conversation alone. The general atmosphere was very stuffy and far from accommodating and I felt as if I was more an inconvenience then a paying customer.

I had one drink, then left after only 20 minutes.   

My conclusion is that the staff need to be trained in customer care and that the Manager needs to be visible.  Otherwise this will be another pub destined to closure.

Have been twice to this pub both times awful. Last sunday was a disaster. waited 20 mins to order our food at the till one girl serving. (sunday lunch time a busy time i think) In a misreable manner told its an hour wait on food i said fine after the hour we got our startters. we then made our way to the carvery and stood in the queue for another 20 mins. There was one young lad on the carvery. He made 5 seperate trips to the kitchen whilst every one was waiting for veg as they had ran out. He then dropped all the sprouts on the floor so then had to wait whilst he cleaned that up. Finally we had our meat carved and yet again all that was left was a few hard carrots and a small amount of gravy to go with our meal. We then  sat sat down it was a further 15 mins to get rest of the veg.There was no management direction to sort any of the problems out in the pub . Or any any kind of control as to what was going on inside  the pub. Very poorly ran establishment. but a lovely pub decor wise... The carvery was more like a comedy show .

food shockingly poor quality, Manager very arrogant and rude.
Wish i had read the above reviews before my visit, i have no doubt they are all true!!
DO NOT RISK THE FOOD IN THIS ESTABLISHMENT_THE MANAGER IS AWFUL !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Food is vile nothing else to say!!!

I couldnt possibly give this place a good rateing its VILE.
I have been a regular at this place for over 6 years an what a change. It used to be a family favorite but since the old manger glyn left the place has nosedived. Its dirty, tables are filthy cutlery dirty glasses dirty the food is disgusting the salad that comes on the side is often brown rubbery an a few days old even had some dust on . I orded the italian chicken on (06.08.11) the same dish i have eaten for years there an i have never been so sickened in all my life it come to the table with old dryed up food stuck to underneath the plate as i cut into what i thort what chicken i was horrified to discover an RAW PORK escalope i went to get the manager who i have never met anyone quite so RUDE he looked at it an said what do you want another one? I said no as i could feel mself about to vomit i requested a refund that he kept me waiting round for at the till huffing an puffing and the worst thing was not one word of an appology AVOID AT ALL COSTS THIS PLACE IS DISGUSTING WITH TERRIBLE MANAGER.

been a few times before but tonight ordered food at 7.16 I ordered a child cavery which we waited to get, till the other meals come out. They came at 7.40 and the child went up to get her cavery who came back to say it had been cleared away. When queried was told cavery finishes at 7 and the order shouldn't have been taken, then had to reorder and I had to ask for the money as it was part of the 2 for 1 deal. They tried to get away with giving the least back as both the small bites were free. If you are going then you need to order 2 meals at a time to get the best deal e.g 2 x£10 and then another order for 2 x £6 small meals so as to get £16 off rather £12

this place is great for children in good or bad weather as indoor and outdoor play areas but the standard and waiting for food has a lot to be desired it is a shame as the pub could be a great all rounder instead of a place that is money grabbing with low standards

Just visited today for the first time - couldnt fault it - food good - lovely staff - ideal for kids brilliant play area yet lots of cozy sections if you dont want to be near kids . Apparently new management in 2010, they seem to be working hard to get the right mix. Definately would recommend

We used to love it here a few years back, but the last few times we have tried the food here we have been very let down.
OVERcooked chicken.. murdered...blitzed.. chargrilled beyond recognition.
chilli.. with NO chilli in at all.. had to ask for them to add more.. they said they didn't have any chilli as all the food was premade and frozen and sent to them!!

so much for fresh food.

had to bring me some pepper and paprika to try to spice the food up.

service on our last visit was 45 minutes!
they kept making excuses and saying it was the chef.. but the place was empty! was the chef dead in the kitchen thanks to his own cooking?

We had little kids with us and that wasn't fun sitting round waiting..
it wasn't even half full...!
Finally got the food but as mentioned above.. it was all bad.
couldn't be bothered waiting round to get more.. we ate a little bit and left.
complained at the til but got no response or part refund.

pricey for normal meals..
you need to order off the 'deal' menus really.

So sad as we loved this place!

parking is good.. nice private carpark.. pretty location..
good park for kids I summer..
outside eating area is nice but gets full fast in summer.. ( not enough tables really ).

****
9th December 2010

I am adding this to my review after a kind invite from the new manager to come and eat at the pub again and see how it had changed.

The food came quickly and was cooked well. The young guy that brought our food was happy and friendly. ( the rest of the staff didn't seem as chirpy.. but I guess working on a winter evening isn't as much fun as being at home with a glass of wine.. so that's forgivable ;-)

It was very quiet when we went so we wouldn't have seen any problems in service times if there were any but we liked it quiet so would go at that time of day again.

We would return again, more for the location and a quiet place to eat than the atmosphere, but looking forward to trying out some of the new stuff on the menu.

i used to like visiting this place for sunday dinners,i found it to be a very child friendly place,with a indoor play area,also a outdoor play area in the better weather,the staff are always friendly,however when busy seem to be run off their feet with very little time to give usual service given when less busy,i visited when it was not too busy the meal and service was perfect,however when i visited when very busy,the vege was hard,hardly any gravy on the dinner,yet previously we was served with a gravy boat of lovely hot gravy,the knives and forks looked grubby and was far from the service of previous,however i may give it another try has not many child friendly pubs where i live or playareas we like to sit outside in the warmer weather.

I was at the Hollow tree on a sunday afternoon 24/05/09 to enjoy some sunday lunch to find that they were no longer serving food, but it was at 3pm, which I thought was a bit odd, when I asked about it the girls at the bar had told me that there was no gas. Whilst i was walking off I heard the manager telling the girl off for telling me what the situation was. I have also been here on other occasions in the past weeks and staff are looking very stressed as there they were far to under staffed. as a regular to the pub I tried my hardest to speak to the new manager but I found him very rude and arrogant and the way he speaks to the staff is outragious, i will no longer be comming to this pub.

This was once a great pub to eat in but since the change of manager it has gone down hill fast the manager is very rude and the way he speaks to his staff is terrible I was at the bar on one occasion when I heard him call a young pretty girl ugly and stupid I was shocked by this as the young girl was very upset i later saw her out side crying this manager is a bully and i will not recommend this pub to any one until this manager is gone.

This pub is ok for something to eat if you are on a budget and not really fussy about what you eat. Whilst they do various food from burgers - steaks - baguettes the meals taste like they are microwaved. Definately not home cooking anyway. But then again for the price what can you expect? 2 meals for £10 all day, every day. staff however are friendly and the place is clean with a large carpark.
The Hollow Tree is very family/child friendly with a huge climbing frame, bear garden outside and also a wacky warehouse inside for smaller children which is padded big ball pools - loads of fun for the kids whilst you enjoy a drink or 2.
The childrens menu is of alot variety. So for a family fun day out or if your passing and hungry as its just of J10 M56 its quite a handy stop of the motorway.

I do find this place very dark and a bit depressing . The food is ok but nothing spectacular. The Wacky warehouse is good for younger children although a bit small and it does have a reasonalbe outdoor play area for the warmer, dryer months

This pub is situated, on the A49 near warrington . It is a pub offering a full menu from steak with lots of sauces to fish, salads to burgers and baguettes, it also has a children menu if a variety of choices including healthy choices.For the children who love to play you will find and inside and outside play areas, the inside one being run with play staff and there is a small charge. The menu is a 2 for 1 menu on all choices all day every day.The only problems i have found is that you cant book a table even when i wanted to book for 10 people some silly company policy, also idid find the last time we visited the meals were not too hot. That is our only issues but would try the hollow tree again. Toilets are clean and tidy with baby changing facilities. The car park to huge.