Guaranteed good food every time. Be warned - portions are large so you could be full after the…read morestarter so make your choice carefully especially if you are hoping to fit in a dessert! There is an extensive choice from the menu and the blackboard which fills the whole wall, though if not to your liking Nick is happy to tweak the dishes to meet your needs. A nice touch is that Nick comes out of the kitchen to check you have enjoyed your meal. A lovely chap, very entertaining and a great chef.

Something of a hidden gem. I've had some reasonably good food in Bolton, but this place certainly…read morestands out. Now it's often said that too long a menu can be a bad sign, but despite that the execution of the food was very well done. I had a rather delicious chicken in creamy peppercorn sauce and my brother had steak and lobster which he enjoyed too. I probably shouldn't have had dessert, but I couldn't resist the bread and butter pudding and I was glad I had it. Prices may be quite high for the area, but the quality of the ingredients and cooking gives good value for money. Boltonians should cherish this place - it's a credit to the town.

I found The Black Horse by chance! My car broke down on Long Lane, on the way to Chorley, and so I…read moretook respite in the classic country looking inn and had a lovely lunch. Today I returned for dinner, having meant to come back for dinner ever since I enjoyed that first lunch visit by chance. I'm surprised it's not already on Yelp as it's not new either. It's over 1000 years old. Yes you read that right. The Black Horse is believed to be one of the oldest serving taverns in the country, and was the second pub in the country to be granted a license back in 1577. Every corner and beam exudes the feeling of a classic English pub/tavern. It's comfortable, cosy, and welcoming, with dark wooden furniture, a roaring fire, and warmly lit side rooms. It's everything you would want in a proper English pub. As I don't drink, we were here for dinner, and were greeted warmly and given menus. The staff are friendly and familiar, it's their business and their baby, and they want to make sure people enjoy their visit. The menu has recently been updated and has some fantastic sounding options, as well as periodical specials. On this occasion, we chose the starters of black pudding scotch egg, and garlic flatbread. We were surprised. It's a pub, so you don't quite expect the artistic and pleasant presentation of the black pudding scotch egg, which was beautifully tempting to look at, and perfectly cooked with a lovely soft yolk. The mustard sauce was creamy with a gentle kick. The garlic flatbread was subtle on the garlic side, but lusciously buttery and fresh. The staff checked on us now and then to make sure everything was ok, even the chef herself at one point. Very enjoyable indeed. For our mains, we chose the cheese and onion pie, and the fish and chips, two classics of British pub food! The best bit? The chef came out and asked how I'd like the side of bread and butter cut with my fish and chips! We all know why too... preference... do you just want bread? Chip butties? It's all dependant on that cut! It was nice to be asked! Both were again presented pleasantly. The pie was unctuously cheesy in a perfectly crispy pastry, not a soggy bottom in sight! The mash you could tell from the moment it was placed on the table was proper home made mash, and the comforting thick gravy provided was perfect for flooding the lot! Wonderful! The fish and chips were equally good. The mushy peas were nice, and the tartare sauce was particularly good, however my praise is mainly on the fish, which was outstanding! The quality of the fish alone was excellent, and the batter was crunchy, crispy, golden perfection! For dessert we chose the sticky toffee pudding (it's a classic!) and from the specials menu, the jam roly poly. Both with custard. We're Northern. The sticky toffee pudding was deliciously rich whilst being super light and fluffy! The smell of the jam roly poly slapped in the face as soon as it arrived, whisking me back to nostalgic childhood sunday dinners. The taste was amazing, not just in flavour, but the crust on the pudding was just right, with the occasional chewy crunchy bit. Bloody marvellous! I'd come again just that jam roly pudding! Basically The Black Horse is everything you want from a proper old English pub. It's established, cosy, warm, welcoming, and offers great drinks, excellent food, and a thoroughly pleasant atmosphere. I recommend it thoroughly!

Wow ordered a ploughman's platter ( takeaway) what a fabulous feast more than enough for 3 of us ,…read morefantastic taste , great value , definitely ordering more , highly recommend

Hot, delicious and to table ultra quick. Lovely staff, beautiful location and just a great…read moreatmosphere. Will be back.

Good beer, staff and atmosphere, excellent decor, plenty of parking. Food TBA, as never eaten…read morethere.

The chef in the jolly crofter is brilliant. The menu is huge in here and all the food tastes great…read more The menu is stuffed with lots of traditional English dishes and they all taste home made! Nobody can beat the quality of the food in here. A favourite of mine has to be the british hotpot I could eat these all day! The food always tastes fresh and hot which is what you want. You get a lot of families in here during the day and there is a place for people who smoke (like myself) at the back. The atmosphere is always thee best in here and the seating is well arranged.

Thank you so much for a delicious breakfast yesterday after a 3 hour walk over the moors from…read moreBolton., Excellent service, open and friendly conversation and delightful staff.

A good old down-to-earth greasy spoon cafe, complete with wipe-down plastic tablecloths. Good value…read moretasty food and friendly service, but pretty standard fare.

I normally go for a Saturday lunch but thought I'd try their Sunday lunch roast. Great decision as…read morebeautiful meal! Delicious!!! Yorkshire pudding was spot on. Hot, and generous portions. Love the staff there. Always sweet and kind. Definitely recommend if you want a proper roast. Already booked in again

I think Retreat is suffering from a little bit of identity crisis as I can never quite gather if…read morethe crowd is supposed to be older ladies having a nice natter and some tea, or trendy middle aged folk who can afford wine with lunch. Either way, I like it! I'm always left stuffed at Retreat and it's a very pleasant little restaurant in the heart of Bolton, halfway between the town centre and the Middlebrook/Macron Stadium area. They do have a nice bar with a good selection, and I've noticed people do come in for a good few drinks on a Friday and Saturday night. I've only ever been in for lunch and those occasions I've opted for the lunch pizza and chips. They have a good selection of pizza combinations and off the lunch menu it's pretty well prized. Good enough to fill an average height chap at £6.95. If you're in the area, or you fancy something a little different, definitely give Retreat a shot. Polite and friendly staff and a trendy up market feel makes it a win no matter what time of day you visit. Word of warning though, if you're coming on a Friday or Saturday evening, book ahead!

One star is being generous would rather give 0. Ordered on…read morethe Just Eat platform at 13.30 and food turned up almost 3 hours later. Food quality was poor and not worth the price in the slightest, mixed grill steak was cooked like leather. The sausage is cheap catering sausage when paying £20 I'd expect a little more quality. I had a side of peppercorn sauce which was just water and cornflour it seemed with 0 flavour. Wife's rump steak kebab was simple looked good and wasn't really any complaints from her. Sons burger, the patty was over cooked making it nigh on impossible to chew with out breaking his teeth. Whilst ringing the establishment regarding the delivery I had a few sorrys but there was no remorse. It was also clear I was lied to as when I first rang up after 2 hours I was told the driver had left and will be with you 5-10mins, half hour later still no food so rang again to be told the driver has just left. Over all absolutely disgusting and shambolic experience which no one else should have to endure How this establishment is still in business with service like that is beyond me. This is not the first time these things have happened but I always gave the place the benefit of doubt but no more this is the last time these cowboys steal my money.

When the signs first went up in Horwich for Empire, promising a cocktail bar and restaurant, there…read morewas an excited chatter amongst the residents. Although Empire opened at first just as a cocktail bar due to further planning being required for food, it is now a fully fledged bar and restaurant, and steadily gaining popularity and fans. Situated next door to its partner venue, Avocado, on Chorley New Road, it comes alive at night when Avocado goes to sleep, and is bathed in theatrical lighting and flame heaters outside in the darkness. The main issue if you don't know Horwich is a lack of parking, but there is street parking around the place, and a small car park behind it. The vibe when you get inside is more akin to Manchester's Northern Quarter, complete with the current popular style of Industrial chic, with chunky furniture, filament light bulbs, leather booth seating and dark cosy lighting, whilst large framed photos of Audrey Hepburn, Prince, and Elvis Presley add to the American feel . The upstairs area is a dedicated bar, whereas downstairs is the restaurant, which looks every part as high quality as you'd find in Manchester. Nothing has been scrimped on here. The menus and the specials menu are very tempting, and the offerings are more of a special decent meal rather than a quick "that'll do" style meal. Given the descriptions, they sounded like they would be quite substantial, so this time we chose to skip a starter in favour of leaving room for a dessert, but we couldn't QUITE turn it down altogether, so chose to share a garlic bread between us. And I'm glad we did! What came out was a super fresh dough with semolina dusting, and a subtle but delicious garlic butter. Fresh bread. Not dry. Superb. It came on a big wooden board with a large pizza cutter, allowing us to slice as we felt free. For our main, I couldn't resist the idea of the Empire cheeseburger with triple hand-cooked chips, whereas my partner opted for the home-made pie of the week, which was a steak and ale. Who could resist the idea of that? Whilst we waited we chatted to the staff, who were friendly and professional, and as its Christmas at the time I write this, they were all in their Christmas jumpers, joining in with the festive spirit. It wasn't too long a wait before our food arrived. There was a definite "wow" when our food was placed in front of us. It was beautifully presented, but still good and wholesome looking, making you want to tuck in straight away. So we did. The burger was huge, and I could barely fit it in my mouth! However, the meat itself was juicy and excellent quality, and superbly seasoned. It's often a shame when you get somewhere that does big burgers to find that the patty itself is bland, but that is definitely not the case with the Empire cheeseburger! The tasty cheese really complimented the flavour, and the mustard added a superb little kick of flavour without blowing my head off. The chips were perfect. I can't describe them anything more than that. Perfect. Exactly what good chips should be! The pie had an excellent quality pastry, and the filling was absolutely spot on. It came with perfectly prepared seasonal vegetables and a tiny saucepan of gravy, which was jam packed with flavour and really finished the dish off. I have to confess at this point that I couldn't finish the burger... nothing to do with quality or anything, it was just huge! Talk about getting your money's worth! We could probably have shared it! Now, as we were still happily reeling at the quality of our mains, we decided to choose our desserts! I had my eye on the sticky toffee pudding since I first read it before I even ordered drinks, and my partner chose the mixed berry crumble with custard. We didn't luck out on dessert after a great main... the desserts were sublime! The sticky toffee pudding was a beautifully deep flavoured sponge and moist as hell, with a lovely big scoop of ice cream on top, and sat in a puddle of sticky toffee sauce.. and once again, this portion was quite probably the biggest portion of sticky toffee pudding I've ever been given in a restaurant, and I've been to proper food pubs in Yorkshire! The mixed berry crumble was excellently fruity and screaming with flavour, it also came with another tiny saucepan of truly wonderful custard, and a couple of pieces of shortbread. Best way to end a meal. Really good filling food followed by a really amazing set of desserts. Price-wise, Empire may be a touch more than the average Horwich restaurant, but it's very well priced compared to places offering similar quality, and definitely better than those nearby chains offering a similar price for nowhere near as good an experience or quality. Well done Empire, you're on my favourites list and we will be back!

Absolutely exceptional place. Food and service is outstanding. The surroundings are beautiful…read more They've won a ton of awards and are highly recommended. I can see why!

Fabulous coffee shop and bar. Amazing food, excellent service and gorgeous surroundings. This place…read moreis great, well worth a visit.

A cute 4-table cafe with a fresh country feel to it, mainly specialising in cakes, sandwiches, and…read morebreakfasts. Friendly and down-to-earth staff make it a lovely and peasant place to visit. The food is locally sourced, good value, and delicious! They have a nice variety of teas too, and daily cakes which are made on the premises, from cheesecake to huge delicious scones, it's the sort of place you could pop in for a big breakfast, or a slice of cake and a coffee. The parking is street parking. But it's within walking distance of various parking areas, due to being in the centre of Horwich. On this particular visit, I had 2 slices of "doorstop toast" and a pot of tea, Phil R had sausage on toast (local butchers sausage) and a bottle of Fentimans Dandelion and Burdock. He then succumbed to a slice if fresh home made sticky ginger cake, warmed, with cream. I might've tried a bite. I did. It was lovely. The whole lot came to under £9 :)

On my visit to Horwich, my fiance and I decided to come here because he read very good reviews…read moreabout this place. We stayed at the De Vere Hotel, and although it is walking distance from the hotel, it made us work up an appetite. I'm glad we came! Sarah Janes did not dissapoint!!! We ordered a pot of tea to share. The pot came with a crocheted pot holder with a sunflower on top. So cute!!! A pot gave us about 4-5 cups of tea. We both decided to order the 8 items off the breakfast menu (until 2pm), which consisted of a hash brown, egg, sausage, bacon, beans, black pudding, mushrooms, and tomatoes. You can also choose to order 5 of the 8 items instead, but we wanted a Full English breakfast. We got there a little after 2pm but because the grill was still on, they were nice enough to allow us to order breakfast. Everything was delicious and made just right!!! All the flavors blended together did not overwhelm the dish either. The hash brown was one of the best I've ever eaten. The black pudding was somewhat crispy on the outside and soft on the inside. I've had black pudding before that was overcooked than it should have been and was hard inside and out so this was different. We wanted to try the sticky ginger cake and scones but were so full at the end, we could not!!! We did come back at the end of our trip to try the cake and scones, as well as to have another Full English breakfast of course!! The Full English breakfast was consistent and still one of the best I've had!!! They warmed our sticky ginger cake, which made it warm and moist but possibly less sticky. No problem there!!! Every bit still delicious and flavorful!! Just the perfect amount of spice! We loved it!!! However, this piece of cake does get sickening the more you eat. The scone was huge! Sliced in the middle with cream and jam, it is a sure win next to my favorite at the Rivington Barn (though to be honest, I've not eaten many scones). I would definitely come back whenever I'm in Horwich!!! It is not expensive either, which is a plus!! Both times, it costs less than £17.