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White Lion Hotel – reviews, photos

Market Place, Ambleside LA22 9DB, England
Hotel amenities
White Lion Hotel
Ranked #11 of 11 hotels in Ambleside
2.5 of 5 stars 58 Reviews
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58 reviews from our community

    Trip type
Traveller rating
    11
    14
    6
    2
    25
Date Rating
Senior Reviewer
7 reviews 7 reviews
Reviews in 3 cities Reviews in 3 cities
8 helpful votes 8 helpful votes
“Reasonable pub grub at a fair price let down by lacklustre service”
3 of 5 stars Reviewed 24 October 2011
3
people found this review helpful

Please note we were dining only so did not see the rooms. We waited over half an hour for two meals, which at busy times such as a saturday afternoon is ok. Service was a let down, it looked like the staff were generally overworked and possibly unhappy. We witnessed an incident where a waiter shouted at a child for getting underfoot, this resulted in the entire family leaving the pub. My wife's steak pie had an undercooked base and a lack of steak, my chicken burger was good, and with a pint of very good thwaites beer for £9 was good value. The gents loo was a bit of a disgrace - hence the low cleanliness score. Overall this pub needs to make sure it's service is improved and it's staff better trained and possibly better managed/treated. Great location, good well priced menu but with a general lack of attention to detail.

  • Stayed October 2011
    • 3 of 5 stars Value
    • 5 of 5 stars Location
    • 3 of 5 stars Rooms
    • 2 of 5 stars Cleanliness
    • 2 of 5 stars Service
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Manchester, United Kingdom
Senior Reviewer
10 reviews 10 reviews
Reviews in 5 cities Reviews in 5 cities
5 helpful votes 5 helpful votes
“Great place to stay in the heart of Ambleside..”
4 of 5 stars Reviewed 9 October 2011

I have lost count the number of times we have stayed at this pub. The rooms are very reasonable for Ambleside, always very clean with crisp white linen and towels. The breakfasts always set you up for a day on the fells....lots of it!

Room Tip: We usually stay in the largest room which is room number 1, but we have stayed in all of them!
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  • Stayed August 2011, travelled as a couple
    • 4 of 5 stars Value
    • 5 of 5 stars Location
    • 3 of 5 stars Sleep Quality
    • 3 of 5 stars Rooms
    • 4 of 5 stars Cleanliness
    • 4 of 5 stars Service
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Reviewer
3 reviews 3 reviews
3 helpful votes 3 helpful votes
“Dont eat here if you are hungry or in a rush.”
1 of 5 stars Reviewed 8 October 2011
3
people found this review helpful

First of all they have stopped the riddiculus system of paying for your food at time of ordering, which is good! But that's where good stops. Service was slow and food microwave ding food 'ding! dinner is served'. We sat near the bar and lost count how many people got fed up if waiting to be served at their table and then ventured up, only to be told to sit back down. I heard the bar maid tell one customer she would call the staff over for them, she did not. It was not even that busy. We ordered the chilli bowl which was ok. DON'T order sides of chips @£1.45, you get about 15 frozen type chips. Rip off, it looked like a bowl of scraps someone had left. Avoid for food, good for drinks. This venue has prime location, it could be so much more. Shame:(

  • Stayed October 2011
    • 1 of 5 stars Value
    • 4 of 5 stars Location
    • 1 of 5 stars Rooms
    • 2 of 5 stars Cleanliness
    • 1 of 5 stars Service
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“The reason I made this account”
1 of 5 stars Reviewed 28 August 2011
3
people found this review helpful

I just went into the white lion for lunch with friends and we seated ourselves then waited around 15mintues before someone came over to take our or order, after the waiter wrote down our order he then told us it would be 30 to 35mintues as the kitchen was busy, we said that was fine. After around 45minutes our meal arrived and I had ordered steak and chips with sauce, the steak was cheap and overcooked and the "peppercorn sauce" was disgusting. I didn't complain as I have eaten there before and it was okay, but then later on when we were looking through the deserts menu and our waiter came back over we asked to have a few more minutes and his reply was "well the kitchens closing, so hurry up" he came back over took our order and then our desserts came which were okay, but half way through our deserts a different member of staff came over and asked us if we could pay because he needed to close the till...as he stood at our table waiting for money. Bad customer service and bad food.

  • Stayed August 2011
    • 1 of 5 stars Value
    • 4 of 5 stars Location
    • 1 of 5 stars Rooms
    • 3 of 5 stars Cleanliness
    • 1 of 5 stars Service
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Colchester
Senior Contributor
28 reviews 28 reviews
Reviews in 13 cities Reviews in 13 cities
10 helpful votes 10 helpful votes
“Great place for lunch”
4 of 5 stars Reviewed 22 August 2011

Didn't stay here, just dropped in for lunch while we were in Ambleside.

Lovely atmosphere and very nice food - at an affordable price.

Stayed August 2011, travelled with family
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