Tavern Fayre

After living just down the road from this place for most of my life, I can count on one hand the times I’ve been in here.
Not because it had a bad reputation or any other reason to be honest, I just haven’t!
So after going for a lovely walk in the sun with my sister and her son, we decided to pop in and sit outside on the patio area.
The view from the rear of the Tavern is beautiful, looking out onto open fields and hillsides. It’s easy to access off the main road with plenty of parking at the rear and side. It does get busy at the weekend in here for lunch and dinner, so either book, or be prepared to possibly wait for a short while.
There is a nice area you can sit in and have a drink if you do have to wait.
The menu is great, its all cooked from fresh and all ingredients are very fresh.
From the pub classics and small tapas sized bar dishes, to more exotic dishes like the Green lipped Mussels cooked in coconut and Saffron with fresh bread that my Sister had.
I had the 8oZ Lamb burger with chips, salad and redslaw.
Both dishes where on the specials menu and priced £7.25 and £12.95 respectively.
The food arrived after 15 minutes and it was delicious, very tasty and well presented.
The little one had a Banana milkshake, that looked amazing!
All in all, we had a great experience eating here, the food was well priced and we will be returning!

My mum and I came here for some nice Sunday food and we were not disappointed. She had the seafood platter which she said was nice and I had the small beef roast dinner. Staff were nice and very helpful. Very good pub food and will come again.

My expectations of this restaurant weren’t overly high after first impressions of the exterior, however it gets much better once inside!
On arrival I proceeded to the ‘wait here to be seated’ lectern and was advised of a 20 – 30 minute wait for a table. Not a problem, we got a drink from the bar and sat in the lounge area by the entrance. I thought £3.98 was a bit expensive for a pint of San Miguel considering the location on the periphery of Bolton. Soft drinks are draught Pepsi made from syrup or bottles of Coca Cola.
Announcements are made to alert you that your table is ready. The speaker sounds somewhat muffled so you have to listen really carefully.
Once at our table, our order was soon taken and the food was delivered very promptly. I had the Cheese and Onion pie which was made of feta cheese, spring onions and sweet potato in a delightful shortcrust pastry. My friend had the salmon fillet which was also very good. The portion size was excellent, we were both really full without having a starter or a dessert, and for this reason I consider the main course dishes to be excellent value for money.
We were served by several different waiters, all of whom were very polite and friendly. I wouldn’t hesitate to return to the Tavern when I find myself in the area again.

I stopped by Tavern Fayre last weekend as I was on my journey back from Blackpool to my parents house. Those from Bolton, or the surrounding area, will know this place as Tavern on Hunger Hill or ‘Tavern on t’hill’ (read that with a Peter Kay accent if you can).
It was very busy when we arrived, a good sign! We waited in the bar for around 15 minutes whilst we waited to get a table.
The menu is large, and has plenty of starters, lite bites and main meals to choose from. They have a specials menu too, which I find great for a pub! Although the chef must have gone crazy with the mustard this week, because there wasn’t anything on the specials I would have liked. Still, others would!
I ordered a homemade fish pie and it was lovely!
The service was fast and friendly and the bill was more than reasonable.
If you’re around on Hunger Hill and hungry — give it a try. They’re been around since before I was born so I can imagine they won’t be going anywhere soon!

I must admit, Tavern Fayre is one of those places I’ve driven past on multiple occasions, believing it to be one of those chain type food pubs, mainly due to its name and the style of its signage, but after reading wonderful things about it on a friend’s food blog, I thought I’d give it a try.
The first impression as you walk in is that you’re not walking into one of those pubs where everyone’s sat around looking at you as you step inside. I hate that. Instead, the décor inside is warm, friendly and welcoming, with roaring open fireplaces and colours and designs separating the large space into different areas without using big intrusive walls. This gave the place an eclectic and sprawling feel, and made you want to look around. In particular, the main restaurant area is two floors in height, but has beams where I assume the second floor would have been, which gives a very dramatic and interesting look!
When we first entered the above area, we stood at the ‘wait here to be seated’ podium for a few minutes, as nobody seemed to be available, but there was a lot of staff movement bringing out food and working behind counters, so it was forgiveable. The only thing is that on the podium was a notice, saying how smoking isn’t allowed, but also nor was the use of electronic cigarettes. I’ve not seen this sort of problem before, so I can only assume they have their reasons. The entire restaurant is also wheelchair friendly, which is nice, and has free WiFi, you just need to ask someone for the password.
Before long, a member of staff appeared and took us to a nice little section in the middle of the restaurant, which felt like it was in its own little room due to the use of colours, flooring types, and fabric/​curtain dividers. At this point it seems as people are lead to their tables, they’re also given a jug of water, which is a pleasant touch.
The good thing though was the selection of offerings on the menus. We decided that we were going to opt for a main and dessert, rather than chancing a starter and having no room afterwards! The starters did sound very nice though.
Phil settled on the steak pie, which he said was very tasty with very tender meat. His chosen potato option of mash was a superb accompaniment, as it was creamy and buttery. No insta-​mash here, folks! It came with a side of cabbage and carrots.
I however took my blogger friend’s recommendation of the hand-​salted gammon! I have to say that she was NOT wrong… this is quite probably the best gammon I have ever had! Bursting with flavour without tasting like a mouth of salty seawater! It was juicy and tender. I cut a bit of fat off the edge, but Phil then pointed out that it wasn’t fat, it was just a gooooood cut of meat, and was delicious meat right to the edge! Superb! I chose to have roast potatoes for the potato option, which were nice. It also came with the cabbage and carrots. The carrots were cooked nicely, but they sadly didn’t have much flavour to them. I had ordered some pork gravy on the side in case I wanted to try it on the gammon, as I prefer gravy rather than an egg or pineapple, but after tasting the gammon, the gravy did not touch a single bit of it! You really must try this gammon!
Right! Dessert time! Phil had his eye on a big chocolate fudge cake he saw sitting in the counter, but when we went back, it seemed to have gone. However the waitress behind the counter pulled it out from underneath, and Phil’s face lit up!
He was asked if he’d like it hot or cold, to which he chose hot, and chose cream as its accompaniment. He said that the chocolate fudge cake itself was deliciously chocolatey, without being a really heavy cake as is often the case. Other options in the dessert cabinet included a strawberry pavlova, LumpyBumpy, a fruit cheesecake, and a caramel creamy concoction I didn’t catch the name of. Aside the desserts on show, they offer a range of hot desserts and ice creams. I opted for the «Hot Sticky Pudding», which didn’t fully explain what it was, or how big it was, but I was told it was essentially a sticky toffee pudding, but with butterscotch. I love butterscotch. The girl showed me the pudding itself, which was in a little pot she brought out from under the chiller, so I was slightly worried that it was going to be microwaved, but for the time it took to come out, I don’t think it was, I imagine it was popped into an oven again for a little while.
What turned up was a wonderful smelling steaming hot sponge, sitting in a pool of hot custard, drizzled with butterscotch. The sponge was piping hot, moist, wonderfully rich, and delicious! I’m glad I opted for it! Next time I might try it with ice cream instead, but the custard was heavenly, it has to be said!
The best part? Two mains, two pints of soft drinks, and two desserts came to just £33.54! If the same place was in Manchester City Centre they could charge double, easily!
Great place this, will definitely be back! Maybe with my parents! :)

Clearly popular, judging by how busy it was, local pub and restaurant, situated with great views towards the West Pennine moors. The food was pretty good, I thoroughly enjoyed my pork in stilton sauce, and my father liked his shoulder of lamb. My wife liked her sea bass although it wasn’t quite as generously portioned as the other mains. Desserts were huge. All-​in-​all, good solid middle England fayre in a pleasant environment.

Food fine: ambience ok. Menu choices are wide but not cheap (ave main meal £8). Tables spacious but does get busy and with lots of noisy kids, so not romantic. Nice touch is a jug of water on each table.

A typical chain pub/​restaurant. The food is satisfactorily edible, but that’s about as far as I’d go – most of the menu is very standard and I would imagine the chefs on site do little more than follow the instructions given to them by Head Office. The service is a little on the tardy side, which (when you have two kids aged 2 and 4 as we did when we visited) can be a slight problem; whilst there were one or two things for them to do, they finished them all before the meal arrived. The staff were very good with them though. All in all — you know what you’re going to get here — standard food, rather pricey for what it is, but nothing particularly special I’m afraid.

This is a good place to go if you want something better than the ‘two scampis for a fiver’ places.
The Tavern on Hunger Hill, to give it its full name, is a great old building that’s geared itself up to cater for the mass market whilst still serving good quality food with excellent service. I mean that — I’ve always enjoyed the food, they don’t insult you with small portions, and the staff have always been friendly and professional in the many years we’ve been going there.
There’s a good range of food, from pub grub to fusion and grill, with a further choice of specials. The prices are not ‘budget’, but they’re not silly either. There’s a ‘bar’ part which is well laid out with Chesterfields if you fancy a relaxing Guinness after your meal.
It can get busy with families, some of which have kids that are hyper on Kiora or whatever has the most chemicals in it these days, so don’t go there if you want a quiet, romantic meal or you think the best way to shut a child up is to trip them as they run by. They didn’t appreciate it when I did that.
Expect a wait at busy times, but that’s what the Guinness in the bar is for.

Really nice food, good atmosphere and reasonable prices. They are also really clued up for children