The Three Fishes

Visited here for my father in laws 60^th birthday.
Fantastic service! We were greeted as we came in and updated that there would be 6 or us instead of 4.
The bar manager said that for my father in law would get a drink on the house. He doesn’t drink alcohol so they gave him a nice big pint of Coke which was really nice!
The food was excellent! We loved it, our favourite is the cauliflower fitters! Amazing! Decent price for what you receive.
Will definitely keep returning here.

When the weather’s on your side, nothing beats a drive out into the country and a visit to a pub.
The drive north to Mitton in Lancashire is splendid, with expanses of moorland and farmland on your way. Passing through the village of Whalley to get to The Three Fishes is like travelling back to a bygone era; quaint isn’t even the word.
The pub was refurbished a couple of years ago and they’ve done a great job at keeping a lot of its original features intact whilst providing a really contemporary restaurant. It’s much bigger inside than it appears when you arrive.
The staff were warm and welcoming and the service throughout was faultless. On Sundays they offer two courses for £17.50 or three for £21 which was excellent value for money — obviously we chose three!
Our menu had the date on, so the dishes change frequently depending on what local produce is available.
It’s part of the Ribble Valley Inns Group chain (they have four other pubs in the area) but the current head chef previously worked at the Michelin starred restaurant Northcote, so you can be assured the quality of the food is fantastic.
Tip: there’s a small beer garden with lovely views of the surrounding countryside.

Such a shame that after being great for years and spending a fortune on a refit that the 3 fishes seems to be taking a real nose dive, especially given the superb competition just 250 meters away!
2 x sunday lunch served with 1 roast spud, cold gravey and tough beef… After waiting for 20 mins after our order when the place was less than half full.
Won’t be going back I’m afraid as the previous 2 occasions we ate there were v poor too… 3 strikes for the 3 fishes

Great food, really good service, I could not fault any of the food. Thank you. Nice location, relaxing, new environment. Great staff.

I wasn’t overly impressed with the Three Fishes (though I can attest to the amazingness of the cauliflower fritters — wow). It wasn’t bad, but it was by no means good. The Man described it as an upmarket Brewer’s Fayre type place.
If we’re going to have a meal out and pay not far from £100 for the experience, it needs to be good, and the Three Fishes was ok, but for the price was not somewhere I would go again if I lived in the area.
Our starters were nice — I had the fritters and The Man had a smoked fish pâté.
It was our mains that let the place down. Every meal that came out around us was beautifully presented and we had high hopes. I ordered partridge and The Man got pork trotter. The partridge had some sort of glaze on it that left bits of cinnamon stick on the skin (which were pretty awful to bite into) and the glaze was too strong a flavour for the meat, drowning it out almost entirely. The pork trotter was basically meat wrapped in fat. The Man eats anything and as the days went on his dislike of his mean grew. Both were served with mashed potatoes that had been put through a food processer and left with a gummy texture. Mine also included undercooked braised red cabbage.
We opted to share a cheese platter to finish and, as cheese lovers, were somewhat underwhelmed by the selection of cheeses, and commented that the best thing on the platter was the bread and butter.
I had an after dinner wine that was gorgeous, and The Man had a port which was also nice.
Our waitress was incredibly lovely and the staff in general were the highlight of the show — attentive but not overly so, friendly, professional.
So, it was really the staff that pulled the experience up from 2 to 3 stars. The food, though, was not an experience I would repeat.
**One odd note was that I tried to book our table for 7pm and was offered 730 instead. This was fine, but we arrived early (630) for a drink and the place was hardly busy and bordering dead. In fact, we were offered our table right when we walked in and 7 came and went and it didn’t seem to get any busier. So why the alternate time?

This is my favourite place to come for a meal out. I’m glad they’ve added extra parking from when I first went, as there are more tables than you’d think from the outside. It’s relaxed, and the layout with lots of ‘snug’ areas means you can find a corner tucked away.
The menu can look a little limited at first glance, but the ‘home-​cooking’ style dishes are so well-​executed they’re a real treat. Lancashire curd cheese on crumpets and Lancashire cheese pie are simple but delicious. I also like the more interesting range of soft drinks than you’d usually find, and the choice of local beers. I wish they’d include the accompanying vegetables though. You do get some, but usually not enough for most people and I don’t like having to order them separately, it always seems expensive.

Tried the Three Fishes for the first time yesterday and found it to be a bit of a disappointment. The menu looked okay for starters and for desserts but the main meal section was lacking if you weren’t after steak.
I plumped in the end for the duck salad and the Lancashire Hotpot (knowing that Nigel had won awards for one of his hotpots). The salad was okay. nothing special just the usual mix of leaves, meat, blackpudding and eggnot a lot in the way of dressing on it, which made it a tad dry for me.
The hot pot was foul. It consisted of meat, potatoe and stringy onions in an overly greasy ladle of dish water. A bit of an insult really considering that not too far down the road at Northcote folk would have been tucking into an award winning version. accompaniment to this meat potatoe and onion was a pickled cabbage which was overly sweet for me.
Not a great experience I am afraid.

Excellent high-​end pub fare. Reasonably priced, great quality– especially good is their seasonal menu which offers the best and freshest food in season (a particular favorite was asparagus…). Must have: cauliflower fritters with a curry dipping sauce.

Nice food, quite expensive, good serivce but the food is a little bit special. not usual pub food.

I would say that the cooking here is top-​notch. It is a bustling pub, child friendly, is easily accessible and vibrant. The great thing about it is the dedication that they have to source produce locally. The meun from cheese fondu, lamb hotpot and proper fish pie and potted shrimp creates fine dining quality food in a pub.

The three fishes pub is one of three now run by Nigel Howarth in the RIbble Vally. The corporate name for the three is Ribble Valley Inns.
This has wonderful character and is steeped in history, set in between Lower Hodder and Mitton.
I think it is supposed to date back to the 11 th century (but don’t quote me on that one.)
An impressive white building with an ecclectic mix of chairs and table, there are over 40, with nooks and crannies and roaring log fires. All around are pictures of the pubs local food heroes, as this is their main selling point, the fact that the food is sourced as locally as possible. Asparagus from Formby, Southport Samphire, Lancashire Cauliflowers and parsnips, fish from Lannigans in Lytham the list goes on.
The chef Richard Upton takes his role very seriously and the attention to detail is wonderful.
We particularly like the Lancashire cheese board, which is 10 different cheeses all from Lancashire and all very different in taste and texture.
The menus is extensive, Duck from Goosnargh, Steaks, Vegetarian options and also a childrens menu, which is more or less the same as the adults but written in kiddie speak.
They have a full lunch and dinner menu and also in the afternoon between 2 – 30 and 5.00 they do Afternoon bites, which is great if you have been walking and just want a snack.
They only serve cask condtion ales and Thwaites Brewery at Blackburn is the main choice, although they do have guest ales and beers from around the world. A large selection of fine wines from a few pounds to the more expensive.
There are terraced gardens (if we ever get a summer)
Booking is only available for larger groups, and they have a blackboard system for queues which works very well.
Sunday Lunchtime is busy, busy, busy, but they serve right through until 8.30 in the evening so everyone stands a chance and it is well worth it.
Cannot fault the place, the staff are knowledgable and friendly and very attentive without being intrusive.

Always a warm welcome and a cold pint. need one ask for more?

The three fishes is called such because of the three rivers that run near it. The Ribble, Calder and Hodder. The food is locally sourced and of high standard. It is restaurant food in a pub setting and is relaxed and homely. Can be a little expensive if you are hungrya nd a few of you but well worth a visit.

good pub to visit but not the best

gr8 pub pop in and see for ur sen

food exellent highly recomend

I absolutely love this pub. I live in Birmingham yet we regularly travel over 100 miles just to have lunch in this lovely place. The food is good, simple, English food cooked with locally sourced ingredients. There is no booking but a blackboard system is in place if it’s full when you get there and you can enjoy a drink in the bar while you wait for a table. The food is excellent because they use the same few ingredients, combined in many ways, to keep it seasonal and fresh. For example with Lancashire cheese, they have a starter of melted cheese on a muffin (much nicer than it sounds!), for mains you could have cheese and onion pie or cauliflower and cheese tart and there is a Lancashire cheeseboard (as well as an ordinary one!) where you can taste about 10 different Lancashire cheeses. That’s just the cheese option! The garden mint ice cream is the most delicious I have ever tasted. The sherry trifle in individual glasses is lush. The peapod starter was a revelation! And, best best of all are the handcut chips cooked in dripping. Although they will cook them in sunflower oil for vegetarians. I can’t rate this place highly enough.