Dining Out review: The re-opened Jubilee Park pub in Cleveleys served up a smorgasbord of disappointment

It looks cosy and comfortable inside but looks were deceiving, with staff sadly serving up a smorgasbord of disappointment.

My small family arrived when it was semi-busy on a weekday tea-time. We were welcomed and literally pointed to a nearby table to sit down at.

After some reconsideration, we asked to be moved to somewhere quieter seeing to avoid the youngest lad, three, disturbing others, and were shown the way to a booth around the corner, not far from the loos.

The old Harvester pub, which spent months boarded up and as a vandal magnet before being revived, is nicely furnished with snug lighting and clean surroundings - except for a salt shaker on our table that had dried ketchup on it.

We chose what we wanted from the menu and ordered at the bar, giving our table number and carrying back our drinks.

I ordered a chicken and mushroom pizza (£10.95) which, the menu says, uses dough that is freshly made every day, and a side order of chips and cheese (£3.45).

Both were a let-down. The pizza came served on a wooden board and was cut into six slices. While it looked nice enough on top, the bottom was charred black and spoiled the taste.

The chips and cheese were served piled up in an oval bowl so the cheese only covered the top layer. The chips were also dry and tasteless and plenty were left.

The missus ordered the lamb shank (£10.95), which was slowly braised and marinated and served with minted gravy, mashed potato, and seasonal vegetables.

While the lamb was tender and the gravy tasty, the mash was rubbery and the vegetables (baby-corn, carrot batons, and broccoli) were rather bland.

The youngest boy ordered a 4oz cheeseburger with skin-on fries and baked beans (£4.95). The burger came without cheese. We were asked if we wanted our dish to be taken back to the kitchen or a new burger brought out. We chose the latter option so the lad could crack on with eating his chips, but were still slightly surprised when a lone beef patty covered with melted cheese, was rushed over a few minutes later, leaving us to put together a new burger ourselves using the old bun.

The oldest lad, seven, ordered chicken goujons and skin-on fries and baked beans (£4.95) and, despite his protestations about the skin-on bit, he ate everything except the beans and said he enjoyed his meal.

The service between ordering our mains and getting them was good, but the wait between finishing our mains and receiving our dessert was horrendous.

We ordered the 'family fish bowl' (£8.95) to share. It was six scoops of Bonds ice cream topped with chocolate M&Ms, Twix fingers, Malteasers, and cookie pieces, drizzled in chocolate sauce.

After already waiting for a fair bit of time and in a bid to make sure staff hadn't just forgotten about us, the missus took some of our plates to the bar and asked for our pudding to be brought out.

She had to go back again some time later, when we were told our dessert had accidentally been ordered to the wrong table.

When it finally arrived - and let me tell you, I was ready to leave without eating it - it was sizable, though the cookie pieces differed from the picture on the menu and were more of a biscuit.

Main meals come with free helpings at a small salad bar, with only the oldest lad having some.

The toilets were nice and clean and the staff were friendly enough - and couldn't apologise enough for the mix-up with the pudding.

Our total bill came to £53.45 after drinks - a bottle of J20 (£2.45), a pint of Fosters (£3.40), and a bottle of Corona (£3.40).

Unfortunately, given the problems we encountered, it's not somewhere we could go back to again in a hurry.

Whether it's was a training issue, just a bad night, or teething problems, it still made for a fairly miserable time.

It wasn't value for money, it wasn't up the standard I would expect, and it wasn't enjoyable.

Rating: 3.5/10