The Grouse Inn, Ballymena

We booked for our meal at 5.30pm and we arrived early at 5pm to have a drink before our meal .We were brought to our table and took our order for drinks,but we had to wait at least 20 minutes.There was very few people in for a meal at this time.We ordered our meal and waited and waited,we asked a server twice about our meal.When I got mine it was covered in sauce (I asked for the sauce separately)My husband was getting a steak,he tried to cut it with the knife provided but was unable.He asked a server for a steak knife and was given bigger one but still was unable to cut it. My husband had asked for steak medium to well, unable to eat it so he asked if he could take it home,so he was given a container.£64 for cost of meal and drinks,definitely not worth it.Will not be back again for a meal.

I used to love going here but ever since lockdown it's went down hill. This review is really long but the short of it is if you want terrible service, the wrong food, a microwaved meal, to be laughed at by staff and to pay plenty to get this terrible experience this is the place for you. Me and my family went here for a birthday dinner, we were seated next to the door and every time someone came in and out we were absolutely freezing (there was plenty of other tables that were free I dont know why they sat us here). I had ordered the vegetarian burger and was brought out the chicken burger, I told the waitor who didn't seem to care much at all, my mother recieved a cold roast dinner, she told them and they took it back to the kitchen and microwaved it, £16 for a microwaved roast dinner seems absolutely horrendous to me. They eventually did bring out a vegetarian burger to me but they brought out the wrong side and garnish, everyone at the table had finished their meal, I ended up sending the meal back as god knows how long they would have taken to to bring me out a third meal after waiting so long for the second. I went to pay and the server asked me how was my meal, I told her it was awful and I never received anything o asked for, she laughed in my face. Never in my life have I been laughed at by a server and for the first time ever I asked to see a manager, I stood and waited 10 minutes for him to come out, during that time the woman who laughed at me came over and told me she thought I was being sarcastic, I asked her what part of it seemed sarcastic, she never responded and walked away. Eventually when the manager did come out I told him everything that happened, he told me that if I don't book that they may not be able to give me a good seat, I told him I had booked. He avoided talking about the woman laughing in my face and instead repeatedly told me that its normal for resturaunts to sometimes get orders wrong. I totally agree with him, accidents do sometimes happen but being laughed at in my face, receiving a microwaved meal, having terrible seats and REPEATEDLY giving me the wrong meal should never ever happen all at the same meal. He asked for my number and said he'd call me to discuss giving me a gift card (why he couldnt do it then and there i dont know), its been a week and he's never called me back, I called yesterday to say and they told me he wasn't in but he'd give me a ring when he was back, still nothing.

Have eaten in here every couple of months after shopping and found it really nice and the food was very good BUT we ate in here earlier today it was disgraceful. 2 of us ordered the Sunday special and got what looked like a small piece of frying steak a third of which was fat and grizzle and was comletely inedible. The other person in our party had chicken goujons which she was really enjoying until she realised that 3/4 way through one it had been totally raw - not just pink. We complained politely and the person in our party having the goujons got 3 new ones and some tasteless chilled chips but the other 2 got nothing at all - not even an apology about the meat.

To top it all off I had to ask for more gravy as mine had dried in to my plate before getting to me and I was charged £2.50 for this and not a single penny was deducted from the bill for the bad meals we had.

I will never eat here again and will warn everyone else about this place.

The service was really fast, helpful and polite.The menu was extremely well priced and the food was amazing. Spent average of £13pp on food and ended up going back later in the week!

The menu was great as it had all the usuals but had suitable twists added to them and offered specials and more creative non-traditional food too. I will be back again soon!

Saw this link on a friends facebook page and think the reviews below are painting a poor picture of a great restaurant

Modern, clean and great for a pint of Guinness. Never had a bad meal there in 20 years. Not the cheapest place to eat but definitely in the top 3 restaurants in the Ballymena area

They do a famous Chicken dish with stir fry veg which is beautiful

Modern looking but well established business. Very clean fast friendly service. Good menu and something to suit everyone

sour veg tough beef dirty looking chef not nice very good service

Have dined often at The Grouse Inn and been fairly satisfied. However, to be served recently, what I can only describe as rancid coleslaw is completely unacceptable! My complaints, both verbal and written have 'fallen on deaf ears', and as a result I will not be dining here again.

The service at The Grouse Inn, Ballymen, was reasonably quick. Meal was not as stated by out waitress staff and complaining appeared to be a waste of time. Needless to say i never left a tip. i ordered the special which had been verbally advertised by the waitress who seated us and took our drinks order. when the waitress came to take our food order i asked her to tell me about the special. When my meal came the food on the plate was rather sparce, the solitary fish cake was accompanied by a small container of tartar sauce and a similar container of tomato relish. I also had a small bowl of coleslaw which i wanted instead of the rocket leaves which should have been with this meal. To my surprise the plate did not have any champ. the meal which i had twice been briefed on as having chilli champ, was devoid of any. When i called the food waitress over to enquire where the champ was she said there was potato in the fish cake but I certainly expected champ too.

Almost the last thing I expected in Ballymena was to get a decent lunch served by a smiling waitress - but life is full of surprises. The waitresses haven't yet had the urge to smile crushed out of them. The starter (bread and olives) was spot on. The main courses (lasagne with a small Greek salad and penne with smoked haddock in a cream and grain mustard sauce) were excellent. It was a working lunch, so no drinks but the waitress brought us a carafe of iced water with lemon. I'll be back.