The Pavilion - County Durham

I really love this place. Its comfortable and welcoming. As a resudent of Bishop Auckland i am there regularly with my partner or friends. Also held a birthday party back in June and know several people who use the venue to host christenings and special birthdays. Theres regular entertainment and theres nothing nicer than sitting on the decking with a coffee or bottle of wine. X

Decided to try this venue with a family member for a light lunch as I had visited here previously as a guest at a birthday party last year, at which the staff were very professional and polite. No such luck this time, the old staff had either left or been replaced by a young girl who acted as if she really did not want to be there. Customer service was non-existant, no eye contact or even a smile, food took around 20 minutes to arrive and was not at all adequate, looked bland and bread was very dry. The coffee was ok although there was more coffee in the saucer than in the cup. I would not recommend this establishment to others.

Friendly waiting staff, not very busy. Quite a long wait for piece of Quiche, which was cold. Panini. Difficult to find something on menu not bread/pastry based. All served with crisps quite nice salad leaves. A good place for a Party maybe.

We called into the Pavilion for the first time today to sample what was on offer. The eatery consists of a large room with a nice view over the cricket ground. We ordered soup which happened to be broccoli and stilton. This took quite a while to arrive so our expectations were high. While we were waiting the food arrived for the two women on the table next to us. One of them was having a baked potato which looked like it had gone through quite an ordeal in the kitchen. Its skin was almost black and looked very leathery – this was not a good omen. When our soup arrived we could only say that it resembled a thick green sludge and tasted pretty horrible. This was a real disappointment as this is simple food that someone with basic skills could prepare quite adequately in their own kitchen. To add insult to injury when the waiter asked my wife if the food was ok and she said, “It’s not very good.” This was not followed up. But why ask if you are not going to do anything? The food – all of it was unloved by whoever prepared it and deserved more care.

Lovely, cosy surroundings with a fantastic sun terrace overlooking the cricket ground. Very dog friendly, inside or out with a fresh bowl of water on our arrival. This was the most friendliest welcome in the town I've ever experienced!!