Wild West Diner

The Wild West Diner is an impressive looking new restaurant that has appeared in The Sands Venue on the Promenade in Blackpool. It's really enticing as it's clear money has been spent on the theming, giving it the right feel for Blackpool. It looks impressive and fun, and the menu looks quite good too!

When you walk in, the theming is superb, all wooden beams, mock Western facades, and photos of the Old West, as the song "I'm Just A Country Girl" plays. High hopes! A server in a plaid shirt asks us to sit wherever we like.

The menu is what you'd expect from a Western themed restaurant, big breakfasts, ribs, chicken, burgers, steaks etc. As we were deciding what to have, the waiter came over to ask us for our drinks order, so we just went for a couple of Diet Cokes. This waiter seemed quite stone faced and didn't seem very happy or interested. When he brought the drinks he asked for our food order, but we weren't ready. He came back another 2 times before we were ready... giving us the sense that he just wanted to get us in and out. We opted for appetizers of breaded garlic mushrooms and cheese and bacon potato skins, and mains of the smoked chilli dog and the Wild West Beef Cheeseburger. The waiter asked if he should bring the starters at the same time as the main... this was a really weird thing to ask, but we just said ok, we didn't mind.

At this point we both realised that the cola tasted as if it was either diluted, running out of syrup, or a cheap copy of Coke, it was also going flat. We didn't complain though, it was just a glass of pop.

The food turned up in a strange order, the first being one of our starters and the other one's main, then the others a few minutes later, again with no smile or anything from the waiter. The garlic mushrooms were tasty, if not pre-frozen, and the potato skins had lots of bacon, but were sadly quite dry.

Then we moved onto the mains. The chips were plain frozen chips, and cooked well, but also a bit dry. A bit of seasoning would've pepped them up a bit, but as they weren't seasoned we just used salt and pepper. My partner said his hot dog was tasty, but the chilli on top was luke warm, and not very spicy. My burger was an 8oz monster, but a real solid block of meat which again was pretty bland, lacking seasoning. It had cheese and a bit of limp lettuce but it was in a nice bun. It was also extremely greasy! After biting into it, I was able to hold it over my plate and squeeze it, to then have liquid fat pour out onto the plate. I couldn't finish it. The music stopped being country at this point, veering into dull modern songs I've never heard of. Shame.

At this point I popped to the toilet, where the theming continued, which is a nice touch. However after I washed my hands I noticed that although it was 6pm on a thursday, the cleaning rota said it hadn't been checked since 10am the day before! Not really what you want to see of the levels of cleanliness, especially when you know your customers will see this rota!

When I returned, my partner said that the waiter had asked if we were finished, and cleared our plates, but he didn't ask if everything had been ok (he also didn't ask this during the meal) or if we wanted the bill or desserts, so we were left sat at the table wondering what we were meant to do. The waiter was just stood at the bar chatting with another member of staff. Did he want us to get his attention or go over to him to progress the meal? 

Eventually he came over and picked up our glasses, "shall I get you your bill?" he asked, but I interjected, "uh... do you do desserts?", he genuinely looked surprised, "we do... Did you want something?", "well is there a menu or anything?", "yeah I'll get it", he then went to get the menu (not taking the glasses with him, oddly), so we had a quick look. The desserts didn't really look that interesting, they didn't even have a description, they were just a footnote in a small box at the bottom of the back of the menu. 

So we didn't bother. We got the bill paid and left. The waiter didn't smile once.

It's a real shame, because visually the place looked great, it's had money spent on it, from the antler chandeliers down to the brushed leather booths, but as was displayed on this visit, it seems to be all show and no substance, with the food being mediocre and the customer service being abysmal. 

Wanted to like it, but we won't be going back here again. Poor show.

Wild West Diner

The Sands Venue

Promenade

Blackpool