Hardens Guide to the Best Restaurants in Formby
Hardens guides have spent 33 years compiling reviews of the best Formby restaurants. On Hardens.com you'll find details and reviews of 39 restaurants in Formby and our unique survey based approach to rating and reviewing Formby restaurants gives you the best insight into the top restaurants in every area and of every type of cuisine.
Featured Formby Restaurants
1. The London Carriage Works, Hope Street Hotel
British, Modern restaurant in Liverpool
40 Hope Street - L1
“Superb food… comfortable surroundings, friendly but not obsequious staff, a very decent wine list, reasonable prices…” – this boutique hotel dining room (named after the original 1860 business that occupied the premises) was part of the early wave of culinary reinvention to hit ‘The Pool’ and opened in 2003. It’s often overlooked nowadays, but reports this year suggest unfairly so.
2. Salt House
Spanish restaurant in Liverpool
1 Hanover Street - L1
“Still serving great tapas with some influences from different countries” – this bright modern café opposite John Lewis is a well-known standby in the city, with the main drawback being that “the noise-level can be difficult at busy times”. Opened in 2010, it was the first peg in a local chain that nowadays incorporates Hanover Street Social, Bacaro and Bouchon.
3. Il Mulino Roby Mill
restaurant in Upholland
60 Roby Mill - WN8
An AA rosette award winning Italian restaurant nestled in the heart of the Lancashire countryside. Il Mulino serves high-quality produce from Lancashire farms and Italy.All of our meat, dairy & vegetables are grown or reared within a 30 mile ...
4. Moor Hall
British, Modern restaurant in Aughton
Prescot Rd - L39
“There is nothing not to love about the experience – from the tour of the kitchen on the way to your table through the ballet of service to the final bites of deliciousness, all done with great charm and humour” – Mark Birchall’s converted manor house a short drive north of Liverpool has captured the imagination of the UK food scene since it first launched in 2014 and – “a candidate for a third Michelin star” – it still regularly tops media Top 100s of UK restaurants. At the heart of the offering is the “outstanding tasting dinner-time menu of 17 small but exceptional courses” for £225 per person, but the gorgeously refurbished medieval setting, cheese room, kitchen garden, and landscaped five acres with long drive and lake all add to its mystique. Just one issue presents itself – the jaw-dropping bills. For most reporters the verdict remains that it’s “worth every penny”, but its high cost means its top rating from our annual diners’ poll is becoming borderline. “It’s wonderful, and I know prices are rising everywhere, but it feels expensive now… even compared to The Ritz!”
5. OXA
restaurant in Birkenhead
1 Rose Mount, Oxten - CH43
Fine dining in relaxed neighbourhood restaurant setting, Open in Oxton serves a sophisticated tasting menu with optional drinks pairing. Ingredients are locally-sourced and treated with respect. Diners enjoy a casual chef-led experience. ...
6. Restaurant 8 by Andrew Sheridan
British, Modern restaurant in Liverpool
16 Cook Street - L2
Native Liverpudlian Andrew Sheridan upped sticks from Brum to relocate ‘8’ to a Victorian building in the city centre (next to the original Cavern Club) in April 2023. Seating is at one of two counters for, appropriately, eight diners; the lighting is low; much of the décor is black or slate-grey; and the level of ambition in the cooking is high, with the aim of delivering ‘an immersive sensory experience’. The eight courses (for £110 per head) are of very diverse inspiration and there’s also a wine pairing option (for £80 per head).
7. Nord
Scandinavian restaurant in Liverpool
The Plaza, 100 Old Hall Street - L3
“A strong new opening with great food!” – in a Sixties-tastic building that used to be the HQ for Littlewoods (once home to the football pools), Liverpudlian chef Daniel Heffy (ex-Secret Diners Club & Buyers Club) returned from Stockholm to helm this ambitious newcomer. It opened in April 2023 – rather late in the day to generate feedback in our annual diners’ poll – hence we’ve left it unrated, despite one very upbeat early-days report (and the Liverpool Echo and the Confidentials have both waxed lyrical about it).
8. Bistrot Vérité
French restaurant in Southport
7 Liverpool Road - PR8
This “great French bistro” is a true family affair from the Vérité family, with owners Marc & Michaela nowadays joined by their two sons; “there is always a great choice of imaginative seasonal dishes, expertly cooked and well-presented”, and the “recently acquired adjacent premises” (Petite Verité, a bar/overspill area for the restaurant) is also a “welcome addition”.
9. The Vincent Hotel V-Cafe
British, Modern restaurant in Southport
98 Lord Street - PR8
This “buzzy and consistent” brasserie at a stylish modern hotel and wedding venue offers “excellent service and good food”, with an eclectic menu that stretches from “delicious steaks and fish ’n’ chips” to sushi and other Asian delights, then back to comforting domestic desserts including chocolate mousse and fruit crumble.
10. So-lo
British, Modern restaurant in Aughton
17 Town Green Lane - L39
“Superb food every time”, say early converts to high-flying chef Tim Allen (ex-Launceston Place, Wild Rabbit, Flitch of Bacon)’s first venture as chef-patron, a “former Seafood Pub Company outpost” that he opened in late 2021 down the road from superstar Moor Hall. “The cuisine is terrific with a few interesting surprises thrown in” – and “with just Tim Allen and one other in the open kitchen – a model of calmness – it’s all the more remarkable how good and refined the cooking is. There’s a very light touch and freshness to it all that’s just delightful”. “The pricing at Moor Hall (while never not worth it) has always put it into a rare treat category… the arrival of this place is approaching an epiphany of more affordable fine dining!”
11. The Barn at Moor Hall
British, Modern restaurant in Aughton
Prescot Rd - L39
The more casual ‘second’ restaurant at Mark Birchall’s all-conquering project still offers a “sumptuous dining experience”, with the “incredible attention to detail” expected from such a venue. Some reporters even “like its chilled style more than its more prestigious neighbour. Service is genuinely more friendly, and there’s less genuflecting at the stuff on the plate – I’ve come to eat, not worship!”. As for the clientele, it’s “a bit less footballer WAGish” than next door – and there’s “an excellent value lunch menu, considering the elevated nature of the cooking”.
12. Panoramic 34
French restaurant in Liverpool
Brook Street - L3
“Just watch the sunset over Liverpool from this 34th-floor restaurant”, say fans of this spectacular venue in the West Tower, the city’s tallest. Run by Cathy Frost, whose developer husband Hugh built the tower, the operation’s modern British cuisine has consistently impressed reporters, and new head chef Nathan Booth has settled in well following the departure of Elliot Hill to the Chester Grosvenor.
13. El Gato Negro
Spanish restaurant in Liverpool
Unit 2, Walker House, Exchange Flags - L2
2021 Review: Manchester’s tapas smash hit branched out in August 2019, with this large 250-seat opening, in the Exchange Flags development, overlooking Liverpool’s fine town hall (which formerly traded as Steven Gerrard’s ‘The Vincent’). A big and well-stocked bar is also key to the offering.
14. Six by Nico
International restaurant in Liverpool
11-15 North John Street - L2
Glasgow chef Nico Simeone’s distinctive concept has grown into a national chain with 11 restaurants (including Fitzrovia and Canary Wharf) in just six years, offering a quick-changing succession of themed six-course menus for under £50 a head. It’s widely seen as “fantastic value” and has a sizeable fanbase amongst reporters (“every six weeks, the menu renews and for me, it is something to look forward to…”; “we simply love it and we’ve yet to miss a menu!” – “the Tokyo menu was so good we went back a second time”). Only a tiny few say, “you can feel you’re on a conveyor belt with lots of upsells”; or that the whole thing is “a dystopia of where restaurants will evolve”.
15. San Carlo
Italian restaurant in Liverpool
41 Castle St - L2
2022 Review: “Always busy and buzzing with conversation”, this “reliable upmarket resto in the business district of the city centre” – a link in the glitzy national Italian chain – wins solid marks for its “atmosphere, good-quality produce and cooking”.
16. The GPO Food Hall
International restaurant in Liverpool
35 Whitechapel - L1
2022 Review: ‘General Post Office’ now means ‘Global Provisions Outlet’ at this repurposed edifice in the Metquarter – Liverpool's biggest food hall, with 11,000 square feet in which to graze, which opened in summer 2021 and aims to champion independent vendors by offering support and incubation. High-profile initial sign-ups included Nama from Sheffield's JORO – an izakaya-style offering.
17. Salt House Bacaro
Italian restaurant in Liverpool
47 Castle St - L2
2021 Review: “Italian small plates (this time)” “from the Salt House tapas stable” – win solid ratings for this “friendly, buzzy restaurant” from the Red & Blue team. It’s “great for a larger party”, with “seats at the bar good for dates”; “it’s crowded so you do get to hear your neighbours’ conversations – although in Liverpool that can be theatre”.
18. Lunya
Spanish restaurant in Liverpool
55 Hanover Street - L1
Peter & Elaine Kinsella’s “fun” tapas bar has introduced a generation of Scouse foodies to the delights of Catalan cuisine over the past 15 years. “Sadly the Manchester branch was a victim of lockdown, but the original is still going strong”, along with its deli and Lunyalita offshoot in the Albert Dock.
19. Albert's Schenke
German restaurant in Liverpool
16 Hanover Street - L1
2021 Review: Sibling to Manchester’s popular Albert’s Schloss, this ‘bohemian bier halle and cook haus’ replaces The Hub Alehouse. It’s unlikely to be a hugely foodie destination, but – if we’re reading the runes correctly – it should be a good laugh with hearty scoff (schnitzel, burgers, raclette) to soak up some fine brews.
20. Bundobust
Indian restaurant in Liverpool
17-19 Bold Street - L1
2022 Review: Born in 2019, a Liverpool branch of the Manchester- and Leeds-based street food chain that “specialises in Indian vegetarian food and craft beers. It’s always good, lively, and popular” and “very good value” too.
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