Owens

tl;dr: generally unexciting but decent food, chaotic service, nice wine
Owens is a big restaurant in Ramsbottom that I think is quite recently opened. That might explain some of the blips in service that marred the meal… not bringing any condiments for the (dry) meat starter until we’d nearly finished it (and we were the first on our large table to receive a starter, we asked straight away and we didn’t start eating it until everyone else had theirs), bringing me the wrong wine, and mixing up the main course orders so much that it appeared several people ended up with the wrong steak. It would have been a lot easier if they had taken the order down on a seating plan.
The food itself was mixed. My bf was v unimpressed with the meat platter because of the lack of accompaniments — I put pâté in my mini burger which made it taste pretty good but otherwise it was just plain bread and meet. The sausages had a nice sweet coating but tasted much better when the mustard finally arrived. The spicy chicken wings weren’t spicy at all and were the weakest element on the plate. At £13.95, this should have been better.
The fillet steak wasn’t bad although it lacked any sophistication. My bf didn’t seem too keen on his steak burger.
It’s worth noting there’s loads of gluten free options on the menu. Overall the menu seemed a little tame and old fashioned to me. One thing that sounded and looked appealing was the black pudding, which came with a cheesy hashbrown and mustard mayonnaise sauce. I’m not keen on black pudding so skipped it despite thinking the accompaniments sounded awesome. Everyone who got it said it was excellent.
The riojo blanco I had to drink was very nice and I would recommend it. They were also accommodating in making a ‘rumspresso’ for a few at the table. The cocktail list could do with being a bit cheaper (£7.95 in Ramsbotton is seriously overpriced) and featuring some less sweet, whisky based cocktails but they are obviously open to suggestions which is good.
Not really the restaurant’s fault but the experience also suffered from an obnoxiously loud birthday group of about 25 women who also delighted someone on our table by going to the toilet with the door open!