Pen Factory

Friendly and efficient staff. Lively atmosphere, but not rowdy. Food was good and portions generous. Very handy for pre theatre food. Would definitely use again.

Staff were friendly and attentive. The food was delicious and so much choice of healthy but yummy dishes. They also had a lot of gluten free and vegan options which makes them even better. I came for a work lunch but it would be a lovely dinner date or even for drinks and nibbles.

Saturday night 7.30 crazy busy! We were shown to our prebooked table and our waitress introduced herself. We ordered our drinks which came within a few minutes despite the heaving bar area. Food order taken and again it wasn't long before the delicious dishes began to arrive. We ordered 2 plates each plus 1 bread and a mixed salad. Plenty between 3 of us sadly no room for pudding. Excellent service, excellent food, lovely staff, we will be going again soon!

A great location in the heart of the Georgian quarter, the Pen Factory is a lively bar and restaurant with an interesting and well-priced range of tapas-style dishes, all cooked to perfection. It is, however, extremely loud (or certainly was on the night we went) which does make conversation difficult - which is a real shame.

Back for the new season of the Philharmonic concerts...... first one last night. Good food. Wider choice of menu. Friendly welcome. Promp service! Nice atmosphere. Would have been 6 for overall experience but the background music is too loud for us.

Excellent food. Limited but adequate choice. Generous servings. Great value for money. Service consistently and gratifyingly efficient and friendly. Superb selection of beer and wine. Always impressive.

We love the Pen Factory where the service is warm and speedy and the food is delicious. Pre-concert plates are delivered quickly and there is a great atmosphere.

Good quality food and excellent service Chorizo in honey and cider fantastic. The Southport shrimps were exceptional. The Apple Pie had a nice hint of cinnamon which gave it a lift. A very pleasant evening.

Had a very pleasant afternoon in the Pen Factory. We were using a Liverpool Confidential voucher - £25 for a £50 spend so it was great value. There was a deal on small dishes - two for £10. We got 4 between 2 of us and it was plenty. The roast chicken and battered courgettes were our faves.

Great atmosphere and very busy, service could have been better and 1 meal was very overcooked and another dish didn't arrive. Took 25 minutes for the coffees to arrive but it was a busy night. Waiters seemed rushed off their feet although it did relax later into the night.

Very pleasant evening, food great, service good drinks a bit on the expensive side but all in all a great evening spent with great company and worth going again.

Not a massive menu choice but the food was delicious. 'Small plates' yet generous portions. Very friendly staff and the service was excellent. Fab atmosphere and lovely little beer garden too!

Very nice relax place. Food was good. The plastic tables and chairs outside could be replaced, dirty and old. Other wise very friendly staff. Good evening.

Lovely food , and great service, the new menu offers grater choice, would recommend to anyone, would go back with friends, chilled atmosphere and lovely beer garden

We had a lovely time - delicious, fresh food, good beer in a lovely relaxed atmosphere, what more could you ask for. Great time had by all.

Lovely time in this unique restaurant! Service and food was excellent! A bit disappointed at the price of soft drink for the designated driver- it cost more than the pints of beer!!

Pen Factory has got it down to aT in terms of service quality, racion selection, beers and lively atmosphere. One of favourites for casual dining.

A warm welcome from charming staff. Food fresh and original. Even impressed by the espresso. Good mix of clientele. What more could we ask for??

Good venue but quite pricey for drinks and food. Desserts are reasonabley priced but no menu so you need to ask what there is and prices.Very pleasant & courteous staff so rated them quite high.

lovely food, I really like the small plates as it means you get to try different things

Lovely food and great cocktail, love the small plates they are great as in means you can have try two or three different things. Will go back.

Fantastic - first time at the Pen Factory on a friend’s recommendation- great location, Garden was a lovely surprise as didn’t realise we could sit outside, food and service all great! Would definitely go again !!

The food was brilliant and was value for money. The service was quick and the staff were friendly . Will definitely be going back again.

This was a new experience, and a very nice one. the food, staff and the place its self was very good. i would highly recommend this to anyone . we will be revisiting soon.

Great food, good service and a nice relaxed setting. Weather was good so lovely to sit outside with some post meal drinks. Enjoyable way to spend a Saturday afternoon with friends.

The veggie platter to share was very nice, although I thought it was a bit pricey at £12.50 for what you get. The fried chicken and fries were good and the waitress found me some pea garlic mayonnaise to dip the chips in. :) All the staff are really friendly and helpful and they even took the chicken off the bill because it took longer than they thought was acceptable. We were fine with it! We used a Liverpool Confidential voucher voucher so it was great value!

The staff were very courteous and organised. The menu was small but what was on it was done perfectly. We thoroughly enjoyed eating there and will do so again.

Excellent food (quality and variety), really friendly and helpful staff, great atmosphere, funky decor, good location especaily in going to Everymnan Theatre or Philharmonic Hall, and all very reasonably priced.Strongly recommended

Excellent service, food and location. I particularly enjoyed the pork omelette. We shared a few small plates and a tapas platter but the the 2 small plates for a tenner is good value. We'll be back.

Lovely food and great atmosphere! The duck hash was especially delicious. My party - 6 of us - are all from Southport and always have the Southport shrimps which we all love so please keep this on the menu. We also love the small plate option as we were all off to sing at the Phil and big plates are a 'no go' prior to a concert.

A really enjoyable evening. Delicious tapas style food, friendly and professional staff providing a high level of service; a great atmosphere. Very reasonably priced aswell.

Food and service both excellent. Well recommended. Excellent location for anyone visiting the university, Philharmonic Hall or the Everyman Theatre, which are all within a minutes walk.

great food & atmospher at a reasonabble price will be back soon beer selection very good cask ales& wine selection better than most bars in area

we ordered a fish dish and vegetarian dish - there was a delay in the veg dish arriving so my partner eat her fish alone whilst I waited. good atmosphere and service was attentive though. The kitchen probably wasn't as organized as should be

Generally very good, we had pre-booked (party of 8) and the service was good. The food was excellent, value good as well.One slight blemish was a couple of the guests cooked meal arrived before the potted shrimps starter, which was disappointing. I know that they say the courses can arrive in any order but that was just a nonsense ! Otherwise all great & we'll be back !

Excellent food, service & atmosphere. Really enjoyed it. This is our third time eating at the Pen Factory and will visit many more times in the future. Highly recommended.

Food was amazing and staff were really friendly. The portion size of the tapas style food was bigger than expected so really pleased with the overall experience.

Great variety of food with a great atmosphere. Went to the Pen Factory on a Saturday night and really enjoyed a lovely evening. There was plenty to choose from especially for vegetarians.

Excellent as usual. Swift, friendly service and great food. Portions not too big, but definitely not too small either. Is that twenty five words yet?

The pen factory is lovely place for a meal, it as quality food and drink, it was nice and clean, the staff were very friendly, overall it was a lovely chilled place to eat

Excellent food and service. Prompt food arrival on a busy day and dog friendly too which was a bonus. Particularly recommend the hummus and fishcakes!

An innovative restaurant slightly out of the city centre next to the Everyman theatre. The atmosphere is friendly and the decor simple but effective. Food and wine excellent

Staff were great. Really helpful and polite. Good knowledge for food choices. Food was delicious and hot. Prices were good. Could have used bigger plates even though the they were advertised as small plate servings there was too much food crammed on. Lovely atmosphere. Would recommend.

Really enjoyed our first visit to the Pen Factory. Will definitely go again soon. Very tasty, well presented food and very good service too. Hi

Didn’t have our first 3 choice of drinks but what we had was lovely

Great meal and service as usual. The salads are great and a really tasty accompanyment to your meal. Would definitely recommend this restaurant for lunch.

We visited the Pen Factory on a Friday night for dinner. My partner and I had a lovely time and shared an assortment of dishes including the chorizo (which was to die for), prawns, spanish chip butty and angry fried chicken. Service when we arrived was lovely. However, when we went to order food we were suddenly informed that one of the dishes we had chosen was out of stock (this was disappointing given the deliberation it had taken to choose our dishes). This did however, work in our favour as we replaced the missing dish with the chorizo which was my favourite dish of the night. As the evening progressed service became a little more lacklustre. Our plates were cleared and we were asked if we'd like any deserts or coffee. We told our waitress that we didn't want anything immediately but that in 15-20 minutes we would probably order something. 15 minutes later, after about 5 minutes of trying to catch a staff members attention, we ordered a dessert to share and a coffee for my partner. The waiter went to look at the till, saw the time and said sorry the kitchen is closed now so we can't sort out your dessert but I'll make your coffee. He then returns about 2 minutes later to tell us that actually the coffee machine is being cleaned so we can't have the coffee either. I completely understand that the kitchen needs to close at some point but it would have been nice to have been warned that the kitchen would be closing soon when we told our waitress we'd order dessert shortly. Another member of staff came over to us after the gent returned to tell us there was no coffee and asked if she could get us anything else. I mentioned to her that we had wanted dessert but that we had been told the kitchen was closed. She asked what we were wanting to order (chocolate and pistachio tart) and said she would check with the kitchen if they would be able to plate one up for us. This is a nice gesture on her part but something I would have expected in the first place given that the tart was served cold and simply needed to be put on a plate to serve. We remained for another half hour or so but again found it very difficult to catch a staff members attention when we wanted to pay. This would be understandable if staff were busy but the waiter we spoke to earlier could be seen in the kitchen boxing up leftover pieces of sticky toffee pudding (presumably for staff members to take home). He subsequently stood at the entrance to the kitchen eating a piece, with other staff members going in for a bit too. A further member of staff could be seen stood by the coffee machine eating from a packet of crisps. Having got fed up of waiting to get someones attention, we had to go to the bar to ask for our bill. All in all, the start to our evening was lovely, the service and food were great. As the evening got later we lost the nice atmosphere and service which did put a bit of a downer on an otherwise lovely evening. I would definitely return though perhaps with a table booked before 8:30. Hopefully this way I will be able to avoid the issues above.

Good atmosphere, good food. Some portions seemed a bit big for tapas but small for a main course. Very convenient for theatres . Would definitely go again. Courtyard garden looked worth a visit in the summer

I have now eaten at the Pen Factory twice. On both occasions, really tasty food and friendly, helpful staff. Recommend the fish taco. Top notch!

We had great food served by lovely staff but was very disappointed to have a dog on next table. It was on the owners lap at some of the time, being petted by staff who then went on to serve food. Food establishments are not a place for pets.