chloedickensonLast Updated on 31st July 2022
This post about The Old Bank Carlisle may contain affiliate links.
After dining out literally every single day for three whole months on our road trip across the USA and then again on our 10-day Caribbean cruise, it’s safe to say that I was more than ready to enjoy some proper homecooked meals again once we arrived back in the UK to see our families for a couple of months.
However, I’m not one to miss out on an opportunity to head out to a new restaurant for date night and when Matt suggested that we went out for a meal in Carlisle a few weeks ago (I love that we still prioritise date nights even after 6+ years together!), I was more than happy to oblige!
While we were in America, my parents moved from Penrith to Carlisle and so I was super excited to try even more restaurants in their new home city once we arrived back in the UK. Upon researching the best places to eat in Carlisle, I discovered The Old Bank which is a super highly rated gastropub right in the city centre.
Below, you’ll find my detailed review of our date night at The Old Bank Carlisle, including what we thought of the menu, the food and drink that we ordered, plus what I thought of the overall dining atmosphere and experience!
As always, the quality of the photos in this post is terrible as I spend far too little time taking pictures and too much time eating! I hope you get the general gist of eating at The Old Bank in Carlisle anyway!
Even though we visited The Old Bank Carlisle on a weekday, I still booked our table a few days in advance as when I looked for a table on the day of our visit, all the booking slots had been taken, so I’m glad I reserved ahead of time!
Upon arriving at The Old Bank, we were greeted by the friendliest staff and neon pink decor with funky signs, wacky wallpaper and a multi-level seating area.
We were seated on the second level of the restaurant floor, in a cosy booth where we had a great vantage point of the rest of the diners; this was perfect for us as it meant that we could nosey at everyone else’s food choices to see what looked good!
The Old Bank Carlisle menu
The menu at The Old Bank in Carlisle might just be one of the very best menus that I’ve seen in a long time; there is so much choice and I genuinely don’t think there was anything on there that I wouldn’t have ordered.
Naturally, this was both a blessing and a curse because it was fantastic to have so much choice of incredible dishes, but that also meant that I really struggled to narrow it down to just one dish!
With dishes such as garlic and paprika marinated braised pork belly, cajun and tortilla crusted chicken schnitzel and smoked ham hock, chicken and Cumberland honey mustard pie with minted new potatoes on the menu, it’s no wonder that we had a difficult time choosing just one thing each to eat!
In the end, we both went for something from the hanging kebab menu, which you can find more details about in the food section below.
Ordering our drinks was a little easier as they had my favourite cocktail on the drinks menu; a Cosmopolitan. This was delightfully refreshing and I could have quite happily drank a dozen of these if they weren’t so expensive!
Matt went for the Dollar Dollar Bill Y’all cocktail which included ingredients of triple sec, raspberry vodka, lime juice and blue Curaçao. Matt’s cocktail was much better than mine and super tasty and refreshing.
The food at The Old Bank Carlisle
I opted for the crispy belly pork and chorizo sausage hanging kebab which was served with patatas bravas, roasted garlic mayo and pork, nduja and beer gravy. I’d already eyed this up when checking out the menu online before our visit and despite the menu being so vast and extensive, this dish called out to me the most.
Every single ingredient of this hanging kebab sounded so mouth-wateringly good that my stomach was practically growling by the time our waiter brought it out. The belly pork and chorizo sausage on the hanging kebab were tremendous, with the meat of the belly pork being soft and succulent and the crackling being perfectly firm and crisp.
The garlic mayo and the nduja and beer gravy made perfect condiment additions to this dish and I couldn’t choose a favourite between the two as they were both heavenly, so I dipped the pork in both sauces each time so that I could enjoy the best of both worlds!
The only thing about my dish that didn’t completely blow me away was the patatas bravas which disappointed me slightly as they’re usually one of my favourite tapas dishes. I thought they could have been a little crisper and the sauce that coated them was a bit too peppery (the vegetable, not the seasoning!) for my liking.
The pork belly and beer gravy component of the dish more than made up for it, however, and I wouldn’t hesitate to order this again when I next visit The Old Bank in Carlisle.
Matt also ordered from the hanging kebab menu and he went for the lemon, herb and garlic marinated chicken with a warm flatbread, pickled red onions, roasted tomatoes, tzatziki and bbq dusted skin-on fries.
The chicken from the hanging kebab was so succulent and scrumptious that all the juices dripped down onto the fries and flatbread below, making everything else so unbelievably tasty. The fries were definitely a better accompaniment than my patatas bravas and if we head back to The Old Bank and order the same thing again, I would probably ask for mine to come with fries instead.
The portion sizes were pretty substantial, so we didn’t have any room for dessert by the time we’d scoffed our hanging kebabs, but there were plenty of puddings I could have eaten if I weren’t so full.
I loved the sound of the sticky biscoff pudding with salted toffee sauce, speculoos crumb and fudge ice cream and the blonde chocolate and malted milk blondie with chocolate cremeux, cookie crumb, cookies and cream ice cream, salted caramel vodka and malted milkshake.
Both these desserts sound utterly indulgent but oh-so-delicious and if the hanging kebabs weren’t enough to convince me to revisit, then the desserts just might!
If you’re looking for an awesome place to eat in Carlisle, I really couldn’t recommend The Old Bank enough. The restaurant itself is so beautiful, the food is to die for and the service was brilliant. Definitely check it out if you’re looking for somewhere fun and delicious to eat in Carlisle!
Opening hours
- Monday and Tuesday: closed
- Wednesday: 5 PM – 10 PM
- Thursday and Friday: 5 PM – 10 PM
- Saturday: 10 AM – 10 PM
- Sunday: 10:30 PM – 6 PM
Address: The Old Bank, 34 Fisher Street, Carlisle, Cumbria, CA3 8RH.
Related posts:
- Coco Mill Carlisle – The Best Restaurants In Carlisle, Cumbria
- The Best Things To Do In Penrith, Cumbria – Ultimate Travel Guide
- Center Parcs Whinfell Forest – Everything You Need To Know
- The Ultimate Lake District Road Trip Itinerary – Best Things To See & Do
- Bowness-on-Windermere Travel Guide: What To Do, See & Eat
Pin for later
Have you ever been to Carlisle? Would you like to try The Old Bank restaurant if you’re ever in the city? Let me know in the comments or on Instagram at @imjustagirl_16.
