The Spanker Inn — Restaurant in Amber Valley

My wife and I visited this pub for the first time today for a “quick” lunch as our parents used to visit it many years ago. (Sadly they are no longer with us) We ordered our meal at 13:31. 40 minutes later we still hadn’t received our food. (The time was important to us as we had an important appointment in Ripley at 15:00) Upon enquiring at the bar we were told our food wouldn’t be long. The food eventually arrived after 45 minutes. This was hard to understand as I tried to amend my order two minutes after ordering but was told it was too late as the food was already being cooked?? That was fine by me but clearly untrue as how long does it take to cook a 4oz gammon steak and a few pre-cooked catering chips, garden peas and a fried egg ? The food was nothing short of disgusting. The chips were hard and the gammon so tough it was inedible. My wives chips were as bad as mine, her fish was bland, grey, overcooked and looked as though it had come out of a convenience pack. Truly awful. I gave my feedback to the young lady serving our table when she asked for it. Shortly afterwards a gentleman, who I assume was the manager or landlord appeared. He rather briskly announced “you asked to see me?” I told him I hadn’t actually asked to see him but I was happy share my feedback with him directly which I then did. He informed us his chips were highly praised by everyone in the area and the gammon was fresh that day. (I would expect it to be fresh of course but also edible.) He was highly defensive and basically said we were completely wrong. He then said .he would knock some money off the bill for the gammon. I told him we didn’t want any money back but just wanted to provide him with helpful feedback so they could improve. This chap is in total denial and doesn’t understand the value of constructive customer feedback. If he knew anything about business he would understand the value of the above. He admitted he used “external suppliers” for the pre- cooked chips which is sort of OK but surely he should be communicating this feedback to them and not telling his paying customers they are wrong and everything is hunky dory. Shocking experience. Needless to say we won’t be going back as there are plenty of much better places to spend our money...

My experience at The Spanker has been that the team care greatly about the Customers. They want the venue to be a hub for the community, a place to meet friends, old and new, to experience good food and new food. They want the customer to enjoy their time as their guests and naturally, when that isn't the case, they want to be able to resolve any problems and respond to any comments, so that following experiences are better. They want to be honest and sincere and hope to receive the same in return, preferably in person, as this offers more immediate resolution and very much less distress and upset, when, as is often the case, there are many sides to all stories. My experience of customers at The Spanker has been varied, often joyful, often illuminating and sometimes, challenging. Luckily, the team at the Spanker are just that, a team and they rise together and pull together. My family have thoroughly enjoyed many visits to the pub and most recently the children have made great use of the new climbing frame in the beer garden. It only cost us bribery of chips and onion rings to...

Shocking, we went here after looking at their advertised menu on their website, as my daughter is a celiac and gluten free so we are careful as to where we dine. We didn’t book, but when we got there we were advised that they had a table of 9 arriving shortly who had pre booked their food so we would need to order quickly. (Bit strange if you already know what they are eating and it’s only for 9 people). The gluten free menu that they had on offer is different from what they advertise on their website (some of the food wasn’t available)so my daughter just had a bowl of gluten free chips. Within half an hour of returning home my daughter had severe stomach pain, very questionable to say the least if she was given what we had asked for. I don’t think people understand how dangerous it can be to serve food to people with certain...