The Devonshire — Restaurant in Bolsover

That was my second visit for a lunch with friend. We came at 11.30 but were informed that technically place is still closed to serve food but we can have a drink. At first it was not a big issue as I though that we will have a time to get coffee before. Then, when wanted to order coffee, we were told that you have new coffee machine and person who was there does not know how to use it (was off for 2 weeks) so has to wait for another team member. I get it but if you are open for clients - why would not you organise your rota the way you have staff who can make a coffee.... Otherwise - don't open. We took orange juice instead. By the way, it was not real orange juice but from concentrate. Then after 12.00 we were served and asked if someone is coming with our coffee we wanted to get before food really. Food came, shortly after food - coffee. Obviously, by the time we got to the end of meal, coffee was cold. We both had a burger and bacon was very hard. When my friend mentioned that it tastes and looks like yesterday's leftovers, waitress said that will feedback it to chef but it's definitely fresh and only well done. She left it as could not really bite it etc. I ate mine as was covered in cheese and could not separate it. I felt this bacon all day on my stomach. I know it's not Michelin and I don't expect Chef to come back to our table to apologise and offer something else. However, it's not cheap place neither. You would expect good quality and fresh food. My chicken in burger was not tasty at all. Just salty really. Before I had beef burger and it was completely tasteless. No grill/barbecue smell or taste, or anything in fact. Nobody came back to even ask if we are ready for bill although we were there from 11.30 till 14.30. I can imagine - only to avoid interactions after telling that food was not OK. I don't understand why, knowing that your customer was not happy about food, nobody came back to say something. Simple thing like offering a coffee could change the whole experience which was not great from entering the door and was only going down the hill. It takes a lot of courage to express that meal is not OK. It's not easy thing to do. Appreciate when people provide feedback as it may only help your business. Especially, in economically difficult times. Spending over £50 for 2 burgers and drink is a lot of money for a...

Having been here many times with my partner and sampled all the amazing vegan food on offer, we suggested to our family this would be the perfect place to travel to for my father in laws 80th birthday celebration and I assured them it was worth the drive instead of using our usual town centre haunts. Imagine my embarrassment then when all 8 of us showed up aged from 6 months to 80 years, to be told they had no record of my reservation! I was asked which telephone number I had called to make my booking as apparently there is some other Devonshire close by. Sadly I had left my mobile phone at home so couldn’t prove that I had called the same number I always call when I eat here and not some random place I had never even heard of. I knew exactly the date and time I had called to make the booking though since as soon as I’d done it, I’d sent a message to the family Facebook group to let them know! This was no help apparently and we were turned away as there was no room for us and into the night we drove looking for somewhere that could feed us for our (no longer) special occasion. (We ended up at a Greene king pub where the staff didn’t even know what vegan meant). Great times! Thanks Devonshire! Of course the first thing I checked when I got home was the number I rang and of course it was the correct one. I sent an email of complaint with the screenshot so they knew the error was their own and to be fair, the lady that had turned me away did call the next day to apologise but said the member of staff who took the booking was away in Spain. It’s been 2 weeks now and although the apology was appreciated, it would have been much better to acknowledge such a major celebration ruined by offering any kind of discount if we dined there again (since this didn’t happen, we...

The highlight of our anniversary trip away and we’re already planning our next visit!

We came to the Devonshire on the first night of our stay away in the neighbouring town of Bolsover - it had good reviews and was only a short drive, so we took our chance.

When we arrived it was very busy, so we didn’t think we’d get in. We politely asked the front of house staff whether there was room for two, to which we were told there was and we were very quickly seated. The staff were very friendly and were very attentive - especially considering we hadn’t made a reservation and was placed away from the main dining hall.

We ordered from their festive menu - a Christmas dinner and a festive loaded fries - and in no time at all they were placed on our table. It, honestly, couldn’t have been longer than 20 minutes for our food to be ordered and on the table. The Christmas dinner was beautifully presented with delicious turkey, and the portion sizes were generous - the loaded fries could have fed a small army! It was the perfect meals for a long day of driving and walking.

We were very full after our mains, but there’s always a second stomach for dessert! We ordered a brownie (which we got to share, begrudgingly), it was a generous slice topped with chocolate bar chunks and a honeycomb and caramel ice cream. The ice cream was perfectly scooped and was absolutely delicious with the brownie - I would highly recommend it, even to share if you were as full up as we were!

We thought the food was incredible value for money and the staff were absolutely amazing, we can’t wait to come back in the new year on our next trip! Highly recommend if you’re visiting close by and need a much needed feed after a...