The Woodside — Restaurant in Chesterfield

My friend and I booked a table here a couple of days ago. It was a surreal experience. We were shown to our table by a lovely, friendly lady. She asked what we wanted to drink and we both asked for a glass of wine. She then asked us to pay for it before she brought it to the table. To say the least, we were surprised. The reason she gave was that some people had left without paying. The pub was virtually empty and I'm sure we were observed hobbling in. I am a few months short of 80 and partially disabled and my friend is well in her seventies and was struggling to walk in heels 🤣. If we had tried to do a runner, a brisk walk would have been all it would have taken to stop us. The same happened with the food, we had to pay for it before we received it. On reflection, we did find this treatment a little insulting. If the place had been busy, we could have understood but there were only 3 men having a drink. There was no way two geriatrics could have escaped. Having said that, the food was lovely. We both had pies and fresh vegetables. Our young waitress was absolutely lovely. Before we left, I went to the bar to get change to leave a tip.for her. I spoke to the new owners and they are a lovely, enthusiastic young couple. I spoke to my friend when we got home and we have mixed feelings about going back. Lovely food, lovely people but not sure about being asked, at our table to pay for drinks and then again for food before we'd even seen it. 2 old ladies who can barely walk, in an empty pub! Perhaps you should be a little more discerning . Otherwise, you seem to have...

I am so disappointed to be writing this review as we visited a week earlier and we couldn’t of enjoyed the food or the service more but last night we visited again as it was our last night of our holiday. My husband ordered the mixed grill, mum ordered the gammon and I ordered a chicken pie, creamy mash and seasonal vegetables. First of all they had no eggs and offered no alternative even though we ordered extra scampi no discount was offered, the peas and mushrooms were dry on that and the gammon and a very meager amount of chips. When my pie arrived it was rubbery with no crisp to the pie top covered in herbs I could hardly cut through it, the mash was anything but creamy infact in places it was hard, it also was chicken and bacon/ham which I wouldn’t of ordered had I known, the vegetables like others have said were just frozen which I could of coped with but to be honest the whole meal tasted microwaved or had been reheated somehow. No one at all came to ask how our meals were and every time I saw one through the other room they were flying about. You will probably be asking why did I eat it and not order something else well

1. my husband’s diabetic and needed to eat
2. I only ate some of the inside and half the mash I still got something else to eat when I got back to the caravan
3. we had been out all day and I was hungry and
4. I just wanted to leave we didn’t even stay for pudding. Very disappointed ☹️

That response from owner is appalling no apology or nothing. That just shows how much you care about your...

So - Let's make a few comparisons here At 8pm on a Saturday night the place was nearly empty compared to our usual venue, the very crowded and popular Boythorpe Inn, - which was why we decided to try here.

My pie was an undersized slice, with a soggy cloth-like crust and a rather tasteless homogenous filling, typical for microwaved food. A gravy boat was placed on the plate to make less room for the lukewarm chips and peas. At £7.25 it compared badly in quality, quantity and price to the oven cooked steak and ale pie meal I can get in Yates's (at 2 meals for £7.65) There were four real ales on the bar for £3.20 and upwards. Around the Chesterfield area I usually pay betwen £2.20 to £3.00 for cask ale. My friends had the minted lamb steak, and this looked to be far better quality and value for £7.95, but then, I can get an excellent three course meal with coffee for the same price elsewhere (Sitwell Arms, Renishaw). I don't mind paying more for good food but I like value for money and I dislike places treating me like a gullible fool when I know what should be a fair price. They do 2 for £10 and other offers at other times. Perhaps these are better value. This place sems to exist in the same alternate reality as some Peak District country pubs. However, this one is located in a suburb of Chesterfield where people know better. When we left, the place was still nearly empty.

Then again some friends went in recently (March 2015) at lunch time, had the 2 for a tenner menu and...