Bridge — Restaurant in Derbyshire Dales

I Went to the Bridge for a what I thought would be an amazing dinning experience as I'd been told how good this place was for food and entertainment. I loved the layout and the set up of the bar/restaurant and the live entertainment was on point. The service was pretty decent, friendly staff and quick drink service, so far so good. We then made a food order, my partner had the mushroom risotto which looked and tasted phenomenal. My daughter had the BBQ chicken wings for starter and the chicken loaded fries as a main, the wings looked delicious and my daughter absolutely annihilated them! The dirty fries looked and smelt so good! I tried this and was blown away with how good the dirty chicken fries were!! This I would definitely recommend 😋 So so far so good right! This is were the evening turned a little sour in my opinion, I ordered myself the chicken and chorizo risotto, I've never tried a risotto before so I was really looking forward to diving into my meal! The first half of this risotto went down like a treat! I couldn't get enough, however I then took a mouthful in and had to spit it back out as something wasn't right... I looked into what I had just tried to eat and found an approximate 1cm in length piece of plastic in my food. As I'm sure you can imagine I wasn't exactly into eating plastic as it's not really part off your 5 a day so I spoke with a waitress who kindly bought the chef out who apologised for the mistake and offered to make me another one from scratch. I was happy with this as it tasted beautiful! About 5 or so minutes later a fresh chicken and chorizo risotto was bought out to me with the chef apologising again for the mistake on the previous one. So I sat back and looked at it and it seemed fine to me... that is until I took my first bite of the risotto making sure I had some chicken, chorizo and rice on the fork I took in a mouthful of this tasty looking risotto! I again unfortunately ended up finding yet ANOTHER piece of plastic in my food and this time it was approximately 3cm in length!!

One time mistake is acceptable but twice, come on now.

So I again raised it with the bar staff who got the chef out, she looked at it and straight away you could sense she was not happy with this and took it away again apologising for the mistake, however this is where i believe the restaurant failed as that was it, no one else came to speak to me about it, another one being cooked wasn't offered out to me and when i went to get another round of drinks the bar staff asked how the meal was, i explained that i had found plastic in it and she said she was aware but how was the second one, to which I explained that that one also had been ruined with a piece of plastic. She mentioned that she would speak with management about it, no one came to speak to me and I was in there for a further 40mins to which I stated I wasn't paying for the main. We then paid the rest of the bill and left.

So I never got to eat my main.

I did enjoy the time spent in The Bridge that evening its was just ruined by mistakes made by the chef. I would recommend this place as it is friendly and busy and had good vibes. I'd just check your risotto before plowing it down your...

A pretty setting and location but not as classy as it appears to be from the outside. The location is quite charming by the Henmore Brook. First of all I must say that I can’t fault the chef at all. I needed to know if the chips were gluten-free as I was visiting Ashbourne on business and wanted a light snack; I emailed in advance and was answered by the chef and told they would be gluten-free and to ask again when I arrived which I did. They were indeed gluten-free as I had no symptoms of contamination, they were huge chips, very tasty, rather too boiling hot but that’s better than cold and there were so many of them that I couldn’t eat them all. A great chef and the gluten-free care was appreciated. But the leather sofa I sat on was dirty, under the cushions there were bits everywhere, the floor of the whole establishment was dirty with bits of this and that all over the place, I was served a ‘Cognac’ in a completely filthy glass which I had to ask to be changed, the Courvoisier did not taste like Cognac at all, it tasted like cheap Brandy – (there is a Waitrose directly opposite so I wonder if the bottle has been refilled with a cheaper alternative), the barman was coughing all over the bar area, the tables and place settings looked like they hadn’t been cleaned in quite some time, the cutlery was already on the table in a pot when I arrived which is not hygienic, the salt pot which I chose not to use had unidentified bits of something in it which might be harmless but who wants something other than salt in their salt? The ladies toilets were not clean, the mirror was grimy around the edges, there were no hooks on the backs of the stall doors; only holes where the screws used to be, and the tap did not fit the sink – it poured water into the overflow hole at the back. All in all a disappointment, a tired place and the whole premises need a thorough cleaning. I must end though by praising the conscientious chef and his...

Had a walk through Ashbourne and came across The Bridge which is part of the Marstons company. We had dinner here and the service was very good. The tables were all clean and as it was a Monday it wasn't very busy. We had two mains of the burger with cheese and bacon, this came quickly and was very tasty and was a job to finish it all. Home made coleslaw, onion rings and chips. Everything about it was great and would definitely recommend it if you're feeling hungry. We also had the mince and onion pie again this was of the same size portion. The pie was served on a big bed of mashed potato and a generous portion of green peas. Also had a large gravy boat if you wanted to add this. The pastry was very tasty and buttery and not dry like some other places. Again a good size portion. We wanted dessert but after these we had to admit defeat and go without. Maybe next time...