Derwentwater Arms — Restaurant in Derbyshire Dales

Shocking. Not made to feel welcome is a massive understatement.

I did a bit of looking ahead for a nice place to have a celebratory meal on my birthday knowing we'd be in the area on the day.

I checked the reviews and found this place seemed to have decent food and mainly good reviews.

We arrived at midday, the place was pretty dead, only a third of tables had people at them, if that. After waiting for some time for someone to talk to at the bar, there seemed to be no one there, we were told we'd have a 45 minute wait for food as there was a party coming in.

After mulling over the menu for what we fancied to eat we were told there were two chefs on and they'd said they couldn't serve any more food. What the heck?! The place was dead, even with a small party coming in. I told them it was my birthday, no "happy birthday" no "sorry", no apologies, I was left pretty disgusted. We had our three year old with us and we were all getting very hungry, which I told them. We were told to go to another pub, charming!

I think they took one look at us and decided they didn't want us on their premises. I have clean and tidy dreads (not messy and scratty) and the fact we had a small child with us and decided they didn't want us there and they weren't going to serve us. The excuse was ludicrous that they couldn't serve us food, more like they wouldn't. They'd gone from a 45 minute wait which was fair enough with a party coming in, to a flat out no, with two chefs on and no apology! Come on, that's pretty terrible.

Not at all impressed, pretty disgusting actually. We ended up at a different pub where the food wasn't very good at all, at short notice and unable to check reviews before visiting. Thanks for ruining my birthday meal.

I would not recommend this place at all unless you're stuck up your own back side and you have no children. Staff seem pretty stuck up and are ...

Been before & had delicious crispy pork, but this time very disappointed. Lamb cutlets & dauphinois potatoes were lovely, though difficult to cut the meat without steak knives. But serving almost raw barely warm vegetables was a bit of a shocker. It might have been fine if the broccoli was sweet stem, but regular broccoli just didn’t taste right. More than halfway through & one of the teenagers came over to ask us how the meal was. Explained prefer that vegetables had been cooked a little bit & was offered more, but initially refused (too late, more than halfway through), but in end agreed. Some lukewarm Savoy cabbage with a single mange tout was delivered as finishing the rest of the meal. Unfortunately bar & kitchen seemed to be run by very young & perhaps inexperienced people & that was reflected in the service & quality. Rather nonplussed by the response from Derwentwater - the lamb was perfectly cooked, though i wasn't asked how i'd like the cutlets cooked, yet there appears to be an expectation to request how i'd like the vegetables cooked [they should be cooked enough so they lose their raw taste]? what - request longer vegetable cooking whilst the meal goes cold.. sadly they were not 'crisp-tender', think the stem colour shows that. we had no expectation of anything for free - didn't even realise we'd been offered free desserts. we were asked if we wanted to order desserts, which we declined & would have declined if we'd even been made aware that was the intention. you could have taken on board my comments, but you chose veiled criticism - not the...

Stayed two nights mid July. Party of 3 - two rooms. Large car park which means good view of front of hotel. Yes there are steps up but tiered to allow breathing stops if needed ( note - there is a more accessible back entrance). Plenty of outside seating to take advantage of views across the dales. Good number of flower baskets and pots giving a lovely display. Rooms adjacent to hotel, well furnished and comfortable with everything you could need - I especially enjoyed the fresh milk that was provided each morning for that important first cup of tea!! Staff all very friendly and helpful with nothing too much trouble. I hadn't booked a table for the first night but as we were residents they fitted us in - so suggest you book in advance as restaurant does get very busy (Full both nights we were there - outside school holiday time). Food, chosen from a varied menu, was excellent and plentiful. The homemade pie by Tom the chef, was a favourite - full and hearty after a day of walking (although we found that walking was not necessary to enjoy it!!!) Breakfast too gave a good start to the day. Their special granola & fruit mixture was enjoyed by 2 of our party but I stayed with the traditional full English. Dog and walker friendly and a general relaxed and welcoming atmosphere.

Would definitely recommend staying or calling in here - though very worth contacting to book in advance. Thanks and congratulations to Tom and Kat for overseeing such a lovely establishment and hope you have a good year after the recent disrupted...