Foresters bar & restaurant — Restaurant in Derbyshire Dales

Myself, husband and daughter dined here twice during our 4 night stay at Darwin forest. Once on the 14th of march and again on the 16th. On the 14th we had a lovely evening, we were seated in the main resteraunt on arrival, it wasn't busy but there were a few other families seated around us, there was nice atmosphere, we had our order taken at the table, the food came out quickly and was delicious hot and fresh. We were looking forward to our next reservation here a couple days later however we did not have a good experience the second time. We arrived at 4.45 ( our reservation was for 5pm) , as we were alittle early we took a seat in the bar area and went to the bar to get drinks. We did notice the door to the main resteraunt was closed. The bar lady asked that we bare with her as she was alone for the next 10 minutes ( fair enough) . We got our drinks and sat and enjoyed them. It got close to 5pm so I approached the bar and asked if we could be seated at our table as we had a reservation.. we were told that as it wasn't busy they weren't seating people in the main resteraunt and that I could order food to the table we were already sat at - next to the door - on a sofa - low table. I told the lady this wouldn't be suitable as we needed a table suitable for a highchair for our daughter. She then went into the seating area of the bar and found us a table. I don't believe this table was reserved for us it just happened to be empty ( so I'm unsure what would have happened if the tables were all taken) . This dining room adjacent to the bar was full of tables all packed together quite tightly and all tables were taken with families with children - it was very loud and overbearing in there. We were also seated next to a dogs water bowl which personally given the choice I'd rather not dine for an evening meal where dogs are allowed during the day. We were asked to place orders at the bar which we did and the food came out quickly and the only saving grace was that the food again was hot fresh and tasty. My complaint really is that why would the resteraunt pack all their diners into one small bar dining area when they have a whole lovely resteraunt they could use. I made reservations for the resteraunt not for a bar. I've never had 2 such different experiences in the same resteraunt in such a short space of time! May I also add that none of this of course was the bar ladies fault and she did the best she could on her own. I can only guess that they couldn't open the resteraunt side because they didn't have enough...

We love this place the decor is amazing and so relaxing that matches the whole feel of darwin forest weve been here a few times it started in 2022 when we stayed after our wedding and the food was delicious a year later we stayed again and came a few times as everything is perfect its like eating at a michilin star restraunt the way the food tastes and is presented it amazing the staff are so friendly and helpful its always a massive treat coming here. We came again today for our 2 year wedding anniversary and was once again not disapointed it was the sunday roadt but they had every type of meat to make it your own sunday roast everything was cooked to perfection the starters were incredable it was like watching a proffesional cooking show the desserts were great too and everything had such big portions everything was like the other times weve come ....perfect thank you for another fantastic meal at foresters restaurant we look forward to eating here again foresters really adds to what makes darwin forest special for us All our thanks The...

Staying at Darwin Forest, so thought we would try this place out. Food is certainly not of restaurant quality but you still pay restaurant prices. I had the Foresters burger meal, which consists of a slice of cheese, burger, slice of tomato and some dry salad leaves set inside a brioche bun. It was very dry, chewy and lacked taste, could barely eat half of it. At the side there was chunky chips which were okay, and again some salad leafs with the odd cherry tomato, (no salad dressing) very unappetising. My glass that I was given for my drink also had a foul smell to it, so couldn't drink that either. The waitresses were nice and generally the place has a nice feel to it, but the food let's this place down. As someone else said, this place would not last long if it were in town with nearby competition. A regrettable experience to say the least, which is ashame as the every other part of our stay at Darwin has been...