Friends Café and Tearoom — Restaurant in Derbyshire Dales

We visited twice several months apart. The décor is very cute and I desperately wanted to like this place, but on both occasions we found the customer service lacking. The first time last Autumn we were invited to go upstairs to order/pay. This time I tried to go upstairs again because no one told me there would be table service and I was asked a little brusquely to go back down, with several staff stood chatting and looking miffed that I came up. The normal menu included Afternoon Tea with no info about it, so we first attempted to order this and were told unapologetically it was booking only. That's understandable but I think it should be stated on the menu, or customers shouldn't be made to feel stupid for picking it. We then tried to order milkshakes and the waitress simply said she "had a funny feeling the blender is broken", which we had to just assume was the case because it was never confirmed. Finally we decided on coffee and tea and were asked with judgement "you're not getting any food?" Which... Yes, we'd initially tried to order food, and our order fell from £20 to £10 to around £5 because no alternatives were given based on our choices? Over a half an hour visit we were seen by I think 4 staff in total too which was odd considering there were only 2-3 other groups. Both times visiting this cafe I honestly felt like I was just inconveniencing the staff by being there. I don't have any criticism on the food or drinks and on our first visit we had a delicious cake, but I've never been in a café where I've felt so unwelcome and...

Do not pay for your meal without first asking the assistant to double check you aren’t paying for another families meal. I wasn’t provided with a receipt until after I paid. We told the gentlemen behind the till where we were sitting and he still managed to charge us what he wanted. Naturally you trust what you are told you owe until I was given the receipt after it was too late. We dined at the cafe on the 27th July and was charged incorrectly. A refund was supposedly arranged and I was quoted 3-5 days for this to be returned to my account. I am still waiting now. No one answers the phone, no one replies to emails. I live over an hour away so it would be a 2 hour round trip to visit the cafe again and demand MY MONEY BACK BECAUSE OF INCOMPETENT STAFF. It was our first day out to Ashbourne and it has been completely clouded by this experience. If you want sticky tables and bad service please dine here but I’d avoid it and go next door if I was you. I will be taking this further and I will be requesting compensation for the stress and pure lack of...

Friends..... really? Ordered a coffee with cream and a scone. Coffee came on its own without cream, then double cream brought, not single - unsuitable but better than nothing. Scone was nearly fresh so they thought it best to overcook it in the microwave; was steaming when cut in half, not gently warm as you might expect. Poor flavour due to an overdose of cinammon. Coffee was already going cold whilst waiting for the scone to arrive and was tepid after the scone had cooled. No butter provided with scone but jam and cream was, even though not requested. This was sent back but a charge was still made for something I did not have. A small reduction was requested but refused. Then I was told that "jam and cream was extra anyway". This was a lie when the menu says "fruit scone, butter, jam and cream, £3.75. My needs were not complicated but they made a mess of everything. We had unneccesary conflict over a very small overcharge. I came here to relax, not for conflict or to be lied to. This episode was overseen by amateurs who are not even...