The Bridge Inn, Hope Valley — Restaurant in Derbyshire Dales

Booked a table in the outside marquee for 1.30pm for four of the family for special celebration of my son's engagement, having to accommodate the need to meet and eat together outdoors following recent tier 2 restrictions. We'd previously planned an evening meal at a favourite local restaurant, so I was working on a recommendation to try The Bridge Inn. It all started off well, shown straight to our reserved table, quiet marquee, just another family birthday meal taking place, nice warm outdoor heaters, lovely view. Prompt delivery of menus and drinks order taken. Settled back to enjoy ourselves. 15 minutes later, the drinks arrived. We asked to order food, were told they'd send someone over. 25 minutes later, I politely asked at the door for someone to take the food order. So 40 minutes after arriving, we could actually order food, they knew we were eating from the word go. By 2.40, still no sign of any food, over an hour since we'd sat down. Even more annoying, I could see people who were queuing up when I asked if someone could actually take our order, were all eating food they'd managed to both order and receive within half an hour. Quite clearly, we had simply been overlooked in the marquee. I pointed this out and within five minutes, the food arrived, with some kind of we're rushed off our feet apology, whereas actually, there was simply no system for recognising which tables had been waiting longer, or order of arrival. I honestly think we'd still have been sitting there without two requests after patient waiting time, so if you have one hour and 15 minutes to wait to spend ten minutes eating pretty average pub food, considering the prices charged, this is the pub for you. Preferably not linked to any kind of special occasion or celebration. Pop down to The Eating House just across the bridge, the pleasant surroundings and excellent service and cakes rescued an otherwise very disappointing level of catering and service, at the Bridge Inn this afternoon. After a further ten minutes discussion and attempt to discredit our account of the waiting time, telling us that we ordered at 2 10pm, well yes, you'd not sent anyone to take the order without being reminded after 40 minutes, a gesture of 10% reduction was not offered from their initiative, but was applied, together with an apology to be fair. However, we won't be going back or recommending to others. Such a pity, a lovely setting and could have been great with more professional service levels, especially when you could clearly see others experiencing the kind of service you'd expect on a busier Saturday afternoon, just don't sit in the marquee if you...

We discovered this place on the way back from Manchester Airport last year - supposedly tapas style food with Spanish beers and wines to match. Perhaps we should have left it another year!

When we went in there were probably 15-20 people in, mainly drinking, with a handful already eating. The two bar staff looked harassed. We ordered a pie and chips, the 'Bridge' fish, pea puree and 'straw fries', a tomato salad and a couple of glasses of white wine.

I thought the £42 bill was a bit on the steep side but that paled into insignificance when half an hour later our wine was warm and there was still no sign of any food.

When my wife queried the delay she was met with a blank look and five minutes later a response that they were 'just doing it now!' I have no clue what they were doing for the previous 35 minutes. The food finally arrived after 45 minutes, when apart from the hardcore drinkers standing at the bar, the place was almost empty.

The £11.50 pie had obviously dried out in the oven and arrived minus the chips. The fish, which appeared to have been hurriedly microwaved couldn't be seen because of the mound of strange and irritating potato crisp vermicelli(!?). When my wife queried the lack of chips, she was assured that they were not included (they were).

The tomato salad was excellent with a superb dressing so perhaps there is the seed of a decent place buried here, but on this evidence it will be a long time before it blossoms. Thankfully, we'll be back in Spain next week sampling the real thing - delicious and...

After a long walk me, my other half and 2 children decided to stop for some food at the bridge inn. We saw the menu on the wall outside and it looked very nice, when we entered it was as nice on the inside as the outside. We were politely greeted and asked if we wanted a table for 4, it was explained to us the menu was a tapas style menu although it didnt say this on the outside we still wanted to eat.

We were then handed over to Roxanne who to be honest was not overly pleasant, we werent given a drinks menu only asked what drinks do you want. Once we ordered drinks Roxanne went and sat down looking at houses on her laptop while someone else bought our drinks over.

We ordered steak and ale pie, meatballs, cheeseburger, chicken wings, chips. All were brilliant and cooked to perfection.

The only very slight niggle was the small piece of tin foil in my meatballs, cant fault the quality of the food. After eating I mentioned to Roxanne about the foil (not after any money off etc.) And she laughed rather than apologizing about it.

All in all the food is lovely although we personally felt as though Roxanne let the place down as the other staff were so friendly, would probably not go back which is a shame because the quality of the food was excellent.

Given 3 stars due to the menu outside not showing tapas style etc. and the foil in my meatball and Roxannes poor attitude. Balanced with excellent food and...