The Devonshire Arms — Restaurant in Derbyshire Dales

Weekend stay in Devonshire Arms left a bit of mixed feelings...

The room was brilliant, cosy, spacious and glamorous. Definitely bigger room than you expect. Comfortable bed and armchairs, very chic decor. Despite the location on the main street it was quiet. All spots on!

We also booked a table for Saturday night, as the food here has always been exceptional. When we arrived we were squeezed in the bar area, on the tiny table. The restaurant room was closed. As we ordered the drinks and meal, we asked for a bit bigger table as some were available but we were refused. We ended up piling our plates as it wasn't enough space on the table.

The food was as always absolutely scrumptious! In my opinion, the burgers here are the best burgers!!! Tender meat, balanced ingredients and a portion of delicious burger sauce and crispy chips. Always my choice. There is a choice of pub classics, children menu for little customers, choice of vegetarian and gluten-free meals as well, all for reasonable price. Good choice of local beers and ales.

We checked with the staff if it was all right to order some pudding and the kitchen was still open. They said there was no problem at all with timings. I ordered sticky toffee pudding which was really nice however I didn't have a chance to finish it as I was abruptly rushed by a waiter to finish as they needed our table. Let me add that this was late in the evening and the kitchen was closing soon so they definitely didn't need the table for the next reservation/customers. The waiter came to us and in a quite rude way asked if I finished when I was still devouring the pudding. When I said I didn't he said we had to leave or move to bar part, to the right from the main entrance and he started to cleaning our table when I was still having the pudding. I was shocked. Before we ordered the pudding we had asked the staff if there was time/if kitchen was still open. They did not say they would need our table in 15 minutes.

Also, half though our main meal, a family with 2 children who came for their meal. They had a table booking for 6 people (4 adults and 2 kids). They were asked to seat at two tiny round tables (pictures attached) by the same young waiter. None staff helped these poor people to move the tables or find/move chairs. It was impossible for the family all to fit there. When the gentleman/customer asked for a bigger table or some help with tables, the waiter cut him off and said they didn't accept bookings for 6 people and left the customers to be. How disrespectful! This young man, the waiter, needs to learn his manners!

Before publishing this review I have also checked and yes, the website allows to proceed with booking a table for 6 people.

The waitress at the bar saw the poor customers to struggle and she apologised to them for the situation and inconvenience but didn't help them neither. How disappointing!

I hope the staff polish their manners as this place offers so great food and customers can be put off by arrogant staff.

The stay was lovely, the room was cosy and above and beyond my expectations of local pub accommodation, the food as always great and I would love to be back to dive in the scrumptious taste of burgers but I don't want to feel rushed and uncomfortable by staff as I did...

Unfortunately a very disappointing meal this afternoon at the Devonshire Arms, Hartington. We had booked the table with plenty of notice for 3pm.

Upon arrival to the main restaurant our table hadn’t been wiped down or prepared (there was gravy on it). There were only a couple of other tables dining, it was not busy. We asked a waiter for a highchair (this was initially requested on the booking form but wasn’t there on arrival). We waited for around 15 minutes & then had to ask again as the waiter had forgotten. We ordered three roast dinners & when they arrived on the table one roast dinner had only one vegetable, cabbage. The menu states that the roast dinners are served with ‘seasonal vegetables.’ The two other roast dinners had a couple of parsnips to accompany the cabbage but that was all. When we asked for more gravy we were told that the kitchen had run out! The waiter explained that they could scrape the pan for any gravy that was likely to be lumpy & did bring this to the table, along with some different vegetables, but this was at least 10 minutes later & if the food hadn’t already been eaten it had gone cold. The waiter also forgot to bring out the condiments and needed reminding near the end of the meal when he eventually emerged from the kitchen.

It did appear that we had just been served the remnants of whatever was left for the day when we should have been informed by staff to make another selection off the menu instead. The portions were also very small & we all left still feeling hungry.

We have eaten at the Devonshire Arms a couple of times before & the service has never been great (conflicting information from staff saying to order at the bar then taking an order at a table, only then to say to go to the bar to get more drinks!) however we haven’t had any issues before with the food.

We paid in full at the bar prior to leaving & only then mentioned our experience (we weren’t asked by anyone the entire time if everything was okay with our meals). The lady at the bar couldn’t have been less helpful stating ‘well it was late.’ We made the booking at least 48 hours prior which begs the question why take bookings for 3pm if the quality of the food & service is going to be poor & the staff themselves expect this?!

It’s a shame that the bar lady wasn’t more helpful in her response as then we may not have found it necessary to write a review. It’s really disheartening paying good money for a meal out when the food &...

Myself and 8 friends visited the Devonshire Arms for a group afternoon meal. We had to order food individually at the till, which is no problem - we did this 1 after the other. We waited about 40 minutes for the first two mains to arrive and thought everyone else’s would be coming soon after. These mains were then finished when the third persons main came out, without any of her sides. An hour later, a few of the other meals arrived. In total, there was an hour and a half difference between the first meal and the last. We came as a group and pre booked 2 days before, we expected to EAT as a GROUP. My poor friend has a dairy allergy and asked for no cheese on her Hunters Chicken. The food arrived after an hour and 20 minutes WITH CHEESE. Absolutely disgusting that a place takes no regards to food allergens and makes me wonder if my friend had a more severe allergy, what the outcome would have been! We were all really upset by this experience and so asked if we could speak to the landlord. The waitresses were really apologetic and said they would see what they could do. The landlord came out and took NO accountability and tried to shift the blame onto my friend with the allergy! He was rude, abrupt and arrogant and spoke to us as if we had done something wrong. There was absolutely no customer service at all and I am disgusted that we have been treated this way. He said the wait was because they were busy but there was only another couple in the room with us. He also said that he told us about the wait but he never served, I have never seen that man before this confrontation. The reason for the wait is because the chef was scrubbing the dining tables behind us when they should have been cooking our burgers. Absolute joke. To top it off, when we left, he followed us out into the car park in an intimidating manner when he said and I quote “you’re welcome back… NOT!!!!” Very unprofessional and we didn’t want to come back to this shambles of a...