The Little Shed coffee shop and cafe Ashbourne — Restaurant in Derbyshire Dales

You park roadside on Compton Street at 09.36 on Wednesday 31/08/2022, noting it's limited to an hour as there is a traffic warden nearby, about 40 yards from the Little Sheds Door. You enter by 9.40 and see it is less than 1/4 full with only 3 tables of guests, 2 couples and a large family of five. There is however a queue of two other couples waiting to be seated which takes a further five minutes, but after looking at the menu you place an order for 2 cappucinos. a breakfast waffle and a bacon and sausage sandwich. They do mention there may be a short delay, but accept payment at 09.48 by Card (Monzo tell you this instantly on your phone) You then wait patiently and come to gradually realize service is indeed very very slow. Your coffees arrive at 10. Acceptable, given they did warn you. Over the next half hour two other couples ask about the delay in their food orders. Four other couples have by then arrived and some are served cakes and drinks on a similar time frame, some drinks only. At 10.36 after almost 50 minutes you are obliged to ask about your simple food order and are told "it has been missplaced/lost" so you cancel your food order, as a parking ticket is looming. The waitress is intent on trying to justify the delay by saying everyone is being dealt with in order, and it's not her fault they are understaffed and we are 'making her feel uncomfortable' by insisting on a partial refund (which we eventually got at 10.46), and by having no desire to listen to her lengthy excuse. We certainly didn't want a parking fine as well! The food we ordered is quick to prepare and it is completely wrong for staff to blame being "busy" when a restaurant is less than a third full. Management clearly needs to look at their kitchen staffing levels, training and the efficiency of service delivery. AN HOURS WAIT is far too long for a simple breakfast......Flexibility by front of house staff to help in the kitchen would have at least assisted in reducing the delays being experienced by all customers...

I visited this café with a friend today for afternoon tea, but unfortunately we left feeling very disappointed.

When we arrived, staff didn’t acknowledge that we had booked for afternoon tea. Instead, we were told to order from the menu at the counter, with no mention or information about our booking. Eventually, when the afternoon tea was brought out, it quickly became clear that attention to detail was lacking.

When I booked, I had been asked about dietary requirements and specifically made them aware of my nut allergy. However, when the food was served, the waitress never once asked about or confirmed my allergy. It was only after I raised it myself that I was reassured nothing contained nuts. Even then, one of the cakes tasted strongly of almonds, which was extremely worrying!!!

On top of that, the scones were missing jam – a key component of any afternoon tea. What made it more frustrating was that the waitress took time to describe each item on the stand, yet somehow didn’t notice the missing jam, even though other tables were served scones properly with both jam and cream.

Overall, the experience felt careless and disappointing, particularly given the importance of handling dietary...

We have just eaten lunch at this delightful little place. Very busy but able to squeeze us in. The lovely waitress explained that there was a wait for food, which was fine fir us. Fabulous menu, with lots of choices of goid and drinks. The first place that I've had the choice of four different types of Chai Latte 😊 Our food was delicious, I chose the Lebanese flatbread with hallumi, absolutely lovely. My hubby had a wiltshire ham, mushroom, onion and cheese toasty. He said it was great. We didn't have cakes or desserts, but they did look delicious and fresh. Loved that there was a water station where you can help yourself to fresh, cool, drinking water. The decor is beautiful, seating good, clean, and spacious restrooms too. We would definitely recommend and return when in Ashbourne again. Well done, to The...