The Old Original Bakewell Pudding Shop — Restaurant in Derbyshire Dales

Sadly, my friends and I regretted coming to this place for lunch. We walked into the restaurant to be made to feel unsure on whether or not we were welcome. Two staff members were in the middle of a conversation when we walked in and it was made clear by their lack of polite communication with us when showing us to a table that we were interrupting them. They didn't even make eye contact.

The food was okay, but not worth the money at all. One of our party ordered a slice of cake which was dry and covered in foamy butter cream, despite being £6. The soup lacked flavour and came with a a small piece of bread with no butter. I had to ask for butter which was hard as the waitress turned her back on us the second she'd put our food down. At the end of our meal, we got up to pay at the counter and were served by an unbelievably ill-mannered staff member. She was pulling an exasperated and cross face with us as we wanted to split the bill, making it clear she thought we were utterly stupid for daring to ask if that was possible. One of our party paid in cash and was given her change in a handful of 20p coins. When she asked if the change could possibly be given in pound coins, the staff member abruptly told her to wait and then exchanged the coins whilst pulling a really sarcastic expression. It was honestly so bizarre and uncomfortable. We then complained to the manager as we felt that we'd been treated with disdain throughout our entire visit. The manager apologised but what was disappointing and unprofessional was that she took us back upstairs to the restraunt saying she'll put a refund which we'd asked for through on the till. Once we were back upstairs, we then had to stand and wait whilst the manager had a lengthy conversation in the corner with one of the staff members which made us feel awkward as she'd misled us on what we were coming upstairs for. She then returned with the other member of staff who was not apologetic regarding the contents of our complaint at all. Clearly they'd concluded that we were in the wrong, during their conversation. We were then told that due to some vaguely explained administrative system etc we couldn't be refunded by card. I've never come across that before anywhere else. If you can process a transaction, you can process a refund on card. We had to remind them that one of us paid cash, to whom they then agreed to refund. We were then offered slices of their foamy dry cakes instead of a full refund. We refused to take the slices of cakes as it felt like they were just trying to do anything to avoid processing two card refunds. Also, if we took their cheaply made cakes, they'd only have ended up going to waste as they were really unappealing. We left feeling completely ripped off and mistreated. Just avoid this place. The front of house staff take no apparent pride in their work, which I say as someone who works in hospitality and enjoys looking after customers myself. There's a way of speaking to people and you have to appreciate that if you're having a bad day at work, you shouldn't make paying customers your victims to feel better about yourself. It's just really unprofessional and you shouldn't be going out of your way to make someone feel crap for asking standard...

We went to this cafe as an “original” and it had seating. We were a party of five, grandparents two other adults and a child. We were ending a weekend at a family wedding and had not long had breakfast so we decided to share the option of a two lots of pudding and tart between two people. We also had two teas and a coffee. £37. The staff didn’t smile when seating us and just clonked down the cutlery. There were no plates brought apart from the ones the dish was on and one missing cutlery set. I asked for 2 side plates having not been able to get the attention of the lady on the till. The woman who I spoke to at the kitchen(?) door was quite curt and no smile. Plates brought to the table and clonked down and left there. No smile. My dad, grandad, noticed this and wondered what was wrong. The Bakewell pudding was nice tasting but small. The tart was delicious but I could have far less sugar in. This might sound an unusual thing to comment on but the cutlery was horrible to use. Normally we all don’t notice that but it was so thin and not nice to hold and was a bit sharp that it was noticeable. The fork had barely any curve in the mouth but and the spoon. It sounds a small thing to mention and normally it isn’t noticeable probably due to it being pleasant to use but this wasnt sadly. Such a shame as with a few tweaks could be much better. I’ve worked in pubs and restaurants and the day goes much quicker when engaging with customers and smiling. Maybe we weren’t spending enough at lunchtime but there were empty tables (which we were told not to sit at and to wait but then guided to the same table). £37 felt a lot for 3 hot drinks and 4 cakes but we appreciate costs have gone up. Overall I would not immediately go back and would try other places. There was a long queue downstairs for the bakery take away and maybe that is a better option to take and sit somewhere on a lovely day. But we didn’t have that option due to elderly...

Such a shame and I really wish we’d taken pictures. Out for a treat and a walk in and around the beautiful Bakewell. We found the old original lovely location, nice clean traditional place with what we thought would be somewhere to revisit later in the day. Thought we’d have a breakfast before adventuring out. As a large group we chose to air outside and between us spent just under approx £100 so would have expected both better service and food. Three of our party went around to another bakers to buy pies and cake as they didn’t enjoy it or were satisfied with the quality or quantity of their choices. The bread cakes were lovely and soft but for the price getting one poor quality sausage, or piece of bacon - well! my granddaughter had the maple waffles with bacon. Dry she couldn’t eat them. I ordered the full english. Asked for a dippy yoke which arrived under cooked. The sausage quality was not great. Mushrooms slimy and tasteless. We can all have the odd poor experience when eating out. The biggest shock was the reaction when I asked for a non snotting cooked egg. The rude reaction left me reeling and just wanting to leave. The remedy was to take my food away and bring it back with a solid egg very little yolk left and I did wonder if it’d been put back on a grill. I think in comparison to others in the area and the cost per meal this was not a great experience. As the staff had been so rude we decided to just leave and not say anything at the time. One of my daughters was of the same opinion as when I had asked about the egg the first time a female member of staff came back to our table with my plate thrust it towards me and said ‘what’s wrong with it?’ Wow! I’ve worked in the service industry. Teacher now. Never would I or any of my staff have spoken to a paying member of the public like that. Yesterday was certainly an experience that we won’t be repeating. If the restaurant wish to comment I would welcome...