Orangery Cafe — Restaurant in England

Very disappointed. I’ve always heard good things about the cafe by family members who have visited regularly. Me and my partner with our 2 year old son decided that on this visit today to Markeaton Park we would stop for some dinner. The cafe was really busy with all the seating inside already spoken for and outside was busy too but we managed to grab an outside table just literally outside the doors of the cafe. As I was queuing to order us all some food I noticed a high chair had been put back so I quickly called for my partner to grab it so our toddler could have a place to sit whilst he ate. I ordered the food and went outside, I was talking to my son about the high chair and that’s where he will be sitting as he was wanting to climbing in it when out of nowhere a staff member came out just picked up the highchair and as she is walking away with it says “the high chairs are not allowed outside” and huffed. It all happened that quickly that me and my partner couldn’t even reply back to her and my partner ended up having to follow her back inside trying to talk to her and ask her why this is and he tried to explain that we couldn’t get a table inside and with just being right outside the doors he didn’t understand what the issue was. She never explained why they couldn’t go outside but just pointed to a table that had just become free inside by a family, so we should sit there if we wanted a highchair. It was very very rude!, especially when it’s our first time visiting. It shocked us because we didn’t know what was happening as she stormed away with the highchair back inside, it just shocked us. To me it wasn’t good customer care service at all! I still don’t understand why the high chairs can’t be outside, I mean the cafe accepts dogs in and it was ok for a dog to be sitting on their owners knee with there paws on the table so surely the cafes high chairs being outside shouldn’t be an issue?!… if I didn’t already order our food and if my son wasn’t hungry then I would of requested a refund and told them where to stick it, honestly I would have gone somewhere else. First impressions stick with me and this is one I won’t...

Awful experience today with a friend and children. I had gone previously 2 days before and noticed how rude the lady at the till was speaking to both staff and customers.

Today myself and friend had thought we had ordered the hotdog for kids. When it came, it was the wrong order, there had been confusion, the gentleman sent the food back and seemed confused on what to do next, 5 minutes later the very abrupt lady at the till came over and shouted at us saying that it was our fault that we had ordered the wrong hot dog. We explained that we hadn’t noticed there were two sorts the “jumbo” and “kids”- we weren’t asked to clarify when ordering- we said it was no prokblem and we would accept the food- the lady was practically shouting at us, the restaurant went quiet and we felt very embarrassed. After this, I opened up the hot dog to then find a blonde hair, (noting that it was clear in the kitchens no hair nets were worn) this completely put us off and I asked to speak to the manager. The manager came over and accepted that the food was not at an acceptable standard and she would take this back with a refund of 2 hot dogs (out of 5), she also said that the children could have an ice cream out of good will. The young lady who had taken over at the till had no idea what she was doing, had to keep going back to question what to do.

We then we’re ready to leave after an eventful experience, when a lady came up to me with brown hair and 2 small buns with an abrupt tone “can you move the tables where they were please.” (We had moved the table over slightly as it was a very hot day and the sun was causing distress for the children with no other tables available). Myself and friend are both 20 and 30 weeks pregnant, couldn’t believe how rude we had been spoke to. Absolutely put off this place for life and will not be going back nor will I be recommending! Will be sticking to the mobile ice cream man...

Disappointing experience.

I don’t normally leave negative reviews, but I felt compelled to after visiting recently. I asked if they could just serve fish fingers for my baby (without the cob). I was told I’d have to pay full price for the fish finger cob even if I didn’t want the cob. Fine, I can accept this though I think it could have been more flexible. I was having a chip cob so I asked maybe they could have just charged me for chips and a fish finger cob but then put the chips on the cob, rather than the fish fingers. They didn’t seem to want to help so I left it.

It was a nice, sunny day so I asked about sitting outside with a high chair, and was told I couldn’t because it “wasn’t safe” - despite the outside area being completely flat. And I’d be making that choice to take the high chair outside. So then I sat inside with baby because she needed feeding.

The staff member I spoke to was unhelpful, with no willingness to accommodate reasonable requests for a young child. This is the first time I’ve experienced this because usually places are very accommodating.

It’s a shame because this is an amazing park, and the café should reflect that. It really feels like it needs a change of hands or management to bring it up...