The Castle — Restaurant in High Peak

We spent 4 nights in Castleton eating at different establishments and for our last night (Boxing Day) we booked The Castle. We made ourselves known to the staff at The Castle (who were most pleasant) we were checked in and were told they would go check to see if out table was ready. Our booking was made for 4.45. We arrived at 4.35 and were told our table were just finishing their puddings and we would be called as soon as the table was ready for us. Whilst I got us drinks from the bar, my wife was ushered to an area of the pub right by the men’s toilets to take a comfy seat while I was waiting to be served at the bar. I then joined my wife Having sat at the “waiting” table. It soon became very clear that it was on the edge of a main thoroughfare through the length of the premises and extremely close to the door of the gent’s toilet and the table was regularly nudged at both sides as people were travelling along the corridor or accessing the gents. It also became clear that two other groups sitting adjacent were also on the "waiting“ tables as their booked tables were also still occupied. We sat patiently for a further 35 minutes waiting to be shown to our table. It was now nearing 5.20 so I spoke to the chap we had seen when we first arrived and asked if our table was ready yet, he replied that where we were sitting that was our table! I reminded him that when we arrived, he had looked through to a different area and said when the people had finished their puddings the table there would be laid for us. I said I was not prepared to sit by the gents eating our meal so he said he would sort something out within 5 or 10 minutes for us. We waited another 10 minutes during which time we discussed the situation and together agreed that if this was indeed our new dining table position why, after nearly an hour of having been sat there, had no member of staff approached us to ask if we required further drinks or take our order? At that point we decided to leave as it was obvious the staff, kitchen and premises were totally overwhelmed. I relayed that opinion to the member of staff and said we were leaving as by then we could see how busy it was and did not want to wait any longer to be seated and then have to wait for our order to be taken and the food cooked. I have to eat by a certain time and we had already been there for almost an hour. We left. We have no problem with the staff, they were polite and pleasant but, it was obvious that the pub could not cope with the volume of diners and drinkers, we did feel sorry for their situation but unfortunately, we will not be dining at The Castle ever again. We have stayed in Castleton six times. When we first visited, we booked The Castle for a meal which was a disaster but thinking it was just a bad day for them we tried eating there again in October this year and it was a pleasant experience, hence why we booked for Boxing Day although that would seem to have...

Booked well in advance for the boxing day festive menu for 7pm tonight. Upon arrival, the majority of the tables did not have a christmas decor nor crackers and it was taking time to clean up tables. Unfortunately it all went down hill from there.

The online food menu was different compared to the in-house menu, then what showed up on our plates had been completely removed or substituted. If this was the case and the kitchen had run out of ingredients then the staff should've been telling the customers what to expect. For example, the belows shows what can be seen on their website compared to what we got along with what was wrong with our meals:

HAND-CARVED TURKEY BREAST* served with a pig in blanket, chestnut & bacon stuffing, Yorkshire pudding, ruffled garlic & herb roast potatoes, seasonal vegetables and Gravy (no pigs in Blankets on plates, parsnips were completely inedible and couldn't even cut through them, burnt roast potatoes - strategically placed burnt side down on the plates, undercooked stuffing finally served with the tiniest sprouts I've ever seen)

SLOW-COOKED PORK BELLY* served with crispy crackling, mini caramelised apple pie, chive mash and an apple brandy & Pink Lady jus (no crackling, roasted apple pie, chive mash - although the in-house menu stated carrot and suede mash, this was substituted for burnt roast potatoes, hard parsnips and severely undercooked anaemic stuffing)

CHICKEN LIVER, APPLE & CIDER BRANDY PÂTÉ*Smooth pâté served with hedgerow chutney and toasted ciabatta (they served the pate with no ciabatta we had to ask for it)

Overall an absolute diabolical experience, we felt extremely sorry for the waitress on shift tonight as multiple tables complained, to which she stated the chefs were new.

I do not understand why you would introduce new chefs over the Christmas period to serve overcooked, undercooked and purely tasteless food. Either the chefs have absolutely no pride in what they are serving, are too new to deal with the pressures that come in the kitchen or have been inadequately trained before the christmas period.

Looking at reviews from the past few weeks this seems to be in line with the majority of experiences through negative / 1 star reviews.

I think it would've been a better idea to close the pub until after christmas when the chefs can be properly trained rather than being greedy by taking customers money whilst serving the worst food we and also other guests tonight have ever tasted.

I personally would feel embarrassed by the recent negative reviews that are being posted and would advise the owner to start prioritising customers experiences rather...

We booked a table for 8 at 1pm. When we got there, our table had been taken by someone else and we were offered 3 four seated tables , which would have been totally inadequate. They then put us In another part of the pub, on massive table , which was far too big, we decided to move ourselves to a smaller table. We were never offered an apology or was it mentioned again. We placed our order after we were told quite a few things were missing off the menu . After a good 15 mins my son was informed there wasnt any gammon , he wasnt offered the menu to rechoose and we all tried to remember what was on the menu , he just plumped for the burger as she was getting quite inpatient with us. The meals came at 2 15 !! An hour and a quarter later. With no apologies . The food was cold apart from two , my bread with the pate was not toasted , as it said , and was tiny . The salad with the prawn cocktail was just lettuce , the bread was just ordinary sliced bread with no butter . My grandaughter had sausage and mash off the childrens menu, she asked for gravy , when the guy came back, he quite rudely said ,it doesn't come with gravy but they made you some!! . It quite clearly says on the menu sausages in gravy. My son ordered a pint of shandy and got a pint of lager . It took half an hour to replace At no time did any one come and ask if our meals were OK , we didn't complain because , quite frankly I don't think the staff cared!. It was also very cold in that part of the bar. There was a fire , but it wasn't lit . We went up to the bar to pay our bill , no small talk was made , as we left to go there was still no response from the staff , no goodbye or thank you . One man , a young girl and a little older woman , all unpersonable and not at all cut out for the hospitality trade!! . I have been to Castleton many times and have never eaten in the Castle , I don't think I will be returning any time soon , we had a relative up from Bath with us and we felt bad about her first impression of Castleton . Staff need some customer service training and kitchen staff need to menu plan better , with timings too I'm sorry to write this review but I was so...