The Royal Oak — Restaurant in North East Derbyshire

Nice hill top situation with expansive views outside, but they don't exploit this fact and the place seems very introspective. Despite having the potential for a spectacular beer garden the best location for this is taken up by a car park. Inside,the place is spacious but decor is bland, tired and dated, a bit 70s-ish. Beer choice was abysmal as if it was only an afterthought to the pub's real purpose of being a country restaurant. On offer were the usual suspects. John Smiths extra smooth, Strongbow cider, Guinness, one of the common lagers and a parody of a cask ale called Tetleys Cask, a slightly sour tasting concoction, probably not well kept. Nor were the drinks particularly cheap. However its one strong point is the food and it is a busy pub for this one reason alone. Meals are good quality and reasonably priced. The customers seem to consist mainly of pensioners and there were plenty of them eating large portioned traditional food like roasts and pies for about £7-8 per meal. Sandwiches were good quality and fairly priced. A large bowl of home cooked chips £1.75.Soup & Roll £3.25 This place could be improved , - a makeover for the uninspiring interior,a beer garden to attract the punters in summer,some decent local real ales at a fair price and dump the John Smiths and Tetleys to pull in the drinkers as well as the diners.- but keep the chef.

2 years on we went in again today (Feb 6 2015). Nothing much has changed from my previous review except the decor which has improved a bit. Drinks selection much the same and the food still very good and good value. I asked the landlady about putting cask ales on the bar. She said they don't sell enough ale for it to be worth doing. It's very much a food pub and the tenants seem content to keep the place as it is.

Nov 10 2017. I called here for lunch during a hike in Nov 2012, Feb 2015 and both times I left a review. My first one five years ago is still relevant. Is this place in a time warp ? The food is still good quality, good quantity and good value. The menu and prices have barely changed. £3.35 for sandwiches when the rip off Peak District pubs usually charge a fiver or more. A pot of chips has gone up by 20p in five years. Main meals are still £7 to £8 as I reported then. The customers are still mainly OAPs who have driven up here for their dinners. The beer selection, as I reported then, is still poor and their token cask ale is still a bit sour tasting. Only the decor and the table layout has changed in five years. Also service was a bit slow, having to wait 50min...

We visited on 5th April 2017, and were really glad we did. The Royal Oak is a traditional, comfortable Derbyshire Inn with nice, friendly staff and a good selection of beers, wines and spirits. There's plenty of parking, with really good view from its hilltop location to Chesterfield and the edges of the Peak District

We had a Steak and Kidney Pudding and Battered Cod with Chips on both and a good dollop of Mushy Peas. The prices were extremely reasonable - more so when the food came out : Two big portions of really tasty, superbly cooked food. It was all homemade, the chips came from a spud and not a freezer bag, the fish was big and the batter crunchy - the steak and kidney pudding was PACKED with meat and according to the missus was delicious.

While waiting for the food to arrive I had a look at the menu - big and again cheaper than the average, and then had a furtive look at other diners plates. In all honesty I'd have been happy to eat anything that was there, it all looked wonderful, and even the Lite Bite plates were a good size.

We will definitely be going back. I'd recommend you ring and book a table as it got busy even early on a Wednesday lunchtime.

This may well turn into our go-to Pub for days off together when we don't want to travel too far out of...

Walked in for a drink with the family whilst in the area walking and was met with a very cold/frosty tone from the landlady claiming they were closing. We arrived at 2pm and the pub closes at 3pm (after later looking at there opening/closing times) They clearly didn’t like the look of my two well behaved small children, my wife and I. They also clearly cater for the one foot in the grave clientele too, upon looking around and their very dated table cloth look. Upon reflection we were so pleased we were met with this attitude as we visited the peakcock inn and that was a mere opposite of service and reception.

Having been in “real pubs” for many years and the service in the majority of this industry is second to none especially after the pandemic, pubs are welcoming people back with open arms to boost trade and customer confidence. The Royal Oak is far from royal and clearly lives and operates in a past life of ignorance. Thank you to the land lady for sparing us our money and time for us to go on and visit a real pub where money...