Chesterfield Arms — Restaurant in South Derbyshire

Not normally one for writing reviews unless in my opinion it's really good or extremely poor and unfortunately my experience on this occasion was very poor! It's mother's day so I understand it's not a normal day but theres no excuse for our experience. we had a group of 8 booked for 6.15pm which we pretty much arrived bang on time. The guest who organised it was contacted by phone by a member of staff just as we pulled up to say there was no menu options but carvery only... good job I fancied a carvery but a few didn't. When we was greeted as we walked in we was told our table was still busy and was suggested to get a drink first, which we did. After around 10 minutes of waiting we was then told that the guests at our table was going to be told of the situation and was basically going to tell them to leave once they had puddings which I thought was wrong but hey ho. Another 10 or so minutes passed and we finally got a different table but next to the fire exit with people constantly going in and out of it with a cold draft (main entrance was blocked off). We went to the bar to order food with the 1 person behind the bar and eventually got served to order food, we then waited 25 whole minutes in the carvery que as the 1 member of staff serving was slow and when I say slow I'm not taking the ** . He also kept wandering off into the kitchen, he did it that mamy times you could hear people in the que jokingly say wheres he gone now?! We had no apology once served and he wasnt wearing a beard net , there was no beef or mash potato left. Great... Eventually got round to eating the meal and it wasn't to my or other members satisfaction at all , the veg was hard and some of the roast potato's were slightly hard in the middle. There was a couple next to us that didn't receive their pigs in blankets but they got a refund they told us. Something may of happened I.e staff not turning up or it could be poor management , I'm not sure but I just don't find it acceptable that there was no apology or even any explanation. I feel like I've wasted £12 and a meal out in all honesty and...

Hadn't been for a few years but decided to book a table for food. Wasn't overly busy when we got there and filled up a bit whilst we were there. We were shown to our table which was spotlessly clean , cutlery, condiments and serviettes stocked up on the table were clean too. No sticky residue on table from previous diners. Ordering at the bar, which was also spotless,the barman had lovely manners. He asked if we had any food allergies which we didn't but great for checking. Myself and 16 year old had a carvery which was absolutely delicious. Roasts were spectacular (beef dripping roasts!) Meat was perfectly cooked,easy to cut and eat. Great choice of veg and meaty tasting gravy with a perfect consistency. The staff member carving had a great sense of humour and cheerful whist serving us. Younger son had kids menu fishfinger , fries and beans, good food and potion size. Offered two sizes for kids meal which is brilliant! Luckily left room for dessert as we didn't pile our plates like lunatics 🤣. I had a chocolate ice cream sundae which had been beautifully put together and tasted as good as it looked. My youngest had chocolate brownie and fruit shoot as a £2 upgrade to his meal which was good. My older son had sticky toffee pudding. For this dessert I expected a tinned one with custard but it wasn't. It was lovely, sponge had a great toffee sauce and custard with it. Custard was to perfection might I add. All staff were amazing that served us. Lovely atmosphere and looks a well managed place now. So we shall definitely return , use and recommend after our own experience. Cannot fault. This was a bank holiday Monday too. The staff are a total credit...

Not great tonight... Called at short notice wanting a roast. Nothing was said at the time and found us a table... lush, starving. Ordered drinks and food through the app we waited 15+ minutes and no drinks and we had only ordered carvery so queried. We waited another 5 minutes and we received our drinks and carvery tickets. Finally we went up to the carvery and they only one meat .. gammon left. This was the only meat my wife won't eat as its to fatty, not an issue for me but formy wife it is and if we had known earlier we would have made different decisions to either leave or we would have made another choice. I asked for my money back and to be refunded. To be told initially I will refund your food but you have had your drinks, I then stated we have not drank the drinks they are still on the table. Next it was because we had a voucher he couldn't refund us. By this time I was assertive but not rude I advised I wanted a full refund and finally that was given , hopefully.... just waiting. The manager looked under pressure and a little inexperienced but tried to do his best. We came here 2 months ago and raved about it. Not so sure now tho.

It may have been a busy Sunday and I know it's hard to speculate on how much meat is needed at the start of the day. But a lack of information coupled with poor customer service made this a not great experience which was a shame.

I would like the opportunity to speak to someone to understand the let down in experience of the day and hopefully it was a one off experience.

Many...