Dog & Duck — Restaurant in South Derbyshire

Utterly disappointed by the experience and service received today when visiting for our Christmas Sunday lunch:(

Went as a party of 5, with a table booked for 2pm. Went slightly early and understandably the table wasn’t ready, took a seat at the bar and had a couple drinks (lady behind bar was brilliant). Was nearly an hour waiting at the bar, all around us was tables free which we could have been seated at on arrival. Had to ask how long we were going to have to wait until we’ll be seated as others were entering the pub and being seated immediately. Seems as though staff had forgotten about us.

Was placed on a table in the corner, surrounded by tables which were left for hours without being cleaned. Didn’t get our starters until around 3:30, heard from others that they had been a few minor inconveniences and staff members had called in sick which understandably would cause delays however there was no communication of this or apologies.

Starters weren’t the greatest - a family member had BBQ chicken wings which came out burnt and everyone else’s starters were lukewarm.

Mains came out an hour later at 4:30, portions were not big, presentation wasn’t key, lukewarm again and not good quality food considering the price you’ve paid.

Was getting onto 5:30 before pudding was served. Assistant manager claimed that the last serving of drinks was at 5pm but as an exception will leave bar open until 5:45 - which doesn’t make sense when people haven’t been given their full three courses? By this time the pub had become quiet and only another two parties were in the pub so no reason for such slow service.

Whilst sitting for 4 hours numerous amount of parties had made complaints and asked for refunds (too many to count), assistant manager on shift was useless (believe his name was sam from what we heard around us and looking at reviews prior to writing my own it’s not the first time). Not very apologetic what so ever, had two other waitresses which had cried on numerous occasions as taking all responsibility whilst he walked around looking important with a clipboard, lady on the bar had a breakdown as all complaints and angry customers were going directly to her.

Puddings weren’t amazing but out of all three courses was probably the best. Ice cream must of been sat on the side for a while as was served melted.

Made a complaint at the bar to one of the waitresses which couldn’t have been more apologetic and understanding. Assistant manager kept laughing and saying ‘it is what it is’ whilst pushing higher responsibility onto the waitress instead of stepping up his game.

Didn’t want a refund as had received the three courses we paid for, however the waitress asked us if we wanted a free round of drinks.

Two waitresses and lady behind bar were amazing and appreciated them working on Christmas Day to help the public celebrate. However, assistant manager needs more training and a better understanding of what his job intakes.

Thankfully didn’t spoil our Christmas but other families around us left without food, especially older customers which was quite upsetting.

Wouldn’t...

Ive visited this pub for over 15 years... never ever had a bad experience.. until saturday evening. I hadnt booked but that was ok they only had 1 table left so i just assumed it would be lovely as usual... So so wrong! Drinks and starters came fairly quickly and were basic simple dishes so ok.. After waiting nearly 30 mins for our mains.. i assume it was the land lady but apparently its just had new management so??? Anyway she came over and said your mains may take a while we have a big party in.... the place was nearly empty!!! No apology or can we get more drinks nothing .. just walked off! Mains came nearly an hour after we had finished our starters. 3 x steaks medium rare... pretty easy... no 2 medium to well done and one well knackered... hawiian chicken but without the bacon.. ( an eye roll from the waitress when ordered!) It was just a dry chicken breast so dry it took ages to chew and swallow it.. was impossible to do without a few gulps of drink. I left it as it was inedible... but when ordered i asked for no bacon... not no cheese or bbq sauce!! Chips were white and floppy... Not 1 person came to ask if our meals were ok and as we were shoved in an annex we didnt see any staff! My friend couldnt even cut her steak it was so tough.. When they collected the plates... nearly half an hour after putting my knife and fork down in disgust. Still did not ask even tho 2 of those plates were still almost full. So we told the waitress who shrugged her shoulders and said oh!! She did however come back and say my friends dessert would be free. Still hungry we ordered pudding... they were ok nothing special.. But we also ordered a pitcher of cocktail for myself and friend to share... He didnt know how to make it... and the only jug was full of vinegar!!!! So he made 3 glasses seperately.. 2 so much alcohol you got drunk on the fumes .. 1 nothing.. but we had to share a glass ... Absolute disaster of an evening... then landlady came up 15 minutes later and said drink up we are closing... id still got almost a full glass full... so had my friend and the men hadnt finished there pints either! Cost well over £100 for a shitty evening... so thanks dog and duck shardlow for ruining my friends birthday meal!!! Never will i return... new management have made this the place...

The pub itself is in a lovely location, has a huge outdoor area with a small kids play area and was clean and tidy. We had booked a table for 6pm for 2 adults and 2 kids. We were told that we could order at the bar or through the app. I chose to order using the app as the bar looked quite busy. A lot of what we wanted to order after looking at the menu on the table wasn’t actually on the menu on the app so 2 of us had to pick a second choice. We weren’t made aware of this by the staff member that seated us. The app was quite difficult to navigate anyway and took a long time to order 4 meals and drinks. I probably would have been better standing in the queue at the bar. Once ordered we waited about 40 minutes for part of our order to arrive. And even though none of us had our main course yet, the staff member actually brought out the kids ice creams!!! When our mains did arrive the server actually asked us if everything was on our plates that should be there. Surely the staff should know this themselves? One of the kids meals was missing the corn on the cob side so she went off to get this for us. The food was ok. I had ordered the Mac n cheese with spicy pulled pork. It wasn’t spicy and there wasn’t much pulled pork. The Mac n cheese was nice though, but I was still hungry as the portion size was small. But the good thing was that the under 5’s food that our daughter had was a massive portion so I ate most of her chips. Once we had finished eating our mains we sat for around 25 minutes with our finished plates on the table. Several staff members walked past in this time and eventually I asked one of them to take the plates away and had to ask for the kids ice creams to be brought out. This was our first visit here and we had actually picked up a Xmas day leaflet thinking that if our experience here was a good one, that we might come for Xmas dinner. Although this wasn’t a terrible visit, I don’t think we’re prepared to risk what could go wrong on a busy Xmas day so will probably...