Wyatt's At Elvaston Castle — Restaurant in South Derbyshire

We've not been to the cafe at Elvaston Castle for some years and I understand that it has changed hands in the not too distant past. I have to say that we were very impressed. We timed our walk so that we could drop in for lunch. First off all, it's great to see that it is set up to cater for muddy boots, with the original floorboards unadorned; after all, it's why most of us go to Elvaston, in the first place. I plumped for the homemade cheese and onion quiche, which was of superb consistency, unlike many, over cooked, rubbery offerings and of more than ample proportions. The accompanying salad was equally impressive; lots of varied, fresh leaves, including my favourite, rocket. Again, quite unlike the limp excuse for a salad that so many English cafes (and even restaurants) foist upon us. My wife's meal, a ciabatta with the same superb salad, was equally as impressive. We both had cold drinks, so cannot comment on the hot beverages, but given the quality elsewhere, I would not expect them to be lacking. Service was not ultra quick, but given how busy it was, it was perfectly acceptable and certainly no cause...

I hate scoring low, as I know that this is someone's business and livelihood, but there are couple of reasons why for my visit.

1: Bought two cheese and chutney sub rolls and two cans of pop, came to £20. They were super overpriced and the ingredients used cheap.

2: Watched a member of staff come out and ask who had placed a particular order, an elderly gent said it was his, and the staff member said you can come and get it. The elderly gent was eating in and was seated and needed to go and fetch it, why not just take it to them when you were doing table service for everyone else?

3: When tables left, their plates were took away by someone but nobody wiped the tables down, loads of them were filthy. Just before we left someone did come along to wipe the tables, but they simply wiped everything...

Visit this place regularly, but unfortunately we won’t be back. We visited over the weekend, had 4 small hot drinks and 4 pieces of cake, at the bargain price of £29! That wouldn’t normally be a deal breaker if the experience was good, however one of our hot drinks was wrong. When I took it back to the window and said that the drink wasn’t what we ordered, the girl just looked at me, took the drink and walked off. Didn’t say a word. I waited there until she came back with a fresh one, again just handing it to me without saying a word. I was so shocked by how rude she was. Such a shame as used to absolutely love this place, however now it’s very overpriced and some of the staff unfortunately definitely shouldn’t be employed in public...