The Derby Tavern — Restaurant in Jamestown Charter Township

TLDR: a nice new place in Hudsonville with good vibes, good service, plenty of bar space, a side room with a fireplace, good atmosphere and good food.

For drinks we started with a Diet Coke and a soda water with a lemon and lime- saving our calories for dessert 🤣.

We ordered a special item, I think, for our appetizer. I don’t see an equal description on the menu pics I took, so I’m thinking it must’ve been a special. It was some sort of (crab or smoked salmon? Can’t remember) dip with pretzel chips. The dip was yummy and the pretzel chips were crispy on the outside, soft on the inside- super tasty and the textures complemented each other beautifully.

He ordered the The Greek (whipped feta spread, pickled red onions, lettuce, tomatoes finished with tzatziki on brioche bun) which he very much enjoyed, but mentioned that when he finished it, he was ready for it to be done 😅. The flavors were bold, the quantity was appropriately filling, and it was just enough to not want more of the same flavor.

I ordered the Falafel Wrap (falafel hummus spread, marinated tomatoes, arugula, pickled red onion, house made tzatziki in pita bread) with sweet potato fries. The wrap was delicious and decently sized, but not too much. The falafel was seasoned well. The SWEET POTATO FRIES THO! They were fantastic! I believe they put brown sugar on them or something, along with salt- it was a perfectly sweet and savory combo.

For dessert, we ordered the Seasonal cheesecake -crème brûlée - he loves cheesecake and I love crème brûlée, so this was a perfect treat for us! The crispy top shell was perfectly paired against the rich cheesecake crème, and the fresh strawberry on the side was a welcome palate pleaser.

The service was good- our server was attentive, thoughtful and suggested all the right things for us.

Overall, we enjoyed our visit and will most likely visit again if we are...

The good: The restaurant is in a new building, everything was very clean. Our waitress was very attentive and the service was fast. Blackberry Bramble cocktail was delicious.

Areas for improvement: One of the dishes we got was the meatloaf. It seemed a bit under seasoned. I think the brandy bacon lardon doesn't add to the dish. The dish doesn't come with a green vegetable, which we feel should be standard. It's priced at $26 which I would say is overpriced. The serving size was gigantic which could explain the price. Compare this to the meatloaf at 123 Tavern in Grand Rapids which comes with asparagus which is $19. We got a side of the seasonal vegetables which turned out to be asparagus. Those were nicely roasted.

My daughter got the Bruschetta sandwich. When I saw it brought out with its large portion of burrata topped with the marinated tomatoes precariously stacked between slim dense baguette slices, I knew she was in for a messy time. I do wonder how one is supposed to eat it as a handheld. Perhaps a different type of bread would make this a nicer experience. As for my daughter's taste opinion, less cheese and more balsamic glaze :). The fries that came with it were just ok. Well seasoned but not very crispy.

I got the Slider Flight to get a variety. I can't fault it much, though I would say together they were all kind of one note. Would be nice if maybe the pork was topped with tangy slaw instead of haystack onions which also comes in the burger slider.

One thing I'm confused about is the website's claim that the restaurant's approach to food is many recipes made from scratch, but looking at the menu, there are only a few items labeled "DT" or made in house by...

I called to place a to-go order and was put on hold for 5 minutes, only to then be told to place an order online. I then proceeded to use the online ordering system which charged my credit card but didn’t send the order from the website to the restaurant computer. The result was I showed up and no food was prepared because no order was received in the kitchen. Seems reasonable enough except for the fact I was told to order online only after trying to place the order by phone. Ugh.

I then asked to speak to a manager and one wasn’t available to help me. The serving staff looked around at each other for a second but then resumed what they were doing.

I then stood around another 10 minutes and waited in frustration with several other customers encountering the same problem. Finally a friendly server was nice enough to enter my order by hand into the system off the receipt on my phone. 20 more minutes go by and a different person from the kitchen comes out with my order, only to forget my pizza (which resulted in a frustrating trip back the restaurant).

This place overall didn’t handle a crisis very well and didn’t show accountability. I do not anticipate I will ever be back to Derby Tavern, which sucks because the food is really good. But an overall lack of staff accountability or making customers feel like you’re trying to address a problem quickly will make it hard for us to ever...