The best restaurants in Chatsworth Derbyshire Dales East Midlands

I have no idea why the TA reviews of this lovely restaurant are so few and far apart! We have eaten there several times over the recent past - each meal has been well cooked and beautifully presented. A really talented Chef. Much of the hotel and both of the restaurants have been massively changed and improved over the past 2 years, at no little cost. The menus are relatively short but with sufficient choice for a very tasty Sunday lunch. Good choice of wines - by the glass too. We had pre-lunch drinks on the sunny terrace; our meal was served in the Gallery restaurant and we ended with coffee in the Library Bar. Go and enjoy!

Beautiful place, food and service

At the end of a long hike, we thought hearty pub food and a drink would be good. We walk here quite a lot , so were looking for a well placed eatery. Good atmosphere , warm and pleasant staff … a good start. Our food took a long time to appear. My honey roast ham and piccalilli ,half sandwich proved to be a thumbs width of commercial white sliced bread , two, three inch chibbles of ham and a teaspoon of piccalilli. The accompanying soup was very cool....one third of a dish........cost for both..........£12.00 My partner had the Garlic mushrooms on a three and a half inch square of sourdough with a solid yolked poached egg and no evidence of spinach, as advertised....£11.50. No-one asked us about the meal, I don't normally photograph food , but I wished I had. We felt , not just disappointed , but like we had been cheated. Come on ! If this is sold as a lunch, make it so, for the money charged.

We called in for lunch after a 3 mile walk with our dog around the Chatsworth estate. The quality is there to see from the moment you walk through the door. Attentive bar service, a perfect pint of Chatsworth Gold, excellent wine list (including dessert wine by the glass) and quality food backed up by fantastic and friendly service from Nieve, a fellow dog lover who is a credit both to herself and the organisation. Will definitely be coming back.

Visited for dinner with family for my wife's birthday on 24.08.23. I have never posted a bad review before. These are tough times for the hospitality industry. But I am compelled to warn anyone else thinking of eating here. It was the worst restaurant experience we have had for nearly 20 years. The service was initially mercenary - the first question from the oleaginous but thereafter invisible Maitre d' was 'would you like sparkling wine', and when I requested a drinks menu I got a wine list which was simply bottles of wine, no wines by the glass, other alcoholic / non-alcoholic drinks. Which, if nothing else rather overlooked my 8 y.o. and 12 y.o. We ordered 2x glass champagne, 2 x red wine, 1 beer, 2 x kids drinks, 4 starters and 4 mains including (for the kids!) a lobster and muscle risotto at £32 each, and lamb and beef also around the £30 mark. We are plainly not millionaires, but equally plainly we were intending to spend a decent amount... Thereafter service was slow to non-existent. The starters were mediocre at best. A soup of the day was beetroot soup. Literally a pureed beetroot, no seasoning, cream, nothing else bar an already buttered slice of bread balancing on the side of the (admittedly v. tasteful) crockery. I can't put into words the audacity of the pricing of this bowl of soup. I thought the bowl ought to have been included. It was a sign of things to come. The sirloin of local beef I ordered had a glaring rind of unrendered fat, like one of the early rounds in Masterchef. The meat was, extraordinarily, simultaneously underdone and tough. The waitress assured me that the chips had not been reheated but prepared freshly as she had seen it done. What can I say? When you eat something, you know when you know, right? Forgive the already TLDR nature of this review, but the kicker was the lobster risotto. I am frankly incandescent that I was stung for this. They were bland mush. I can't comprehend how a seafood risotto for which premium prices are charged can be (a) noticeably lacking lobster, and (b) not taste of seafood but rather like tuna from a tin mashed in with boiled American white rice. My wife and kids left after the mains; just walked out leaving me to pay. Still took the waitress 5 mins to come over. I was civil as she is just an employee doing a tough job. But I told her it was really poor, and it was obvious I was extremely dissatisfied. 5 mins still passed, no bill, no more senior employee. Left to me to walk to the reception, bite my tongue at bit but not enough to conceal that I was on the cusp of Gordon Ramsey-like language at being so mugged-off and paying £265 (without even getting to dessert and coffee, and with half the family walking out during the meal). Avoid, avoid, avoid, and do not be mislead by any platitudes posted by this place if they deign to post a reply.

We were going to eat but typical Marstons ridiculous beer pricing so didn't bother and won't be returning. Shame as we used to like it here

Had a wonderful early evening meal with my partner and another couple. The food was excellent ( steak pie - generous portions and reasonably priced), atmosphere convivial ( we sat by the fireside) and the service first rate. Really friendly, welcoming staff. In short dining here was the perfect end to a perfect date having enjoyed a 5 hours wander earlier. I seldom go 5* in the few reviews I do leave, but to go less would be churlish of me. Thank you Devonshire Arms and the staff. Oh, btw we also enjoyed the beer.

Waited 25 minutes for two light breakfasts. They arrived on plates swimming with grease, the mushrooms were cold and much of the rest luke warm at best.The staff seemed to loiter about with no sense of urgency and some staff training would'nt come amiss. The whole set up for ordering and serving hot food badly needs reviewing. A very poor Chatsworth experience not to be repeated.

Visited today for coffee and lunch with my husband and dog. We were shown to a table in the side room which is dog friendly and it was fine, if compact. We had a toasted sandwich and a normal sandwich. The bread was fresh, plenty of cheese filling but would have liked more ham too. Nice side salad to accompany the plates. However no salt or pepper on any of the tables and no-one asked if we wanted anything or how our meals were. Coffees were fine.What I don't understand is why a family of 4 without a dog were showed into the same area rather than the other side of the cafe, so it did get very claustrophobic.

A lovely visit to the Devonshire Arms. A really lovely atmosphere with tasty food - the best of our visit. Lots of choice, and lovely staff too. They had ran out of all chicken dishes which was a shame but still plenty to pick from. Great location with free parking and dog friendly, definitely recommend!