Reviews in Derbyshire

We called at Ragley Boat Stop on the first day of our narrow boating holiday and were so impressed we booked again for the last night too. The food was lovely, we had the Bistro steak on the 2 mains and a bottle of wine for £18.99 and steak was beautiful. We felt very welcome and the staff were polite and friendly. To top it all they are dog friendly and even provided a bowl of water and some dog biscuits. The moorings are great and free of charge if you buy a meal. We will definitely be back. I have only voted the atmosphere down because in the current situation getting an atmosphere is nearly impossible and that is nothing to do with the pub itself.

Good food service was very efficient

We were requested to download and use the app. Navigating that app was very time consuming. As someone else was paying we weren't able to complete the purchase using the app. In all it took 1 hour before we even managed to get a drink. Instructions from staff were unclear. The steaks were ok but overdone. My order came with potatoes and green beans instead of chips which I ordered. That said, the new potatoes and beans were lovely. Other people seemed to be having similar problems ordering. Such a shame as lovely setting and lovely outdoor area.

Poor experience. Will not be going again. One person in our party ordered the sausage, egg and chips. Sausages were partially raw on the inside and the fried egg whites were rubbery. Only good thing about that meal were the peas and grilled tomato. Chips on all meals had a weird consistency and taste as if they has been fried in old fat multiple times or left under a heater. Told a waiter about this and his response was to reheat the meal as opposed to a fresh one. Declined a fresh meal as the rest of the table were nearly finished with their meals. Manager came over and said 'Who's got the problem with the food'. We explained the issue and her response was that the sausages were not raw it was the blend that made it appear so and the eggs weren't allowed to be runny because of new rules (yet that was not the issue with the eggs). Was made to feel like our complain wasn't valid and yet in the next breath when we didn't want a meal replacement we were offered wine or a free drink as a way of saying sorry. Very contradicting when nothing was apparently wrong. Overall poor quality food and service. Would not risk going here again.

Had a lovely meal . The steaks were lovely. Would go again

food was nice. but the service was a bit slow for saying its table service or app i had to go to the bar twice before someone came to our table.

Visited with my parents and in-laws over the weekend. I have to say it was some of the worst service we’ve ever had. We had to wait over an hour to get anyone to even take a drinks order, let alone food. When the food came, we had things missing off our plates, and one of our drinks never arrived, despite asking several times. We ended up having to go to the bar for that drink - and we’re greeted by a rude server who demanded to know who we had ordered the drink from - apparently ‘the same man that took the order for all the others’ wasn’t sufficient. We were made to feel like an inconvenience for wanting the drink that we ordered. The chef saved the day really, because the food quality was delicious, everyone ordered something different and it was all excellent. If it wasn’t for the chef, we wouldn’t be coming back, because the service was truly appalling. Such a shame.

Meh, food was alright & staff were a bit rude

Had a meal last night it was mediocre. Steak was cold. We wasn’t offered any sauces to go with our dinner. We waiting 10 minutes for drinks after ordering them. Another minor thing that annoyed me was the steak knife when you was using it was letting water of from being in the dishwasher so I was getting wet.

Delighted, went early to beat the lunchtime rush which extends your serving time dramatically. We arrived at 12.00, where served to drinks within 5 minutes and our meal arrived after a further 7 minutes. You can’t beat service like that but don’t turn up at 1.00pm and expect that sort of service. There simply not enough staff to do it. The meal was the two rump steaks and a bottle of wine, great deal, great meal, thank you.

Had a disappointing night last night. Sat outside and we were told to download the app. Decided what we wanted but couldn't pay separately which was inconvenient. The food arrived but no drinks, we asked the waitress who said she would find out but didn't appear back. We asked another waitress and the same thing happened. We then asked the we think was the manager, who shouted your order is in the queue and we are very busy! Who wants to eat food without a drink? The drinks took between 5 to10 before they arrived. Its the first time either of us have visited the pub its in a lovely location, but certainly won't be visiting again. Mainly because of the way we were spoken to by the manager.

The covid checks were very detailed which we appreciated. We could not download the app for ordering food due to a poor signal, but this presented no problem as the staff were happy to take our food and drinks order at the table. The food arrived promptly apart from the puddings - ours arrived some time before our friends did and we were finished way before them. The mains menu is varied. We enjoyed our visit.

Sadly our party weren't impressed yesterday. Initially my husband tried to order a drink at the bar, not realising it was done at the table. The barman saw my husband but picked up his phone and walked off, with no explanation. We felt we did not have enough information about ordering, we were in two groups and wanted to pay separately but were told to use the app. One of our party downloaded the app but we didnt want to pay altogether so asked for someone to come to the table. I felt like we were inconveniencing the woman who checked us in (possibly the manager). After we'd eaten we sat with empty plates in front of us for an hour and had to make several attempts to ask staff for them to be removed and to ask for deserts/coffee. Staff were passing us regularly but appeared to ignore us. The waitresses were polite and friendly when we got their attention. We all meet at the ragley boat stop as it's halfway between where we live, but yesterday we decided to look elsewhere. We felt all the staff needed training in customer service.

We stopped in motorhome again and had a lovely meal again

Took too long to get seated. Poor phone reception when ordering your food made this difficult.The meal was just ok. Nice steak, but the other meals were only average really. A fair price I guess and good fast food service. I remember the Ragley boat stop being better than this though food wise when we went several years ago, and I don't think we will go back, there's too much better competition to be honest.

I’m not one to complain but the food and service was rubbish. Meal come without cutlery, then had to ask for steak knives. Medium steak come rare. Wine come with no glasses. Two weeks prior we could not fault the food and service

Stake was just great , Chips was very poor, been fried three or four times ,and peas tasteless ,so yes could have better on an all round basis, will try again ,and hope for an improvement next time........