Opulence - Derby

We stopped for a snack and found this well established old firm of Birds do a great cake and cuppa. Friendly staff too.

Stark hall, pub food, no wine list, untrained (though friendly) staff. It seems that the Michelin listing claimed on the website is long gone.

Went for dinner last night. The restaurant...and the hotel...is a shadow of its former self with skeleton staff and the staff who did attend were the dedicated few. Basically, this place is being run down by its owner which is a crying shame as it has a wonderful history and is in a prime location in historic Derby city centre. A real disappointment. Hope it can be turned around. Well done to Gemma and Tyrone who were on duty last night, who did their best for us under difficult circumstances. Don't know who the chef was but she did not meet our expectations, sorry.

Went here for an evening meal as we were staying in the hotel. The room has the potential to be lovely but it falls well short. Double height ceilings, beautiful coving and nice wood panelling would sound like a gorgeous place to eat but it's no where near. The lighting in this room is what I can only describe as being under TV studio lights, it is so bright that any atmosphere there could be is destroyed by a cascade of light. This could be easily changed with a candle on the table or just using some sidelights instead of the gigawhatt 5000 that they are currently using. Table service was a joke. Not once throughout our meal did anyone ask if we wanted any drinks, the menu was thrown down on the table and when we were spoken to it was more of a grunt than spoken words. Terrible service. The food was distinctly average and when we had breakfast these the next day everything from the buffet was cold and stale. I wouldn't go here again even if I was paid.

We stayed at the hotel and had a superb evening meal there. We chose from the three course set menu and the choices were very good. Everything was cooked to perfection and well presented. The portions were also very good more than enough. Highly recommended.