North West Leicestershire
The Castle Inn

The Castle Inn

High Street, Derby DE74 2PP, United Kingdom, North West Leicestershire

Cafés • Pizza • Seafood • European


"Nipped in for a quick bite on a Friday evening. We went up to what looked like the restaurant bar and asked if it was possible to get a table but were directed to the main bar to ask about this. The place was packed- getting served at the internal bar would have been a bit of a fight. Had a similar experience on a visit here before because there's not much space around the bar so you tend to get an impenetrable crowd instead of any sort of line. Eventually managed to get the attention of a member of staff and were told the restaurant was fully booked, however we could sit outside and order food at the bar to our outside table. Would have saved us some time if that was communicated through the team and relayed by the first person we asked instead of sending us to queue elsewhere. We did order to an outside table, and the food was excellent. The small pizzas really are quite small. But if you have a couple of sides they're perfect to not overstuff you. If you want to just eat pizza probably get a large. Also they had really interesting topping selections on the pizzas- I had the spiced aubergine, creme fraiche and honey. It was absolutely delicious. The chips were hot and well seasoned, the greek salad also really nice- I did miss the addition of peppers and would possibly remove the pea shoots and sub in the peppers to improve this and keep it more authentic though. Drinks were nice and the atmosphere inside was quite cosy and outside had a nice vibe with the tasteful lightning and wooden furniture. Would definitely return (but probably make a reservation. It's busy for a reason!"

The Birch Tree

The Birch Tree

Bardon Hill, LE67 1TD, North West Leicestershire, United Kingdom

Pub • Steak • Vegan • British


"So we 've been here a few times and the service and food have always been spot on. However we 've been the last 2 weekends on the trot and unfortunatley the standards have seemed to drop a little. Last weekend went we went, I had gotten the wrong time of our booking but the staff were very accomodating and simply moved the time. (If the staff read this they probably know exactly who 's writing this : . So thank you for that. Now onto the rest of the evening. The drinks orders were taken very quickly and so were the food orders which was great. However, the time that we actually had to wait for the food seemed very long this time compared to others and the resturant wasn 't busy. I think it was us and maybe another 4 tables if that at our time of ordering. The food itself was very good as usual which is the reason we didn 't complain about the waiting time. The desserts that came next which still seemed to take a while for 2 ice creams and a brownie, were lovely. Though I will say that 2 cookies did make my dish just a little to sickly so maybe just one cookie on top would be fine. The service itself wasn 't as great as usual. Both of our servers that came to take our orders were chewing gum! They were not discreet about it and were very clearly chowing down on it while we were ordering which wasn 't very nice to be honest but again the overall was lovely so we didn 't complain. This weekend we went again (yes I got the right time this week : , Again the drinks order was taken quite quickly and they were delivered fairly quickly to. Execpt this weekend we ended up waiting longer for someone to take our food order which was odd. Our servers didn 't even ask if we were ready to order just popped the drinks on the table and walked off. Eventually someone did come back to take the order and this time there was no gum which was great. Again though the wait for the food seemed very excessive with no communication while we were waiting. I think it was probably a good 35-40 minute wait for the food this time. I notice there were 2 tables of 8 went I went to the bathroom and when we left I could hear music in the tent thing outside. If this was causing a longer wait it would have been nice just for someone to pop over and say 'I 'm sorry about the wait we 've got........ '. Anyway back to the food. The food was nice for the most part as usual. My husband thoroughly enjoyed his, the only little issue we had was my mothers fish pie. In all fairness to my mum this sauce was extremely running and didn 't look very nice at all. Anyway so told the server that and as a good person would the lady did ask if there was something she could do about it. So that response was lovely. Now when a lad came to clear the dishes he was lovely (I don 't know if he was new , but he informed us that ice cream came with the child meal and asked what flavour. We told him thinking he was going to take the whole pudding order and he didnt. He made a note then walked off.It wasn 't until they brought that out that they took our order for our puddings. I do want to make a note that the servers did continue to walk in and out of the room but still didn 't communicate with us at all. As an overall experience over the last few times I don 't feel like the service and food have been as good as before but we would still go back. None of this critism it 's purely just feedback which will hopefully help you with keeping your services to a high standard."

The Falcon Inn

The Falcon Inn

64 Main Street, Long Whatton LE12 5DG, United Kingdom, North West Leicestershire

Pizza • Cafés • Seafood • European


"We stayed for one night prior to a flight at East Midlands Airport and everything was excellent, from the warm, welcoming staff, to the rooms and the simply delicious food (evening and breakfast). Firstly the pub: food, drinks, restaurant… All excellent. The sign of a great pub for ale drinkers is one with knowledgeable staff who are keen to let you sample before deciding on a pint. This was the case here and we worked through all five real ales during the afternoon and evening! Also a great selection of wines, and everything served in the correct glasses I loved the attention to detail. Then the evening meal in the restaurant area of the pub: this was also excellent, with a great menu and top food, in plentiful portions. Really delicious all ‘round. We didn’t manage desserts but starters and mains all great. The pub/restaurant is well presented inside and out, with a lovely beer garden at the back. Secondly, the hotel rooms: we were in rooms 1 2 and both were lovely. They were well presented, comfy beds, nice hospitality tray (with fresh milk in the in room fridge), nice toiletries. The room rate included breakfast, which was all freshly cooked to order and once again, a great selection. I would 100% stay here again, especially if going to/from East Midlands airport which was less than a 10 minute drive. A lovely, traditional country Inn with excellent food and hospitality. Thank you to the full team."