The Dragon in South Derbyshire

Really busy on a Friday lunchtime which is always a good sign. Excellent menu difficult to choose! We opted for fish finger sandwich with fries and halloumi sandwich with fries, one of us opted for salad instead of fries and this wasn’t an issue. Only negative is the coffee - not a good flavour and served luke warm. This was swapped swiftly for us and the staff were lovely and the service was good. It’s also very dog friendly. Would definitely recommend.

Booking online worked well and the confirmation email was helpful. Staff were welcoming, friendly and efficient. The food was good, came as ordered and was reasonably priced. The place was nicely full and busy. Glad for the recommendation and happy to pass this on. Thank you.

Best Fish and Chips I have ever had ! Service was on point to, many thanks to all the staff who looked after us that night. The quiz although we came second last was great!

Myself and a friend had an excellent lunch and positive experience. A couple of years previously we chose to use the Boot in preference to the Dragon because of a couple of poor experiences at the time. We decided to try lunch at the Dragon again. We were not disappointed and the notes made at the time of booking were taken into account. We were shown to a quiet table area and the attention and adaption made to the meal to manage a soya intolerance was excellent. We will shortly book into the Dragon for our Christmas lunch in December. Many, many thanks to all the staff for our enjoyable "get together" lunch.

If you ever go on a Sunday for the roast do not skip over the Sunday sandwiches. these items are criminally underrated since everyone looks mainly at the full roast. i do not regret every time i go and get a beef sandwich whilst others are getting the platter

Just a one off visit , parking was okay , nice little pub , good food , overall it was great , would recommend... expensive though...

service was good and the food was nice but, we ordered the ‘double smash beef burger’ and both of the patties were full size. Nowhere near smashed and quite heavy and filling. But overall , a great meal.

After enjoying food many times over the years at the Dragon, today was disappointing. Food ok - chunky chips amazing but sandwiches a bit dry and lacked flavour. Bit strange as the ingredients appeared fresh - maybe bread to filling ratio was not balanced. Service perfunctory with minimal smiles/interaction. Didn't feel a very welcoming atmosphere.

Arranged lunch with relatives. Friday dinner and it was very busy, always a good sign of what to expect. Food and beer were excellent, service was good (as usual), and a nice, calm, pleasent atmosphere. Have ate there before, will again.

Awful experience which was costly. Service rude and downright disrespectful too Lovely surrounding but spoilt by this place.

Our whole family visited the Dragon for a lunchtime meal and we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. There were seventeen of us with ages ranging from 80 down to only 3 months ! The pub is deceptively large inside and very tastefully laid out and clean. I am sure that you would find a spot to suit your needs in there. We all enjoyed our visit, the food was good and the service friendly and efficient. The pub backs onto the canal and there is outdoor seating in the open air and also an enclosed glass seating area to allow for English summers ! I would definitely go back there and recommend you to give it a try !!!

But disappointed that we sat in the bar ( not a problem) as work was going on above the restaurant.told we would get table service and got forgotten. But we enjoyed our food and would go again Pie ,needs to have more gravy on the side

Waiter forgot to bring cutlery then told us we could get our own from the bar. Good beers and great beer garden, just a shame about the staff

Very friendly team and great food.

Plenty of seating. Excellent location. Definitely recommend.

The food in the dragon is lovely, we are twice as we stayed in the Cottage,, both times v good food, the service is good as well, but the place was dirty, and there s a smell that comes out in the night, such makes it impossible to stay inside, they need to fix this.. apart from that the cottages are not great to stay in despite they are clean, they are quite noisy from best by neighbors..

fantastic place. Great garden next to the canal, speedy and friendly staff, great choice of beer and the best chips I have ever had. Highly recommended!

Good food with some interesting choices of beers brewed locally. Service was a bit patchy but it was busy

Sumptuous and lovely with a beer garden partially under cover if that's your thing.

First-time visitors, and we will be back! We visited for breakfast on a Sunday, and the atmosphere and decoration of the restaurant and bar areas are lovely. Staff were efficient, and there was no delay in food service to say that we didn't book a table. The only thing that caught us off-guard was the discretionary service charge on the receipt that we weren't aware of, but everything was brilliant, so we will return regardless.

Absolutely lovely pub. Stopped at Willington for the Weekend on my Narrowboat and visited The Dragon on both the Friday and Saturday nights. Food is absolutely lovely, great menu, and great service. They cater well for Gluten Free too. Can thoroughly recommend.

Excellent food and a good pint.

Came here for food - 4 adults and 1 child. The pub is in a really nice location and was busy when when came on a Tuesday evening There is an issue in the local area with flies and this was explained to us. We only noticed one buzzing around so maybe the issue has now settled down The food was really nice, portions are large and we left stuffed. Staff were friendly and attentive. If we were in the area for longer we would have gone back again

Had a great time at The Dragon, and a big shoutout to Charlie for making it even better. Super friendly and on top of everything, he made sure we were well taken care of from start to finish.

I'm very disappointed. It's been a while since I visited, I told my family how good it was at the Dragon, only to spend our time swatting flies, trying to keep them off our food. I can only imagine what the kitchen is like. Wish I'd read the reviews, but as a returning customer, I just assumed it'd be as good as it's been previously. I won't be in a rush to return unfortunately. The amount of flies attacking us while we ate was highly unpleasant.

Staff were excellent, food was good but flies were herendous for this reason we wouldn't return

Enjoyed a delicious lunch served by friendly helpful staff

Staff and venue are excellent and the food was very high quality. Lots of beef in our pie etc. Mostly executed well and everything has great presentation but only giving 4 stars for the food as sometimes it would have been nice to have a little more sauce/gravy with our dishes. Otherwise I would definitely recommend and would go back to try more dishes!

One of the most tasteless and disappointing Sunday lunches I have ever been offered. I appreciate the Dragon was very busy, but if they can’t maintain any sort of standard they shouldn’t be taking orders. Food was cold, watery and slow, the latter would have fine if there had been anything tasty on the plate when it arrived - there wasn’t. Certainly won’t be going back.

Came for a family birthday, all had a burgers which were lovely, food was great quality, service was great also. Desserts followed same excellent standard. Only complaint was that a lot of flies kept coming into pub due to doors and windows open

Lovely place for lunch and beers . Espically for holidays

Excellent food and service. Really friendly and well worth a visit. So lovely to eat by the canal path.

A great Sunday lunch menu .3 courses for less than £30 .Very tasty .Plenty of staff on to serve.Mocktails good .

Went there for a medical meeting. Nice atmosphere. Not many parking spaces on site but there’s another nearby parking lot.

We sat in under cover outside part of pub next to canal enjoyed having meal and watching the canal boats passing by.

Fabulous place for Sunday lunch

Lovely place you are make to feel so welcome Breakfast cob so nice

Great place to go to for a nice drink by the canal and good food.

Mid week dinner with family. Delicious. Well done and thanks 😊

Very good experience with exceptional food

Best breakfast ive had in a long time, absolutely piping hot aswell, lovely place in a lovely area

What a lovely breakfast. The wife treated me to a champagne breakfast as part of my birthday celebrations. The food was superb, great portions too. The waiting staff were superb and I think it must have been the manager/supervisor who was wonderful and in chatting she found out it was my birthday and decided to do something special for me which you can see in the pictures provided. Fantastic morning, we'll be back for sure.

Great place for a nice meal. Lovely to watch the canal boats go by. The atmosphere was great

had work lunch here, served quickly, a little pricey but food ok, pub carpark and local carpark full which so difficult to park.

Prices are extortionate. Food is not fresh. Service subpar. Wouldn’t waste money here again.

Second time I've ever been to The Dragon, and the first was the better one, unfortunately. Don't get me wrong, the pub is fantastic and the staff are so attentive and friendly.. but the food could've been better given the price you pay. We had a steak each; cooked well enough, but it just lacked a little flavour. The Stilton sauce also had no hint of cheese at all. Everything else was great. I think it just needs a bit of tweaking.

Not much to say, great food, great beer, great location, lovely staff

Great food and a good selection of well kept ales. The place can get very busy but seems to be very well run so not a problem. Would definitely go back.

We came here on Saturday and sat outside when it was beautiful and warm. Were surprised but super happy there were a couple of spare tables! Service was super quick - the waiter took our order and payment straight from our table, meaning when we'd done eating we could just get up and go We both went for the burgers, which were amazing, so tasty! Beautiful to sit outside by the canal, will definitely come back.

Updated June 2024 Visited The Dragon many times over the last four years. Today will be the last! Food excellent, but then it goes terribly wrong. Booking special requests ignored. First point of contact a young girl (name known to us) very negative, condescending, back answers customers, and when asked to confirm her name, replied why, so you can say I was cheeky and rude online, must know in advance what customers are saying about her. Useless manager/supervisor who just starred blankly. Apparently customers no longer allowed bar tabs, even when having a meal., bar staff also aggressive when our party queried this, as never had this issue in the past at The Dragon. Service comes without a smile from the whole team. We ensured that the added 10% service charge was removed, never had such constantly bad service. We always spend in excess of £200 per visit, well no more, if Pat the group owner can afford to throw away loyal customers by employing such horrendous staff and introducing stupid new rules, then he no longer deserves our business. Our advice, go elsewhere! Gone downhill since this review - BE AWARE! Visited for festive Christmas Sunday lunch which was exceptional. Food perfectly cooked and service excellent from a very friendly but unobtrusive team.

Fantastic place to visit for food and drink , great atmosphere ,loads of seating etc the outside space is brilliant

Popped in to catch up with family we didn't eat but bar service was with a smile. Good car parking.

Nice welcome, friendly and helpful service. Good quality pub food.

We had a great Sunday dinner and the service was excellent in really nice surroundings.

Great place to dine, friendly staff and a good choice on the menu.

Having been asked to go to a surprise birthday breakfast for my daughter in law, I was in impressed with the standard of food supplied. Not the cheapest breakfast you will ever have, but for a special occasion really nice to do. There was a party of 10 and they managed to deliver everything virtually together, so it was a well done to all involved.

Great pub with great attentive staff! We booked a tent outside and the 6 of us had a fantastic time!

We called in for lunch after a boat ride at Mercia Marina in Willington. Very nice food, friendly staff, managed to park in their free car park, good kids menu. The only thing I didn't like was that the waiter asked me if I wanted to keep/remove the service charge from the bill that had already been printed out, this made me feel uncomfortable and awkward, I think it would be better to ask on the card payment terminal to avoid this embarrassment.

Very busy pub. Great selection of drinks Lots of places to sit... inside or outside.

The most terrible service, they slip the menu of the main dishes what is more expensive. When you ask for the breakfast menu, the answer is that we don't make breakfast. The question is why, if the breakfast menu is on the table???.

First class food/menu, reasonably priced and supported by a friendly, efficient team. Well worth a visit.

We went as a family for Sunday dinner, and really enjoyed the food, service and atmosphere. The beef was cooked perfectly and the trimmings were awesome... especially the cauliflower cheese. I'd visit again just for the cauliflower cheese 😋 very nice! I would definitely recommend!

Visited here for some tea whilst visiting my sister in Repton and was very disappointed. We ordered 6 adult meals and a child's meal and ended up waiting around 1.5 hours for it to arrive. Every time we asked where the food was they said it would be 5 minutes and it never came within that time frame, my little boy who is 4 ended up crying because he was hungry and I had to ask for a piece of bread and butter to tide him over until his meal arrived. It wasn't that busy so can't use that as an excuse. When the food did eventually arrive my fish wasn't cooked properly, the batter wasn't fully cooked. When speaking to staff afterwards we were told that the reason the wait was so long is because the kitchen staff were hungover, I couldn't believe it when they said to me. I wouldn't return in a hurry.

Went for drinks and catch up with colleagues. Staff very friendly and helpful, found us a quiet space to do some work calls. Good beers and restaurant was thriving with very happy-looking customers. I would recommend.

We popped in for breakfast on Sunday morning and the service and food was absolutely fantastic! The traditional English breakfast has everything you could ever want on a breakfast, love that they do smaller and healthier options too! Would definitely recommend and will be back soon!

So, my review is slightly unique, in that I was on a long kayak/camp, down the Trent & Trent Mersey, and when I came to “The Dragon”, I decided I really wanted to treat myself to non mylar bag food, however, with a kayak loaded with gear, having spent 16 days on the water, it wasn’t like I could just go in, so I phoned, explained my situation, and the Lady that answered, was so accommodating, she really was an absolute star, she made it super simple for me to order, super simple to pay, and just really gave me fantastic service, and the food, oh wow, it was delicious, and not just because it wasn’t from a mylar bag, I got what was suggested to me, “Gammon, Egg, and Chips”, as I’d wanted an all day breakfast, but breakfast service stops at 11:30hrs, and it was around 14:00hrs, and as my pictures show, it was presented well, cooked to perfection, and I found the perfect size portion, and I’m 6ft 15.5st, so not small, but the food went down great, with a nice ice cold, Diet cola with ice(kayaking). All in all, everything about this pub, was welcoming, accommodating, and a pleasure to experience. I fully plan to return when “not” in a kayak, and once again enjoy the great cuisine available. Very happy to of accidentally found this place.

Service with a smile. A birthday treat

Lovely restaurant with alfresco dining by the canal. Great to meet and dine with family and friends. The restaurant welcomes customers alongside with their pets.

Was looking forward to a nice family Sunday lunch as we haven’t seen each other for a while, so booked a table and got there for the right time to be told the kitchen wasn’t accepting any more orders even though we’d booked! however we did get served now we wish we hadn’t bothered, the starters were covered in hot sauce and I mean covered! and when the mains came out one plate had no gravy and we only had enough veg for 1/2 people we had to ask for more veg and for Gravy, but what I was so annoyed with was we were asked to pay for the meal after we had mentioned the starters being covered in the hot sauce we were made to feel like some sort of criminals that were going to do a runner before we paid we were leaving our tab open for puddings and drinks i felt so disappointed that we have been treated in this way and won’t be returning the food was very poor.

Popped in for a couple of pints, cannot complain.

Booked a table for three, eventually had our order taken close to 4 after being told they couldn't take more orders at the time, our starters came out and would have been lovely if not for the cheap chilli sauce that drowned everything, upon pointing this out we were asked to pay our bill. The last time we saw staff was when they delivered our main course, we had said we wanted to order three courses but we were ignored to the point we had to use starter cutlery for our mains after pointing out the starters were inedible but we didn't want anything. Honestly awful service and no skill in the kitchen, shop bought sauces to cover up the lack of skill in the kitchen... you'd be better of at a 2 for 1, what a joke

Always an excellent meal and busy place. Definitely worth visiting.

Food is lovely and the staff are nice and friendly. Nice beer garden when the weather is dry.

We were in Willington on a random visit, The Dragon looked so nice and busy,we just had to go in.The food looked excellent,it was so unfortunate we had already eaten,the Yorkshire pudding and sandwich looked very popular.All the staff were super efficient and friendly,we will definitely be going back.

Lovely beer garden for a couple drinks with the dog 🐶

Visited the Dragon for lunch today - £50 later and I honestly feel like had I lost £50, I would have felt better about it. Really disappointing. The food quality was dreadful, luke warm burgers that were overcooked and dry, as were the burger buns (we had to send one burger back as it was stone cold). The burger contents was 1 piece of lettuce, a few shreds of onion and burger sauce. My 9 year old said it’s the worst meal she’s had for ages, and I had to agree. The coleslaw with the meal was runny, and equivalent to a cheap supermarket brand. We were asked on collecting our plates, which still had loads of food left on them, if we enjoyed our meals. I had to say no and whilst we were asked if we wanted free dessert, I actually felt it would have been courteous to offer our money back for meals that we not cheap, but were barely edible. Going out for meals are not cheap for families and to feel absolutely ripped off by being served cheap, luke warm food is really not acceptable. We won’t be visiting again.

Loads of young staff but not very well trained. We waited quite a while for starters. It was a special b/day meal. Three meals were cold, sent back and replaced with slightly warmer. Location is lovely by the river but the service let the evening down.

Loved the pork belly 😁 and the staff were super helpful!

We booked in advance for breakfast for a large family group, to celebrate a special birthday. All of the pre orders were prepared exactly as requested and the food was delicious, service throughout was excellent and we had a lovely morning. Thank you very much to all at the Dragon!

Absolutely love the dragon we have a narrowboat so it's one of our favourite mooring spots along the Trent &Mersey canal great atmosphere great friendly staff great food and drink would recommend a visit 👍

I called in for a very nice bite to eat, The Service was great, the food was great and the atmosphere was also excellent

We've only had breakfast here, which is very good. I can highly recommend it.

Sat outside in the under cover area on a sunny spring day. Great choice of beers and good food at a fair prices. Our mini schnauzers loved it too as they met many other doggy friends.

The food is really nice, small portions. It's not good value for money, in my opinion.

Had to send my breakfast back. Poached eggs?? More like hard boiled. Overpriced everything.

My first time visiting The Dragon was for champagne breakfast for my birthday. The food and service was amazing. And what good value for. So much food for the price. I'd certainly do this again for a special occasion or a brunch with friends. Everything was delicious and the little birthday surprise was a lovely touch!

One of the best pubs in the area on a sunny day!

Nice English pub, lots of atmosphere. Friendly staff.

Excellent and really enjoyed it...this was my first visit and when I am next back in England visiting my daughter, I will definitely call again...food was superb and the service,...plus a great location 👍😊

Great food, good range of draught beers and lagers, friendly service, can't fault it.

We came here today for my daughters birthday breakfast, and we had a really lovley time. The service from emma was amazing, the food was great quality and tasted great and even though there was 12 of us it was served promptly and took to care of our dietry needs. Couldnt fault anything. Emma even suprised my daughter with a personalised brownie birthday board which was a very special touch, thankyou. We wil come again.

I had dinner with a friend recently and it was a fantastic evening. Good so tasty. Lovely atmosphere and friendly staff. Thank you.

The food was absolutely disgusting, but the staff were so nice with us , I don't recommend it at all . 0 for food but 5 for staff . I visited here on 31/3/2024

We visit here quite often as we like the atmosphere, the quality of the food and the extensive menu. Unfortunately the service today was poor and we had to attract someone's attention to have our order taken at every stage. We were told that there were staffing problems today but the tables near to us seemed to be being served promptly. Disappointing.

My partner and I have just spent the most wonderful 24hrs at this amazing venue…. We booked on the deal of dinner bed and breakfast at The Dragon……beautiful room, delicious food and all the staff were amazing….it works perfectly. Cannot recommend enough we both felt throughly spoilt. Thanks so much for a brilliant stay.

Timeless quality. Great beers, and an ideal placement next to the waterway. Lovely place to visit after a walk down the canal in the countryside. Not eaten here yet, but the offerings are tempting and the restaurant looks first-class.

Really great food. Was busy but expected for a Friday night. The menu has less choices than last time we were there but the quality was excellent and the service was first class

Went to The Dragon for an anniversary meal. The food was excellent as always and the staff were very friendly and attentive. Really nice evening and will be back again soon. SPB & DB

The pub itself is lovely - very spacious and decorated nicely. Food was fantastic my steak was cooked to perfection and despite there being a huge party in close to us we didn’t wait long at all! Breakfast in the morning was delicious and for the price you couldn’t fault anything. We stayed in the adjoining cottages and that was also lovely :) we will definitely be back!

Vegetables came half way through our meal, don't like the fact that a 10% service charge is put on the bill, ask to take it off, tipping is .y choice not yours