The Gate Inn in Derbyshire Dales

This review has replaced my last 4 star review which was deducted a star due to the cold temperature inside the pub, no heating on in the middle of winter and had to leave our coats on while eating but the food was ok, on further reflection it should have been 3 stars. Visited 29/04/25 around 5pm, lovely day so we sat outside, not too busy and the staff were very friendly and efficient, we ordered 2 open steak sandwiches with gorgonzola sauce with fries and a mini fish, chips and peas, food came out relatively quickly but unfortunately the steak was very fatty and chewy and quite pink (we didn't specify how well done we wanted the steak so that was not the issue)it was barely edible due to being so tough, my dad's dog enjoyed it though. The fries were ok, fish chips and peas were average but acceptable for the price. Would visit again for drinks only as it is in a lovely spot to sit outside when the sun is out.

Booked for 16 Adults , 8 kids for my sons 40th . Perfect pre service , food and service . Brilliant private area to eat . Well done everyone . Will definitely recommend and return soon

Lovely (and very big) pub with lovely food, friendly staff and great little play area out the back for kids. Revisited within a few days of first visiting and will keep returning

Lovely pub with wonderful food Will definitely be returning

Very pleasant visit as always. Delicious food helpful stuff pleasant surroundings and always good to come back to the village I grew up in.

Very accommodating with my LO at 8 months regarding warming baby food and very clean baby changing facilities

A welcome stop on the waterfall walk

Lovely spacious tables. Very busy but not rushed by the staff, who were also lovely. Food was very nice and good portions.

The gate to gastronomic greatness. The ultimate combination of food and drink. Timmy Taylor and steak and ale pie. Right proper. The service was delivered by a team of super efficient young ladies. The pie, such a small word for this culinary masterpiece, was shortcrust pastry cuddling tender steak and gravy. A separate pot of gravy was very welcome. Vegetables actually had some flavour. I even ate some sprouts. Dipped in gravy, they resembled human food close enough to bypass my gag reflex. The one lost point was due to the size of the pub, more like a giant restaurant than a peak pub.

Takes a bit of finding but worth the effort. Tucked away down some narrow roads , The Gate suddenly appears and seems to be very popular. Old from the outside but very swish and modern inside. Friendly and efficient service at the bar and the table plus a decent menu choice. The food was well cooked and presented, I can't remember having a better piece of gammon. It was clean plates for all courses .

Loved this place, great food and a great atmosphere, service was fantastic.

Absolutely love The Gate Inn. Have been going there for years. Great food, good service and a lovely evening

The food quality was amazing and portion sizes were all extremely generous. Service was also very quick and all staff were very friendly. The location is also great. Would definitely go again!

Great sundae options. Good value.

Great food, variety of selections of drinks, friendly service, reasonable prices

We drive quite a way to visit this pub, passing many others. But, it is worth it! Always excellent food from a good menu. You will never leave hungry! The portions are large. The staff are lovely and friendly. Try it!

The food is lovely and the staff are warm attentive and friendly. Great cheesecake !!

Great food and good portions, sundaes were particularly good!

Great food at a fantastic venue. Would visit again!

Food was beautiful their was a mix up with orders but it was sorted promptly and quickly so that everyone had the correct items, food was lovely and portions sizes were generous. Good choices on the kids meals. Toilets and out side spaces were clean and tidy and plenty of parking. Our bill came to around £80 for two adults and 2 small children both under 4 years old x

Would have given full marks except the service was a little slow, not enough to complain about. Still rated service **** Pleased about the vegetarian choice.

Service and atmosphere was bang on but the roast lunch was luke warm. I had the burger which tasted very poor. Like a microwave burger. Drinks were quite expensive too.

Was visiting the area and called in, we will certainly be going back, the food, service and atmosphere was fantastic. I had Gammon and the Wife has Scampi and we had a few sides, certainly no complaints from us and it’s know less than 5*. Keep up the fantastic work and you’ll know doubt be seeing more of us.

Excellent food, service very slow, we waited a good hour after starters for our main meal. This was due to them being very busy with outside orders as well as restaurant ones. Would use again but not when busy. Parking a big problem as well.

Very popular even midweek. Staff Very busy

Lovely chilly jacket potatoes nice to sit outside on a less busy day Noisy on a busy day

Great British cooking at its best. Thoroughly enjoyable. Lovely restaurant. Friendly staff.

A lovely country pub just outside of Matlock. We visited here for an evening meal and weren’t disappointed. The staff were very friendly and the food was excellent. We can particularly recommend the braised steak and the burger! We’ll definitely be back!

A great meal and venue with good service. Our night out was spoiled by a group of men at the bar shouting and swearing all the time.

An excellent first time experience. A warm friendly welcome. Great menu choices, we had the sharing nachos & Sunday roast all the food was amazing and good sized portions. Our server/waitress Kelly, was very friendly with a faultless great service, thank you. we will be back, 100% recommend.

We went for a nice evening dinner together with family tonight. First time here. We all had Sunday roast and one had a pie. The dinners was not disappointing. Nice and big and great prices. Service was great with nice and warm greeting. Atmosphere nice and relaxing. Good times

Great food, definitely worth a vist.

Really good grub and great service, would definitely go again 👍👍👍👍👍

Very friendly place with excellent customer service; wide range of food which was also excellent. Would definitely recommend if you are in and around Matlock

Great food and excellent staff. Friendly and the service wasn’t pushed, all delivered in a relaxed manner. The food is tasty and served hot, plates are big and filling. Awesome

A fantastically huge roast dinner, will definitely be coming back when next in the area. The staff were really friendly too.

Nachos to share, chicken souvlaki and Timothy Taylor bitter. Super clean and modern pub with very pleasant and helpful staff. Lumsdale waterfall is about a mile away so it's a win win!

Great place to dine and grab a drink would highly recommend. Friendly staff and even made me my own pizza even though it wasn't on the menu ☺️

Called in mid afternoon on Monday having seen it busy on other occasions expecting good food. The service was very good, polite and friendly. We were able to choose our table of choice, all good so far. We both had the American burger which was tasteless and had the consistency of a frozen burger. All the accompanying bits were tasty but the main beef burger not. We were so disappointed. I won’t visit again based on the food only.

The food was good. However, the service and atmosphere were very poor. It took 1 hour and 10 minutes from arrival to be served our food. We booked a table for three, earlier in the week. We were put into a small room with two extremely noisy and large parties. We couldn't converse with each other because of the excessive noise. Completely spoilt the experience. We all came out with headaches. We would have been more understanding as the pub isn't responsible for the noise and behaviour of other customers. However, after we were served, one of us went to look in the main dining area. It was very quiet, with plenty of empty tables. We had another look on leaving. It still had lots of empty tables. We have no idea as to why a group of three would have been put into what felt like and sounded like "party room". We were also overlooked because the big party groups were getting all the attention. One of those groups ordered a few minutes before us. They were severed their second course when we'd not even received our first. In addition, when the food arrived, and we were asked if we needed sauces. Vinegar was requested and also a second drink. After about 10 minutes, the drink arrived, but no vinegar, which had to be requested again. We were so looking forward to this meal. And have been to this put a couple of times before, when it's been lovely. However, this really spoilt it for us. And despite the nice and good quality food, I doubt we'll go again.

Car park and main footpath to restaurant, not cleared of snow and ice ,on the particular day ,friendly staff etc ,but the restaurant looking very tired and no heating on and both toilets too

Nice pub with plenty of parking,food was very good pleasant atmosphere

Excellent celebration meal out, very comfortable, excellent food and service.

Been here on numerous occasions and always had fantastic food and the staff are absolutely amazing

We dined as a couple and had the lasagne, chips and salad off the light bites menu. The food was very nice and a good size portion. We were sat by the open fire, very cosy.

Nice venue, plenty of parking, good food.

Fantastic spot in the countryside. Well suited to groups for brunch / lunch. Very kid/ family friendly.

The staff here are always very welcoming and take you to your table with minimal fuss. The place is very large, but split up enough to feel uncrowded. The service is second to none and the food is excellent. Everything is so slick and one is extremely well looked after - even on Boxing Day when the place was heaving!

Very good food nice atmosphere 👌

Went without booking.. got seated no problem.. food was lovely and will definitely go again

Always consistently good , brilliant

We went a great meal here . The food was tasty and well presented . It was let down as no body came to ask if our meal was ok and had to look for someone to pay the bill .

We were a group of 13 and chose this restaurant as it had a dedicated Gluten free menu and wheelchair access. The venue was beautiful. We had lots of space. The staff were amazing. Really friendly and excellent service. The food was delicious and excellent value for money. We have had a wonderful evening and would totally recommend it. We had a mix of meals from the Christmas menu and the regular menu.

Highly recommend this place for sunday roast! Omg it was amazing & I don't usually like sunday dinners but this was so fresh, good quantity and tasty. Dog friendly too.

Fabulous pub, lovely food and great atmosphere.

I just thought it was the best great really great thank you so much for such a lovely experience I.will definately be back soon

We had our Walking Football club get together at the Gate . 35 of us , dont know how they managed to get all those meals served ,lovely and hot . Really tasty, brilliant service. Also nice to see a local bitter on sale too !! We will be back as a couple soon

Very good food with good service. The place was quite busy but unfortunately the acoustics make the place quite noisy. A small price to pay for a very enjoyable lunch.

WOWOWOW - what an excellent evening experience. From a welcome smile, the way staff greeted me on arrival, took my order, made recommendations and the service throughout was faultless. Warm lovely decor, clean and smart. Lovely veggie choices on the menu. Food arrived in a very timely manner - not much of a wait and considering it was fresh, piping hot and flavoursome - I'm surprised they delivered so efficiently! The perfect naturally delicious meal thank you x

Friendly staff, excellent gluten free pizza. It was however very busy, need to book.

We called in here for lunch today (Sunday) on the off chance they would have a table free for 4 adults and a child, luckily for us they had a table and we were not disappointed, the food and service were excellent and just what we needed after an exploratory walk around the nearby falls on a somewhat damp and breezy day. The car park was busy as was the restaurant but the staff were friendly and efficient seeing to all customers promptly despite being a busy Sunday lunch service and some celebration lunches taking place.

Went today for food was lovely and plenty on plate would go again

We were so lucky to get a table for 7 at fairly short notice for a Saturday night. The place was lovely, and the food delicious. Cocktail offers added even more to the experience 👌

Delicious pub grub. There were 5 of us and we all had something different and every plate was enjoyed. Great starting or finishing point to the local walks.

Everything was great, food lovely, the pudding especially but sadly there was an employee who ruined what would have been a perfect day out. The blonde employee did not care about us in the slightest, in many occasions blowing us off when we asked for help or drinks

A weekend away in family and our accommodation had a list of places to try, the Gate was recommended. As there were 7 of us we booked a table and arrived to a very busy place, staff were quick to seat us and take a drinks order giving us time to look T menu. The food arrived, faultless, everything was hot, delicious and presented well. Friendly staff who took further drinks and a dessert order. Highly recommend booking!

Booking was simple on line. We were welcomed with a smile and shown to the table. Drinks were offered and then we were left to peruse the menu without being hurried up for the order. We ordered a plate of nachos between 4 for starters - in the event these came with the main meals BUT the error was IMMEDIATELY offset as the waitress knew it had gone wrong and IMMEDIATELY removed the item from the bill. Sometimes things go wrong - that's life. But this occurrence was promptly compensated for with a profuse apology - FULL MARKS - and we weren't going to let it spoil an otherwise BRILLIANT meal. Braised steak was melt in the mouth, a beefburger that was big enough to grace any US table, and a winter pear salad which was fresh and stunning. Superb friendly and chatty approach from the waitresses and a cheery (not totally PC) conversation which was refreshing and amusing. (Sometimes that might backfire - in our case HURRAH for them getting the judgement spot on.) Thank you - cracking meal - cracking place. We'll be back.

Visited today with 3 friends on route to chatsworth christmas market, highly recommended a visit to this place. Lovely friendly atmosphere upon entry, welcoming staff, comfortable seating, attentive staff, lovely menu, not overpriced, food was hot and to a very high standard, thoroughly enjoyed by everyone in our party, will definitely be visiting again.

Good food, sadly a staff member was extremely abusive towards me, ruined what would have been a lovely day out

Great atmosphere and fantastic food

Excellent pub, great friendly staff and extensive menu. Food lovely and fresh. Value for money. Would encourage people to try the pub.

1st class food and service as always. Consistently very good one of my top 5 places to eat and drink

A pleasant place. Excellent battered fish, loaded Nachos. But the worst burger I have ever experienced. Not at all like a beef burger but, as a fellow diner who tried a bit said: 'like a tinned meatball'. Sadly no-one asked us about the food so we didn't comment personally. Deserts were fine. Very nice people though.

Spent two nights running eating at the Gate. Both times the plates were cleared with a warm glow and satisfying smile. Well worth a visit. My wife had the gammon twice. Twice it excelled her expectations. Warm atmosphere early evening.

This has to be one of the best restaurants I have been to, the staff are very welcoming and friendly, the menu has a good selection and the food is top quality, I will most definitely visit here again….and again and again…..

Lovely Village Resturant. Live solo artist music. Food was absolutely excellent. Value for money excellent. Atmosphere perfect. Anniversary meal out. Dog was welcomed and bay proved perfect place for him to go to sleep underthe table undisturbed. Only comment my Rump steak meal - mushroom was very small, would have preferred sauted baby mushrooms or chopped and fried. Tomatoes was again small. Larger please.

Really lovely pub! A lovely mix of traditional with contemporary. Food was delicious and very generous servings. Full gluten free menu and gluten free beer too. Great playground for the kids and spotlessly clean. Visited while on holiday but I wish this pub was local to us!

Excellent food and friendly staff

Nice food well priced and friendly staff

THOROUGHLY RECOMMEND THIS PUB FOR A SPLENDID MEAL WITH GREAT SERVICE WELL WORTH THE JOURNEY

Fabulous food. The open steak sandwich was delicious, and the sauce. The fish and chips were really good, and a good sized portion.

Great place, lovely efficient & very friendly staff, amazing food can't fault it '4 fat ladies who lunch' we go 3 or 4 times a month

Highly recommend, the food is incredible. We love the beef skewers, I had mine medium rare. Loads of great choice for a reasonable price. They do beer in Stiens, which was great. Really nice inside also! Will be back soon!

Booked a table for my husbands birthday on recommendation as we are not from the area...Very disappointed!!!...Ordered starters and my sons arrived with a hair in!!!...Got sent back to be replaced but we had all finished our starters when his arrived.... My husbands main arrived with fries that were cold!!...Again sent back.. Member of staff came to the table when the new fries had been replaced for HOT ones to ask if he was now enjoying his fries!!!!...RUDE.. We had planned on having sweets as when we booked they had said his sweet would come out with a candle etc but given the above we decided to pay and leave as the evening had been very disappointing and ruined...I did speak with the manager who apologised and spoke with the chef who waivered our drinks and same Member of staff (who asked about fries,informed us that the starter with the hair in had been taken off the bill!!!...definitely needs a course in customer service as was made to feel by her that we had no reason to complain....Our bill wasn't cheap!!!)....I don't write reviews but felt compelled to as a birthday meal was ruined

Our first visit but definitely not our last! Great service, lovely atmosphere and amazing, tasty food.. good size portions too! A beautiful location and well worth a visit.

Meal was absolutely beautiful...the lamb melted in your mouth..lovely staff ,would definitely go again...update 6/10/24. Meals are superb..

Went for a meal, hadn't booked and the staff were very helpful. We sat in the booths which are cosy, and there was fire burning as the afternoon was cold. Excellent service, good wholesome food, and a drink. A very pleasant experience.

Excellent Sunday roast, and decor roomy and bright. Waitresses very friendly.

Sunday lunch was delicious and plentiful. Service was excellent. Will definitely return here.

Great place for a quick meal with helpful staff

Really nice food enjoyed by all 4 of us. Baby seats are in need of maintenance.

Love the food but feel there should be more healthy options on the menu.

This pud is very popular for good reason the food is good and brinks are nice the elderflower spritz is great .the air co mad the back room very cold

Because we were a large group(21) we had to have a roast meat sandwich, with chips, gravy and sauce. The bread was 1 inch thick, lots of meat and gravy, a very tiny cup of apple sauce about 1x 2 inch and chips so horrible I don’t think even the children ate them. Don’t go as a large group and I’m sure the foood will be fine ( except the chips)

Food here used to be amazing now it’s subpar at best, mainly down to the new menu which doesn’t showcase nearly as much as the pub used to offer.

Very nice location and choice of food and drinks, at a reasonable price, albeit slightly above average prices..

Visited The Gate for a late lunch. We have visited a couple of times before. The setting, location, and decor were all very nice. Staff were on hand immediately to extend a warm welcome and take us to our table. Our meal, when served a short whole later, was well presented and very tasty. Staff inobtrusively checked whether they could get us anything. We thought the pricing to be reasonable. All in all, it was a very enjoyable visit and we fully intend going again in the near future. Thank you to the team at The Gate.

Great menu with selection of different meals, light bites and sharers. Visited as a family of 6 all chose different meals and all were delicious and generous portions even the light bites. Lovely friendly staff. This is our second visit and were joined by other family members also holidaying locally as we had recommended after our last visit in July.

Pleasant modern and welcoming pub/restaurant. Very busy but service still quick and efficient. Good selection on menu to suit all tastes. Good to see smaller meals for those who don't want full plate or only manage small portions. Prices very reasonable and will visit again when in the area.

Fantastic food, service couldn't be any better, staff are on point, menu covers all areas,