The Highwayman in North East Derbyshire

Most things unavailable off the menu

Sad to report this beefeater is closing. On arrival was informed most of the menu was not available due to imminent closure. In credit to the staff who have always been first class we wereinformed of limited menu before we ordered drinks. Will be sadly missed. Hope the new owners make this a place to visit. And keep the superb staff.

Booked a table for my birthday. Arrived bang on time given menus and a piece of paper with what was not available. This list was made up of food and drinks. We waited 30 minuets and no one came to us. Disgraceful service, why they are open I cannot understand I will not be going to a beefeater for a long ling time

Good food. Pleasant surroundings. Staff helpful. Sanitiser on entry and throughout inside. Refillable soft drinks brought to table. Sanitiser removed. As with most restaurants, prices increased. Can earn loyalty points with Beefeater card. Very noisy when busy. Reduced menu and increased prices with less on individual dishes.Return visit. Pleasant and helpful staff. Good food . Steak had to be in recooked which staff sorted out.Return visit in April 2024. Had mixed grill. Meat cooked as requested. Sausage texture and quality could be improved. Staff didn't ask if food was alright during meal as they usually do. Chairs weren't cleaned to usual standard. Return visit August 2024. Best to book as was extremely busy but service good. Food good but on Combo meal , can only have one sauce and it used to be two. Very noisy as so busy and could only just music at times. Return visit before it closes in November . Only limited menu due to it closing. Sorry to see it close after all the years. .

As it's closing down on the 8th of November there weren't many options for food .Once it's run out that's it . Can't see it lasting until then with what was on offer. Staff were great though as it's not there fault. Did get told its going to be taken over by Chatsworth as well as the premier inn next door.

Drove past many times, called in for Sunday dinner. They didn't have anything left so chose from menu. Been sold so closing early November, not sure what it will be next.

We stayed here for 2 nights. Both mornings we had breakfast here and were looked after by two lovely friendly ladies called Emma and Denise. A lovely cheerful start to each day. Thank you ladies!

Drinks are to exspensive had to wait 1 hour for the food

Enjoy the friendly service. Excellent food. Great deals.

Very empty restaurant. Disappointing food - was cold. Asked for rare steak - stressed really rare - got medium. Sent back. Got better steak back but the peas & chips were obviously just left on the side whilst they did replacement steak - stone cold when they came back! Everyone else was more than half way through their meal so didn't bother complaining again. Ordered veggie sticks for baby grand daughter - these had clearly been cut for considerable time (previous day maybe?) & then left in fridge - dry & hard. Very disappointed. Shan't go back 😢

Awful cold food with misleading descriptions. “Cheesy Potato Dippers” 🤣, a handful of cold cheesy chips more like! We were a party of 13, the restaurant was dead apart from us, yet we couldn’t get a single hot meal from the kitchen. The Steak’s were awful, cooked wrong and fatty. The ribs were cold. Absolutely awful experience. Avoid!

Chips were only luke warm, side order of grilled vegetables tasted like they had been cooked with meat and fish.

Drink order came fairly quickly. Restaurant wasn't very busy so we're surprised to wait 30mins for starters which were nice, however had to chase our mains after almost 50min wait,when it came chips were lukw warm and steak gristly but the mushroom and tomato were fine, other customers were missing starters ,others said their meat was Basically raw, the staff seemed unbothered except for one very sweet Asian waitress who was very apologetic, I understand this establishment could be earmarked for closure so maybe that's why it was less than perfect.

Lovely food. Friendly staff, and helpful. Some prices expensive.

Whilst staying at the adjacent Premier Inn, which was outstanding in every way I decided to purchase the Meal Deal. How thrilled I was with the excellent value for money £27.99 which included a full breakfast, continental and cooked and drinks. Plus a 2 course evening meal off the main menu and a drink and if I chose to have a 3rd course it was an additional £3 which was a bargain. Every meal was cooked freshly, served in a timely manner and was hot and tasted delicious. I was looked after each evening by the wonderfull members of staff Emilyn and Kyle. They both were efficient, polite, helpfull, willing, pleasant and ensured a great experience for customers. At breakfast the 2 ladies serving were the same. The restaurant ambience was relaxed but efficient. A great experience which was appreciated.

We waited over an hour for our main meals and when they arrived were overcooked and dried out, simply terrible… The staff were run off their feet however we did get our food refunded Since found out that the pub and premier inn have been sold, sort of explains the lack lustre mediocre food

Place very quiet, waiter was good. Food: Steak very good, chips were not so good, (dirty oil taste) .

Enjoyed a good meal in a great setting. Excellent service. I would highly recommend you give it a try. Plenty of parking space.

Highly recommend the breakfast service absolutely lovely time.

Good value return visit with excellent service from James. Good menu options and food arrived quick. We look forward to returning.

Don't take walk in's at 7:50 on a Thursday evening. Had to wait 10 minutes for someone to show up at the desk to tell us that.

Well what can I say,, was looking forward to a lovely meal only to be told when we arrived that there's an hour and half wait for food. The booking was for 7-30 pm. So waiting till 9 pm was unacceptable, we chose to leave and go elsewhere. Half an hour drive there and back too.. very disappointed

Excellent place to eat with friendly staff.

Very poor. The place was almost deserted but we were told they couldn't serve us because we wern't in the attached hotel!

Nice traditional pub. Food was very good.

Having visited on many occasions a lapse in care of attention spoilt what is usually good food and service. On speaking to the server, the reason given was a high number of covers for the evening, coupled with a reduced kitchen staff. We all know hospitality is suffering as a whole and Whitbred has publicly published a reduction program of its estate. Let's hope this is a momentary lapse and not an indication of things to come.

The food was ok but very short staffed on the night We waited 40 mins for our drinks to then go to the bar to be told sorry they forgot to do them and waited 10 more minutes to get them. Had to chase them to ask for the bill after originally asking 20 mins previous for it. What was a celebration evening was spoilt by the beefeater not rotaing enough staff on that evening and leaving the staff too overworked to be able to do their job correctly at no fault of their own.

Went on spec, yes it’s a chain bit the staff made it -Denise and a young chap couldn’t recall his name very polite and served the food promptly with a smile Tailored the dish to my wife’s request and found some mayo without being asked Some big restaurants could learn few lessons on customer care from this team Food was hot -straightforward food served on hot plates Basics- but these things make a meal out worth having Keep it up

It was busy, but a wait for the food was acceptable. Only 1 chef on. Food was excellent as normal. By the time we left, it was mega busy with walk ins . It was chatsworth country fair afternoon so busier than normal

Dropped in by chance, so glad we did! Lovely meal and service was outstanding(big up to James the general manager and the staff👏🏻) def recommend the biscoff sundae it was one of the nicest puddings I've had😍. Thankyou

Went for a meal before 8pm. Turned away despite empty tables. Said they were too busy catering for one off visitors from outside the area attending the Chatsworth fair. I live locally and have Glamping pods and air B&B. I recommend the Highwayman to our guests and customers. Disgraceful payback to a local who uses and recommends the Highwayman. I shall recommend the fox and goose in future. I have a S42 postcode….but that only counts when it suits them!

Good atmosphere and food. Kyle went above & beyond and made our evening. Will definitely return again next time we are in the area

One of the best Beefeaters we've been too! Quiet location and very comfortable and quiet pub. Great atmosphere, amazing friendly staff! The food was just beautiful. Ethan served us, friendly and polite. Everyone obviously loves their job here and it shows! Highly recommend

The Highwayman on Baslow Road never disappoints. From the moment we walked in, we were well taken care of by Emma and Kyle who were attentive and friendly but never pushy. I chose steak, which is always a risk as it’s so often poorly cooked, but not here. the chefs, Neil and Mark cooked it to utter perfection - medium rare I wanted, medium rare I got. It melted in your mouth and was accompanied by a peppercorn sauce, skin on fries, yum, and tender stem broccoli 🥦 My husband had the double burger which was also perfect. to top it off we shared a slice of chocolate torte which was sublime with raspberry coulis sauce.

Stopped at a quiet time, made welcome.

Food was ok. My wife's filet steak had some waste on it. My ribeye was fattier than usual, but good tasting. Very few people in the restaurant. Welcome was a bit slow, but service otherwise was good

Really tasty pub grub, the reason for 5 stars is James, nothing is to much, he's lovely, polite and extremely happy, it made both of our meals a delight,

Food expensive for quality and quality served

Delicious food and drinks, amazingly attentive service and a wonderful setting! Great value.

Denise was our waitress and she was incredibly helpful, professional and made effort with my daughter. She made us feel most welcome! I asked who the chefs were and they were Mark & Neil. Again, ‘hats off to the chef’… food was delicious. I had a Sunday roast and my daughter had a chicken dinner.

This was a stop off for Lunch as we were heading towards the Peak District for my husband birthday day out. What a disappointing stop off After sitting outside as we had our pooch with us, we was waiting for our food to arrive. It didn’t. So after 25 minutes my husband decided to go and check on our order. This was standing on the pass for quite a while as the Staff were unaware of the table numbers in the garden. So the waitress followed my husband out with the food. If that’s what you can all it. Hardly any chips on our plates my smothered chicken in bbq sauce, well it was a mere small droplet of sauce. It was like eating a cold flip flop. The fish and chips my husband ate was cold and tasteless. What a waste of money and a disappointing lunch. Don’t waste your money carry on down into the next village called Baslow there are plentiful of nicer restaurants and better priced. To sum the Beefeater up: Bad service Cold tasteless food Totally overpriced Don’t waste your time and hard earned money

A quick call in for lunch en-route to the Peak District. Most disappointing. We sat outside because of our doggie, nevertheless tables were numbered so went to order. My wife selected smothered chicken, I decided on fish & chips. Some 25 minutes later food had not arrived, so I went back inside. Going over to the waitress at the kitchen door the display was showing (for our table) "Completed" and lit in green. However it had been sat waiting because the staff could not find table 15, which they did not realise was outside. The waitress followed me out and we ate cold luke warm food. We should have taken it back and complained but after 25 minutes and wanting to get on our journey we set off again. So the food... Fish and chips rather than being freshly fried was obviously just an oven warm up of precook fish. No crispy batter. Chips virtually cold, not many of those so called triple cooked fries, but were just fat laden frozen chips cooked in under temperature oil. Horrible. Peas were absolutely cold and dry. Tartare sauce and lemon the best part... My wife's smothered chicken was neither smothered nor freshly cooked chicken. Yes there were grill marks on this thin flip flop rubber looking piece of meat which was dried out also cold and had maybe one teaspoon of barbecue sauce and a half teaspoon of grated cheese which had not even melted! Same cold chips. Come on Beefeater, you are real Highwaymen carrying out open daylight robbery with this standard of cooking. Whoever cooked this meal needs to go back to catering college and finish their NVQs. Worst meal of the year. Please avoid unless you wish to lose £36 and feel disappointed and still hungry the rest of the day. Obvious to say we will never return. And sadly a few minutes down the road in Baslow there were many fantastic pubs offering fantastic fresh food. Keep driving past this effort.

The best service in a restaurant we have experienced in YEARS! James and his team were so friendly and accommodating to my family. They gifted my children choccie bars at the end of the meal and made them feel really special. No ask was too much for the team. We stayed next door in the Premier Inn and staff across the 2 sites were super!

A big thank you to Denise for looking after my large party for Sunday lunch last month at the Highwayman. She displayed the epitome of service. We will be back. Geoff

Fabulous breakfast with a group of friends. Excellent food and service by Emma, Denise and Kyle was second to none. Despite being busy we didn’t have to wait for anything. Would highly recommend

Excellent all you can eat breakfast and fantastic flame grilled double stack burgers.

Not been here for ages and we wasn't disappointed!! Really lovely food and drinks and the lady that served us was so lovely!! Will definitely go back again!!💜💜💜💜.

Decided to go to the highwayman beefeater for sunday lunch for fathers day with my wife. We had a lovely sunday roast with extra cauliflower cheese We also had 2 desserts of cheesecake and ice cream very nice and tasty all in all a very pleasant relaxed afternoon Thank you highwayman and all the staff

Great breakfast, cooked by Mark I believe and served by helpful warm staff

Went for Sunday lunch, not as good as usual, 3 thin small slices of of curled up beef! Would have had lamb, but it was unavailable! Veg selection not great, no mash either.

Plenty of parking spaces. Not to busy tables very clean with plenty of spaces. Service good. Steak was excellent

Not the best. We went to eat Steak..but unfortunately it was no way near the one I had from their other Steak houses. Mix grill platter was ok. We also bought chopped salads and Grilled veg those were really poor in quantity. Not again. Nothing to recommend.

Very disappointed food not great sent chips back . The ladies toilets was disgusting told the staff they was not interested. My advice keep going past this pub

One of the best meals with had at a beefeater And we have been to many around the country

The worse value meal we had on our stay in the Peak District. Steak (OK) and king prawn (2 for £4.99). Very underwhelmed

Brilliant food, lovely atmosphere and Kyle was amazing :) will definitely be returning! Thanks Kyle!

14 of us went to celebrate our 86 year old mother’s birthday and as always we had a fabulous time. The staff are always polite & professional. We gave our order ahead of time and all 14 dishes came at the same time and were delicious The service and food are faultless and special mention must go to Denise, Mark, Rob & Alex who looked after us impeccably. We look forward to going again soon Thanks Highwayman 👍

We had a good time here - James accommodated 16 of us at very late notice on a bank holiday Monday and served us well.

Went for a meal with family for my birthday, service was great! The servers name was Emilian I think! She was lovely!!! I have been a few times to this restaurant and had positive experiences everytime! Even got a card and a bar of chocolate for my birthday! Thankyou

Good pub, enjoyed our meals, the service was good, reasonably priced and they have a loyalty card. Well worth a try..

Good food, good prices and friendly staff, who fitted us in even though we hadn't booked, and it was a busy Bank holiday weekend.

The staff were very friendly and polite but were really struggling to keep up with service so drinks were slow. Food was nice but over priced for what it was. There was 8 of us and only 1 thought it was good value. If you're staying in the adjoining hotel then there are deals on the food so it's a good place to pop into as it's a nice big pub with a good selection. Was ok overall but won't be going back in a hurry as better places to eat closer to home.

Excellent food. The kit kat sundae is top class. 10/10

Called yesterday at teatime, couldn't fault the staff however, the food left a lot to be desired. Ribs were quite spicy, corn was soggy, and there was a pile of withered rocket on the side of the plate, I mentioned to the lady that it looked sad, she said 'it's just a garnish'.......garnish the bin with it in future. Price for what we had was well over the top!

Impromptu visit on way home from Chesterfield, recall coming here when was the Highwayman Pub serving good food. On entry atmosphere very flat, decor and tables very average, cool climate. Toilets clean but dated, cold and smelled unpleasant. Food arrived timely. Waiter asked if all was ok before we’d got to try it so the answer was ‘yes’. Husband had the equiv. of hunters chicken which he said was ‘ok’. Daughter and I shared Nacho Crispy Chicken burger/fries/slaw, and Beef&Ale Pie/double cooked chips/peas/gravy. Best bit: it was hot. Pie pastry was dry and hard, 6 small pieces of beef, chips I’m certain were oven chips, peas on the dry side. Burger was dry, overcooked and hard, difficult to cut, fries very skinny, bacon not much more than rubbery fat and slaw no better than a cheap pot from local shop (in my opinion). Overall: very disappointing. And am even more disappointed in myself for not “complaining”. Sorry Beefeater, we won’t be calling in again.

Staff very friendly and attentive.Food good.Well worth a visit

Came for breakfast with work colleagues. Was met by a lady called Emma who was delightful. Went above and beyond for us and just overall a really great staff member. Thanks Emma.

the food and service is second to none

lovely visit... staff polite and helpful.. 'very family freindly.. highly recommended

We come here often, this time it was for lunch, but we also come regularly for breakfast. Emma is very friendly, always greets us with a smile and is very attentive. We had 3 courses, and all the dishes we had today were very nice.

Kyle is always so accommodating and friendly! He is always polite and welcomes you with a smile! Highly recommended!! Thank you!! ☺️

Sunday roast Edible but nothing special Staff were friendly because they have to be

Great food. Sunday dinner is highly recommended. Great atmosphere and friendly staff.

Arrived around 3pm on a Wednesday - was very quiet. Served at bar quickly, and the lady serving was very friendly and courteous. Sat outside and food arrived very quickly. Waitress checked in with us a couple of times to ensure all was well. No issues and food was all good.

Lovely family get together today. Very good food and excellent service from our waitress Denise. We will be back

Lovely food service was fantastic! Will definitely come again!

Really nice place with great food. Loads of vegetarian options which was great. Staff were also lovely and helpful.

Very good food and staff dropped in for late late breakfast and was made to feel welcome and appreciated

the staff were amazing and really helpful. i broke down and they helped us and then let us stay there for as long as we needed. we had breakfast here and the continental breakfast was a buffet style and the hot food was to order- which was great. we also had dinner here. It was good service and food.

I’m struggling to understand why this place has decent reviews. Terrible food, worse service. Absolutely out of control chaos on Mother’s Day. Terrible stock control - by 5pm they had run out of all roasts and half the mains and kids options. Long wait to be greeted or seated, waited again to take the order and the waits between each course got longer and longer. Kids wild with boredom. Dishes promised then told 30 minutes later they were not available. Waitress said “the desserts are on a tray I’ll go and get the kids ice creams myself” then was seen serving two other tables. Items missing from kids meals (no veg served). Halloumi salad was the best veggie option on the menu and was 90% unwashed whole lettuce leaves, a little chopped pepper and cucumber, and one slice of dried out rubbery halloumi which was curled at the edges from sitting for too long. Waiting staff blaming kitchen for delays and saying the kitchen was chaos. Angry diners. Check your receipt! Our bill was wrong three times, the guy bringing the bill (manager?) was confused. Would have asked for money off if we weren’t trying to get out of there as quickly as possible. Never again. Do not recommend!

Went to this beefeater for a set mothers day meal with my wife and sister in law we all had the sunday roast with deserts we had half roast chicken which was very good value and very tasty and well presented by our waitress autumn we finished off with apple pie and custard which we all enjoyed

Went for Mother's Day and unfortunately this review does not reflect the countless other times we've dined at the Highwayman as these have always been positive - we particularly enjoy the breakfasts. We booked for 6pm and ordered drinks and food. The starters arrived fairly quickly and were to a decent quality, however it became clear that the restaurant was just too busy whilst we were waiting for mains, and the serving staff were in a flurry trying to manage their tables. I'm not sure whether there weren't enough staff on that day, or if the kitchen was just at full capacity due to the amount of customers, but the wait time was a lot longer than we'd have liked. I believe the wait time between starters being taken away and mains being brought out was about an hour, as we didn't eat our mains until at least 7.30pm. The food was also not overly hot when it arrived, which made it a little uncomfortable to eat. We'd already been waiting long enough for the food to arrive that I didn't ask for it to be re-warmed as it would further delay other customers receiving their meals. Other customers were also expressing vocal frustrations to the servers which was causing stress. But the flavours of the food were good regardless, which is a positive. Overall I think the staff who were working that day did a decent job trying to control the flow of people, however I think a few more staff should have been working that day or a few less bookings should have been accepted to make it more manageable. I look forward to returning to the Highwayman for their breakfasts though.

It’s an older premier inn which could do with an update but the food is decent and the staff are very friendly and helpful

Went for breakfast ok but would have liked the coffee machine available not having to ask one of the staff all the time, instant available next to the juice but not the same plus the water was only luke warm

Mothers'Day so busy as anticipated but good food, service and friendly staff.

A very modern mix between causal a fancy. Something where clothing isn't to worry about. (Not that I'm like that) ;) Hospitality: 5/5 servic a waiting times was of very good standard. Floor manager loves to socialise with guest. Food 5/5 All around satifaction from my relatives. Garlic flatbread was well balanced in dryness, an oil from the garlic. Burger was another one of great quality. 👍 The Cheescake was good. Would be better if it was a cheesecake of the day kind of thing. Layout 4.5/5 The main dining room had a cosy inviting decor, while presenting details of fine taste. (Already described the rest)

Excellent staff, great service by Emilyn, food much improved since previous review. Thanks

Food was excellent but service a little slow, restaurant was busy but not enough staff.

Best meal I've had in ages. The ribs were amazing. Service could be better. Getting our meal was fine, but we had to attract attention to get a pudding. Staff very polite and friendly though. Have now been again, food equally good and overall atmosphere was really pleasant and relaxed. The staff were very friendly.

Long wait for food even though the pub was almost empty no atmosphere quite a disappointing experience

Although busy, the food was great, and the server was brilliant. He was friendly & attentive.

Situated in a lovely countryside location. We visited today (family of 5 adults) for my daughters birthday. We had 3 courses, and the food was delicious. Can definitely recommend the calamari starter. It just melted in your mouth. As with all beefeaters, it's table service. And our server James was polite and did his job very well. Will definitely return.

The food and service were great they just didn't have our first choices on the menu. They'd sold out. They can take that as a complement

Delicious food. Really friendly and good quality service (Dillon P)

Went for a spot of Sunday lunch and we were greeted with a smile (very rare these days) The service was great.The food delicious and the place was nice and clean.Enjoyed our meal from start to finish will definitely go again in the future

We've had a really nice meal and the mains were lovely but think the puddings could be better

Great night at the Highwayman. Visited this evening with friends. Excellent service and good food. James and Matt made us very welcome. Mark, the chef, served the food which was exceptionally delicious. A fantastic night out. Will definitely return.

Dillon was our waiter and we enjoyed a good laugh as to what a coffee floater was 😆

Lovely people, attentive and professional.

Very friendly and professional staff, great atmosphere, nice food