The Ketch in Derbyshire Dales

Excellent Fish and Chips. The fish was fresh and the batter was near perfect. Friendly staff. Tasty prawn spring rolls.

Service was quick and efficient and food was ok. Seating was cramped, though, and it was very noisy. Toilet was awful.

Very tasty and fresh food served by very friendly staff. Family of 4 enjoyed it lots

We visited this restaurant yesterday as it was listed as a recommendation by the accommodation that we were staying at nearby in Matlock. We now know that this recommendation was made based upon the restaurants previous reputation/owners and that it has since been taken over by new management in recent weeks. As stated in another recent review - do not be fooled by the older reviews, the images or the old menu of the food that used to be served here. We arrived for our reservation (which was for 6pm) 5 minutes early to see that the ‘closed’ sign was still up on the front door. When we popped our heads in to enquire we were advised that the table was ready but that ‘the chef was not’. That should’ve been enough of a red flag in hindsight but we wanted to give them the benefit of the doubt. We went away and had a drink at a nearby pub and returned 20 minutes later. The menu was disappointing to say the least compared to what we were expecting having done a bit of research beforehand. There was just one chef working alone in an open kitchen and one waiting member of staff for the entire restaurant. 3 of us ordered the stone bass and one ordered the fish and chips. The food was some of the worst that I have ever eaten in a restaurant despite waiting well over 40 minutes for our only course. We felt unable to make too much of a scene at the time as the restaurant was so small and intimate and because the chef was working in an open kitchen within the dining area. There were also some other diners present. When we received the bill we were charged £108 for a meal which consisted of 4x main courses and 4x soft drinks. We were left feeling so upset and ripped off and to be honest it ruined that evening of our holiday for us. I never usually write reviews, especially not negative ones but feel so strongly about our experience and really don’t want anyone else to be fooled into visiting this restaurant on based on its previous reputation and being left feeling the way that we did.