The best restaurants in East Retford East Bassetlaw East Midlands

We went for Mother’s Day. It seemed busy when we arrived which was expected. Unfortunately, service was running behind due to late arrivals from the previous sitting, completely understandable. From when we were seated at the table, this is where things started to go downhill. We waited around 20-30mins for our preordered starters. When they arrived, we asked for cutlery to be able to eat them. There was no check in from the staff if the food was okay, or so we could order more drinks. The portions and taste of the starters were great! Eventually someone came to take our plates and we ordered another drink. We then waited for another 30mins as we thought the main was being brought out to us. During this time 3 tables had left due to the lack of service, the restaurant and pub was quietening down as there were 5 empty tables around us and space in the bar. I asked a member of staff when the mains were coming out, to then find out it was a carvery and we could go up when we wanted. This was not explained to us when we booked or when we were seated at the table. We asked for some cutlery for the table and then went for the carvery. The carvery had a good selection. When back at the table there was nothing for us to eat with, we waited patiently for around 5 mins before we saw another member of staff to ask. They said they’d get them for us, but never appeared. So my mother in law had to get up to find some, at this point our food was getting cold. Again, nobody came to check that everything was okay or ask if we needed more drinks. When we had finished our food, the front of house manager approached us and asked if we could vacate the table and have our deserts in the bar area as they needed the table. We had only been at the table for around an hour and half, if that. My family and I were not happy with this and politely declined and asked to stay at the table. We were asked again to move to the bar area, I explained that we were out celebrating Mother’s Day like everyone else and it wasn’t fair on my mother in law. We said how poor the service had been and just wanted to finish our meal. The FOH manager didn’t budge, so we agreed to leave, but without eating our deserts. When we arrived at the till the we were met by an unhappy looking member of staff (we now know is the ex manager). We explained what had happened and that we were leaving without finishing our set meals and poor service. The woman rolled her eyes, typed on the till and put the receipt on the counter and said I can give you 10% off and your deposit back. I explained the receipt to her, that the deposit had already been off so having £9.95 off of a terrible Mother’s Day experience and 4 of us not having desert isn’t good enough especially when deserts are usually £5.95 on a normal day. The woman then tutted rolled her eyes again, typed on the till again and slapped the receipt on the bar saying well that’s all you’re getting and gave us £19.95 off instead. We paid the bill, and explained about the poor service from staff. She muttered something under her breath and walked away. Shocking behaviour! Especially when I confronted her about this. As we were leaving, I spoke to the FOH manager about the woman’s attitude and disgust in the service. We will not be returning! Which is a shame as we live around the corner from the venue and it had been doing well. I know that we are not the only family today to have the terrible experience! Shame on you Whitehouses!

A return visit on Easter Sunday, another sensational meal. I had the Mexican burger which had the best tasting beef patty I've enjoyed in a long time. The combination of juicy meat and crunch y tortilla chips makes this my 'go to' menu option. As per last time, super efficient service!

I love ordering from here. The food and service is both fantastic xx

Top tunes. Top games. Top vibes. Genuinely good pint of Guinness. 5 stars

Visited for Chinese New Year, really nice little place.

Had a family evening meal to celebrate a birthday. Food was good but took half an hour to come and there were only six other guests in the restaurant. Restaurant could have been cleaner, there was food on my husband’s chair. Staff were lovely and attentive.

Did not have anything to eat. The pub is nice. We sat out side. A nice group of people came out side. They was from, Barnsley some X miners. Teased my daughter with snuff They was going to a foot ball match. Very nice people.

I called in here some time ago and found it very unwelcoming so swore never to go again however, it has seemingly changed hands because I was persuaded to try the Sunday lunch carvery. Our arrival was greeted warmly and my partner's celiac needs and potentially fatal allergy toward tomatos, which she had mentioned when booking the table, had been taken into account. The set carvery was excellent with a choice of beef, turkey, lamb, pork and gammon, all of which were cooked to perection. The gravy contained no tomato puree and the Yorkshire puddings etc were all gluten free. As a meal I could not fault it in anyway, likewise the attitude of the Chef and the serving staff. The beer chosen - Doombar - was perfect and the price charged including the drinks (and even the prompted tip) was very good value for money when compared to many other similar places. Overall 9.5/10. Worthy of another visit.

Had an excellent brunch here last Saturday. There were five of us and we had a range of meals which everyone thought were really good. This is a large restaurant with friendly staff.

Excellent vegetable chowmein, salt & pepper chicken and egg fried rice. Lovely service.

This was so disappointing. Reasonable price of £6.50 for hot drink and cake. Although the coffee was ok the cake (we had a few of the cakes in our group) were not good quality and begrudgingly paid for them. Also the milkshakes were really poor.

super friendly staff and really welcoming ! food was superb and very fairly priced

Oh dear…. We have always rated Fred’s but we booked for Mother’s Day and it was very disappointing. I rang made the booking over the phone. When we arrived they said they didn’t have a reservation for us but I showed the call on the Wednesday before when I rang. We were shown to the table and we ordered. Seaweed came out and five minutes later two rices, then two mains , another two mains and then the rest. We started dishing out on these bizarre dishes-they were like a thick Denny pottery, no rice bowls or chopsticks were offered. Anyway the seaweed was stone cold as were four so called sizzling dishes. Called the lovely waitress who got the manager who told us:seaweed is always cold? The sizzling fillet steak dish was also not fillet. He said then well the food is warm! My husband said: at your prices all the food should be hot and served together. We ended up not eating a thing with two very disappointed mums. The prices are fine dining and even the prawn crackers aren’t complimentary but £4.50. Never again and £5 yes £5 for a pint of lime and soda because I was driving. Used to be amazing now it’s terrible.

Went for Sunday Dinner and got our drinks. Then had to wait 1 hour & 15 minuets for our food, 2 of them being the incorrect meats, the food was nice but not very hot. It was a real shame. The worst part was the service, it was absolutely terrible, miserable, very very rude and disinterested. It seemed that people who appeared to be regulars got looked after much much better than anybody else with fast service than anybody else. However, we were left with empty plates for approx 20 minuets once we had finished, then 10 minuets for a dessert menu. After we had finished we asked for the bill, eventually a server threw the receipt on our table and walked off without saying anything, which we all found incredibly rude and un-professional. Eventually after another lengthy wait we decided to get up and go to them in order to pay as it seemed they had forgotten about us completely. However, others got there bill and the card machine immediately after. Very very poor & will not be returning, will also let everybody know to give it a miss.

One of the nicer Spoons we've been to. Second visit, brilliant service and the food was as expected