Fox House

We visited the Fox House Inn on 09/12/2018. We booked a table and added we were bringing our dog.

When we arrived we were told there was only 1 dog friendly table, so we put the dog in the van (angry). We were then seated where we could clearly see 2 other diners with dogs, bearing in mind my dog was in the van outside.

We ordered food and as we were waiting for food the manageress who had just told us they only had 1 table showed someone to a table behind us with not 1 but 2 dogs!

The staff are ignorant and have no customer service skills. Avoid this place at all costs. Dog friendly I think not.

We've been going to the Fox House for Sunday lunch, intermittently, for quite some time. When we first went we thought "wow what a find". Sadly, over the last year or two it has gone downhill. Seems there was a change of owner/management some time back and it's never been the same since. We skipped going for quite a while then gave it another go when it seemed to have improved and the food we had was better, though the place was almost empty.

Last time we went, several weeks ago, I had fish and found several bones in it. I complained but was told that it does state on the menu that fish can have bones. This isn't a good enough excuse in my opinion and they didn't even apologise. My daughter is a chef and she told that bones are supposed to be cut out.

We tried again today but were sadly disappointed. My friend had grilled ham with a friend egg on top, which came with chips and a slice of pineapple. The ham wasn't pink, it was a kind of grey colour and the chips looked like yesterday's warmed up.

I had "Shropshire Chicken chicken breast stuffed with Shropshire blue cheese, spinach and fig on roasted root vegetable risotto £10.95".

It came with a little pot of "gravy", which I discard because it was cold and had no recognisable taste. The risotto was cold and had a sort of "rancid" taste, the roast vegetables (mostly carrots) were soggy and cold with no signs of having being roasted. The piece of chicken was hot and okay.

When a waitress brightly asked if everything was okay I told that apart from being cold and not tasting very nice nice, everything was fine. She said she was sorry and would see if the bill could be reduced. However, the problem was not her fault. Things were not made better by the fact that we had waited an hour for our meal to arrive! The bill was not reduced but we said nothing and left vowing to give the place a miss for another year.

Seems to me that the management does not care about the clientele because on neither occasion did they come to apologise. It's not like they change the complete menu every day. Main menu dishes should always taste the same and be of the same quality. Problems and complaints should be dealt with not ignored.

We won't be going again and I won't be recommending it to anyone who cares about consistency of quality in their food.

Arrived on May Day Bank Holiday for lunch. Having turned up on spec, was prepared to wait for a table and one came free in approximately 15 minutes, so no problem there.

Ordered drinks at the bar whilst waiting was told that for the soft drinks they had run out of ice.

Ordered food at the bar for 2 adults and 2 children, at approximately 14:10. Was told at the time there would be a 30-minute wait on food. OK 30 minutes isn't that bad.

Whilst waiting for food, table next to us had 3 out of 4 meals brought out, 4th meal did not arrive until 3 previous meals were finished, this should have been a sign.

At 15:10 a full hour later, asked waitress where order was. Two minutes later she came back to announce that it would be another 10 minutes. Walked out of pub never to return.

Not once did anyone come and say that the order was going to be later than expected and for pities sake it wasn't complicated food, it was gammon egg and chips!

The Fox House at Londgshaw, between Hathersage and Dore, is holding a beer festival for a week from Monday September 1st.

Real ale fans are in for a treat, with the pub set to offer four of the "most original and pioneering" beers from around the country.

Beers available during the 'Festival of Firsts' are Adnam's East Green, believed to be the first carbon neutral beer, Young's Special, Caledonian Golden Promise, and the pub's own Vintage Ale.