The Best Restaurants in Mackworth, Derbyshire, United Kingdom (2025)

Great old farmhouse and a lovely welcome from Pete, who made sure we were settled and knew where everything was. Had a walk down the lane with our dogs, and it was lovely in moonlight. It was amazing that we were so close to Derby, and yet we were in farmland, Rooms comfortable and so was the bed, only stayed one night as it was a flying visit, but much better then an Ibis etc for the same price. Thank you 😊

Beautiful house. My husband and I were only staying for the night, but we're now finding reasons to come to Derby, just to stay here again and enjoy it more. Warm welcome, lovely room, overlooking the garden and the cows. Feels tucked away from the rest of the world that is actually only round the corner. Thank you for a perfect stay

We had a lovely 2 night stay. We had the Amber suite, a large clean comfortable room. Comfy bed and a lovely outlook over the garden. Its very quiet, we couldn't even hear the cows mooing. parking on site. Lots of hot water with a good shower and nice towels. A fridge, with milk provided, a good selection of teas, coffee and sugar. Its a delightful area, lots to see and do, with fabulous countryside and big skies. A good continental btreakfast is available and Peter was a delightful host and we hope to visit again.

Absolutely fantastic, booked for a quiet couple of nights. Loved it, the building is gorgeous, well kept & idyllic. Perfect area close to everything. So accommodating to us and our poochy. The room was beautifully decorated, had everything we needed, the bathroom was lovely. Peter & Al are great hosts and so helpful & friendly. Lovely people. We will be booking again soon.

Lovely little restaurant. The food was fantastic. Service excellent, with all staff very polite and courteous. Great atmosphere and very clean, including the toilets. Was there with family and everyone liked it equally.

Great place, service and amazing food. If you haven't been before I would definitely add it on the list of places to eat at and I'll grab the bill if you didn't like!🤣 Ps. Don't sit on the doorway side, can be a bit chilly when cold outside. Enjoy the great experience

Best family meal out in a very long time. All 3 courses were lovely. I love a glass of wine with a meal but the standard of food made the no alcohol not a problem and a fab time was still had by all. Definitely will be returning

Feb 2024 visit. Visited as a group of 9 for a birthday meal. Was recommended to try KAYI by a few people and it was clear to see why! Staff very friendly and provided great service throughout, they went above and beyond and can honestly say it was some of the best service received out of many many restaurant visits. We tried a mix of items, everything from the mix platters to the lamb ribs were delicious and could not fault it at all. Good menu range and good portion sizes.

We really enjoyed our visit to the Bluebell! I'd seen a photo of the steak frites online and felt like I had to go and try them! I was not disappointed - we both really enjoyed our mains, and the puddings were incredible too. I'd definitely recommend visiting if you're nearby.

Lunch We normally go to one of their other pubs nearby but that was taken over by a big concern. Since they took over the pub it has had extensive renovations including a beautiful outside beer garden and a lovely Orangery dining room. The menu has a diverse range of casual pub favourites with seasonal menu updates. For starters we chose King Prawn Cocktail - £10 Smoked Salmon Mousse, Toasted Sourdough. Not the usual way of serving as it was all served on a plate. BBQ Cajun Pork Belly Bites £9 Pineapple & Chilli Salsa. What made this dish was the delious sauce on the pork belly. Both dishes were topped with the dreaded pea shoots. Which adds nothing to the taste and is just decoration. Main courses were Steak Frites - £17 6oz Top Rump with Fries & Peppercorn Sauce. A pub classic which was very nice. Oh and topped off with pea shoots🤣 Can't remember ordering salad? Baked Salmon Fillet - £20.90 On a bed of creamy spinach & Smoked Salmon Spaghetti, Fresh dill. Oh,you guessed it pea shoots. The salmon was cooked perfect and the sauce with the pasta was delicious. The food was pleasant enough but nothing to write home about and yet here we are.🤣 With such a large menu for the kitchen to cater for it has been said by others,can be a bit hit and miss on occasion. But our visit on a quiet lunchtime was pretty good. The pub is a lovely place to visit if you fancy a drink and maybe something to eat. They do fresh pizzas to order in a proper pizza oven. You can even dine in their outside garden rooms when the weather is fine. The staff were friendly and very accomodating.

Beautiful food, good service, lovely setting. Both the whitebait starter and beef bourguignon pictured were gluten free and delicious!

5th February was our 53rd Anniversary of meeting meal. We met between 19:30 and 20:00 in 1972, a day that changed our lives for ever and we wanted to have a romantic meal to celebrate that meeting. My wife booked a table for two under the wonderful pink blossom tree and we were gifted the wonderful Rose who looked after us so wonderfully and even made us a slate celebration dedication which we loved so much. Rose, you were amazing, thank YOU The main meal was excellent and our dessert was delicious too. We are back on the strength of this evening for a double birthday celebration (Son and Grandson) on Saturday afternoon and we look forward to enjoying a great atmosphere once again.

This is a very special place with an exciting and varied menu, great atmosphere and above all exemplary staff who know how to look after their guests. I would like to give a special shout out to our waitperson "Brad", who was highly professional and really added to our enjoyment by explaining the highlights on the menu and generally being attentive and helpful. The highlights for me were the tomato and garlic bread, with its fluffy woodfired base and also the real onion rings which came with the perfectly cooked steak. Guests get a little bad of sweets at the end of their meal, which is an awesome touch as was the totally unexpected high cream plate they presented as a celebration of my return to the UK. You won't leave the Joiners hungry, with large portions and beautifully presented food. I can see why people rave about this establishment as it is one of Derby's finest! I wish I could give it 6 out of 5!!!

This is undoubtedly among the finest dining establishments in Derby, possibly the best. The wood-fired pizzas were exquisite. Service was exceptional, especially with Freya, Rose, and Lily, who were particularly welcoming and accommodating to families with children. The atmosphere was vibrant and lively. The drink selection was satisfactory. It’s highly recommended to book online to ensure a reserved table at this popular spot. The main courses were decent. There’s also a spacious parking area available for guests. Great experience overall!

Excellent hidden gem out a bit in the countryside just a few miles from the A6. You could pass it without knowing what’s inside this white flat sided building. Small entrance to the car park with JA logo on the side of the building. Plenty of parking but the restaurant can accommodate a lot of tables with two key areas with their own bars. Large menu selection with pizzas, burgers, fish and chips, and Asian options plus a lot more. First place I have seen a good selection of over 100 beers which includes at least 6+ zero alcohol beers for the drivers. Portions are good with excellent fast friendly service. Challenge for this location is the size of the toilets and cleanliness. First time I can remember giving 5 stars for everything. Definitely recommend and a must if in the area but suggest booking at busy times.

Sunday Birthday meal with friends. Popular place with a buzz, food was very nice. Had a couple of bottles of wine the barman was happy to recommend and gave us tasters. I had the rump steak which was cooked exactly to my liking and was delicious.

What a lovely place. We met for our friends birthday breakfast meet up. It was a real success. Lovely food. Good service and they accomodated me with my large powerchair really well. Lots of pre arrangement emails to make it easy for me to get in. Only issue was finding a parking space at 10.15am as so many tables were full of others celebrating birthdays. Lots of fellow celebrations. My friend loved her birthday firework candle too.

First time I’ve ever been and it was wonderful! The grilled halloumi risotto was amazing! Portion sizes and prices are so great! Shout out to Dave for being so funny and friendly and also to Fran for her wonderful service throughout the whole night whilst managing the whole place! 10/10 would highly recommend 👍🏼👍🏼

Really great host who greeted us, very good sense of humour then took us to our table. Waiting staff were good. Food was great very tasty. When we went it's was very busy so not much parking so I'd recommend if you can sharing a vehicle during busy periods especially around Christmas.

It was really lovely, we celebrated my daughter’s 24th birthday. The service was perfect, communication was brilliant. There was a very long wait for food. The food was amazing.

Great feel to this place, very clean and decor seems to be kept in good shape. Food is great, nothing out of this world but I would definitely revisit as it’s fair priced. Coffee is delicious here! Only thing that let it down slightly is staff seemed to not cope too well when it gets busy. But they did try their best.

Nice looking venue, nice atmosphere, quite pricey for a family meal out. Fish was a nice thick white piece with the fish and chips well cooked. Steak on several meals was cooked nice med/rare, nice flavour but lots of grissle

Fantastic food, excellent service in a great setting. Really enjoyed our visit.

The 7 course taster here was phenomenal. Not sure how frequently they change the menus but what we had in November 2024 last night was just incredible. Decent amount of food when all added up and left very satisfied. They tended to our birthday request to have a table by the window and left a birthday card from the team. What an experience! Highly recommended and reasonable prices.

First time I've been to Darleys. Very impressed. Beautiful location on the River Derwent. We had a wonderful Sunday roast dinner. With some glorious glasses of wine. The meal was exceptional. Well worth the price. We would have liked to have had a sweet, but the meal was a large plate full. No room for pudding. All the staff were all very pleasant. Can't wait to try this restaurant again. 😋

Had a birthday lunch there for 6 to celebrate my mum's 90th Birthday on 25.2.25. Service was great, food was scrummy & they sorted my mum's cake out for me that I brought with me. Thank You so much....made her day. x

It's our second visit. Food amazing, service excellent. Kim was the perfect server so friendly and welcoming

Great venue for our works Christmas meal. Lots of food, well cooked and well presented. Waitresses were pleasant and attentive. Christmas decorations were lovely, great attention to detail 🎄🎅🥂

Overall we would say we had a nice evening here. I feel like you pay more for the intimacy of the setting and the excellent service as the quality of the food and drinks did not reflect the price paid. They were still nice don't get me wrong, but not 2x as expensive as elsewhere nice. For starters we had the halloumi and watermelon and the Korean lamb belly. The fat on the lamb wasn't rendered enough but the flavour of this dish was good. The halloumi and watermelon was an interesting combination but the mint gel tasted like it was made with jarred mint sauce. The lamb main- no complaints it was all good. I had the ricotta soufflé and the soufflé itself was really tasty. I feel like a little bit more seasoning and getting some more colouration on the vegetables this was served with really would have made this dish shine more though. Desserts- lemon and blueberry cheesecake was really tasty albeit deconstructed which we probably would have preferred it just served as a normal cheesecake slice but it was still excellent. Chocolate cremeux- needed some cream or something to cut through the rich elements. Some of the blackberries served with this tasted like they'd been soaked in vinegar and they were little acid explosions which was really odd on a dessert and we weren't fans of this at all. Cocktails really quite a lot for what they are (9.95, nearly £10 for one small one!) so perhaps wouldn't get these again. The food portion sizes were perfect in order to facilitate your enjoyment of starter, main and dessert while being comfortably but not overly full at the end, so have to give credit for this. This place is a few small changes and slightly better attention to detail from being really great, I might go again if the menu looked really interesting but only as a special treat.

Amazing food, great service. Highly recommended especially for gluten free options. My vegan friend was also very happy to see something other than a vegan burger on the menu! Highly recommend the fish pie. So tasty and the fish was plentiful!

We visited today for my birthday and oh my goodness it's was brilliant. Absolutely fantastic service from a very friendly guy (didn't get his name!) from the minute we walked in. So refreshing to have a waiter who does things so well. Cocktails were lovely and well made and the birthday card was a very nice touch. We both had three courses, and finished every last bit of it all! Really delicious. My husband particularly enjoyed the Thai sweet potato soup and I absolutely loved the rump of lamb. The flavours were so fresh and delicious. Felt like a real treat to visit somewhere so lovely. Can't wait to revisit! Thank you!

Been here last week... Great food, Great atmosphere, Great staff. What more could you wish for. If we visit Derby again, we will visit again!

Absolutely brilliant curry! Couldn't fault it at all! Lovely food, good price and nice atmosphere. Have the garlic and cheese naan! Please get a decent ale on though for when I return 😀

A great place to go. We called half an hour before during a really busy time and they managed to find us a booth to sit in. Friendly staff, great food, cheap prices. The owner always comes over and says hello. We were in a group and had a great time great for families, the lads , football fans etc ! Great vegetarian options too

Great for a midweek get together. Group of 5 , great food. Good selection of drinks. Service was good. Will definitely come again.

A gem of a place. Great indian food, more traditional than I was initially anticipating but that was a very pleasant surprise. Everyone was lovely and the pub itself was nice too. Food took a while but this was probably due to the large party we were part of. I’ve no doubt with a healthy size on the norm, it would have been fine.