The George - Hathersage

We had two evening meals, and the service was excellent. Both breakfasts were lovely as well. When we arrived it was very busy, but we were attended to straight away, welcomed and shown to our rooms. Both rooms were warm, cosy, clean and nicely equipped. Tea, coffee, water and toiletries were provided. We had a wonderful stay and will definitely return.

Sorry this review is late, we actually ate here at the end of Nov. The Festive Menu at The George in Hathersage is available through 31st December: two courses for £31 or three for £37, with children's half portions at half price. The countryside pub and hotel gives traditional pub dishes a modern touch and showcases local ingredients. The place looked wonderfully festive, with a sparkling atmosphere. Free parking is available for patrons. We tried slow-cooked pork belly with horseradish and carrot purée, white wine apple sauce and chorizo crumb (GF), plus smoked haddock and crayfish arancini with spinach and grilled courgette velouté (GF). We also had roast turkey with braised red cabbage, Brussels sprouts, maple-glazed carrots and parsnips, duck fat and herb roasted potatoes, sausagemeat and cranberry stuffing, pigs in blankets and rich gravy. The braised beef blade came with creamy mash, Bourguignon sauce and sautéed kale (GF). For dessert we had almond, plum and blueberry crumble with vegan vanilla ice cream (GF) (VE), and sticky toffee pudding with rich caramel sauce and vanilla ice cream (V). Every course was delicious and we cleared all our plates. Ben even finished a dessert, which is unusual for him. The arancini was clearly made from scratch, and I loved the sausagemeat stuffing. Service was faultless. We hope to return soon and highly recommend the pub restaurant to anyone visiting this part of the Peak District. We spent about £50 per person for three courses and two alcoholic drinks.

The dessert choices were missing a traditional British favourite. We'd hoped for something like treacle sponge or crumble. We enjoyed our dinner, though, and the food was delicious, the portions generous and the service friendly throughout. We used an online offer for two people to buy two courses and get a bottle of wine free. The prices felt a little high for vegetarian dishes, and without the discount I wouldn't have wanted to pay that much.

The rooms were clean and satisfactory, but far too hot. Everyone at the hotel seemed to be complaining about the heat. For the price we paid, I felt the service was extortionate. We were a group of 18 staying at The George over the weekend for a 30th birthday. Several people in our party said the receptionist seemed miserable when checking them in, though I didn't check in myself. We had exclusive use of the Dragon's Den room, but the table had been set at one end right by the radiators, which were blasting out heat. It made the room very uncomfortable. The waitresses were polite, but we felt there should have been more staff so meals arrived promptly. We were told the pizzas had burned, and two people didn't get replacement meals until most of us had finished our mains. I had to ask for the pizzas to be removed from the bill; nobody offered to do that. We hardly saw any staff during the evening. No one came to check how things were going, and when we wanted the table cleared for the birthday cake, two of our party ended up clearing it themselves after waiting too long.