Fanshawe's At The Sandpiper

We decided to try out a restaurant in Chesterfield on Saturday night, but our experience was far from pleasant. It took over an hour for our orders to be taken, and even then, we were later informed by the kitchen staff that they were out of liver and bacon. My mother ended up with a meal of gammon and egg, but the gammon was so tough she couldn't even cut into it and the egg was completely overcooked, resembling rubber.

I have stayed here several times now to hold our HMS Danae reunion when it was independently owned. Everyone was really nice and pleasant and looked after us, it was as if we were part of the family. The food was fantastic and they even provided a separate menu for Friday’s just for our group, and the Saturday official reunion dinner was always something special. I regret to say, not any more. It is now owned by a hotel chain/group, the food is awful, and that’s from several reunion members, not just myself. Some of the waitressstaff would be better working in a garage, one in particular had no sense at all on how to serve meals. The beer which had previously been supplied just for us (real ale drinkers) was not supplied this year, it was what the “hotel chain managers” said we had to have, at quite inflated prices too. I for one will not be attending our annual reunion there next year, unless someone convinces me that this was just a blip and things will return to as they were for next year, I doubt it though. For some reason I am unable to select the ratings, so. Service 2 out of 5, Food 1 out of 5, Value 1 out of 5.

During my family's 4-night stay at the Sandpiper hotel, we had breakfast on 3 mornings. I was disappointed by the limited food selection, as I am accustomed to more options at other hotels. I was specifically missing fried bread and fried tomatoes, as well as being unsatisfied with the sausage tasting more like beef than pork. However, the eggs were delicious. The price of £7.50 for breakfast may be justified for those with hearty appetites, but for those who only eat cereal, it may be too expensive.

We hosted our Christening party at the Sand Piper on Saturday. We were really impressed by the quality of the food and by how lovely and helpful the staff were. We went for the 'hot cobs ' buffet which was excellent. There was plenty of food and it was delicious. They even did us special homemade food for the kids (Goujons, veg and chips). The hotel does look tired from the outside but the function rooms are really good sizes and they look nice. We were able to decorate with balloons, bunting etc.. It was such a lovely day and that was down to the hard work of Sue, Kenny, John and the team. Thank you!!

The restaurant provides a varied menu of good quality food however, over a two night stay, none of our main meals had 'seasonal veg ' served. Service was variable always polite and at best, friendly.