The Shoulder at Hardstoft

Average place with average facilities. Poor quality shower. Tv has very few channels. Bed was comfortable but a bit small and I’m only 5”10.

Positioned in a nice area, xlose to local villages, near the 5 pits trail and hardwick hall. Apparently has nice events here, which we have never been to. Lots of parking. Not great for walking to from the local areas and is situated away from shops, but a nice open location next to main roads access. Can be difficult to get to if not driving, it would be a taxis, there is a bus stop very close by but they are buses are very few of these running along there. We are local and never been here for food. We decided to give it a try and prebooked here for a meal with other local friends. Confusing behaviours from staff & owner upon arrival about seating us. We was seated in the snug area to the right. Seemed to have a weird sewage smell behind our back. We was given an A4 specials menu, no other menu. I am a vegetarian that does not eat fish, not vegan. Only one vegan option. We reviewed the online menu, to make sure there was something we all liked. Despite us questioned this, we was told the one online is a sample menu. It is not, this is not stated online. 2 of us wanted lamb shank, this was not an option at 6pm, apparently they had sold out of the "cheaper" options. We was not pleased with the options available, or the prices. The only steak options were T bone at £34.95 each. Plus added cost of sauce which was not stated. So peppercorn or Stilton sauce at £3.50 each. I was not impressed with the price of a vegan lasagne at £16.00 I was told only salad comes with it (salad being leafs no onion, tomato, cucumber, Peppers anything at all just leafs and balsamic vinager). So I ask if I could order a side of chips. Food came, but came with chips. The young lad said he would remove off the bill because of what i had been told. The chips were like chip shop chips too, looks of hard inedible scraps. I was left underwhelmed. My Husband said his T bone was nice but not worth the money. Upon ordering the steak, they were asked if they would like it cooked? That left us confused. Another guest in our group had the shoulder burger at £16.95. Which they said was ok, but they didn't want this. They wanted something off the online menu. Each cocktail I ordered (priced between £8.50 to 8.95 each), the owner would bring them over present it and introduce what was in it. I knew as I had a menu I had collected myself from the bar. It was a bit cringey. At one point a lady joined him to ask if it was one of our birthdays, when I answered no she just disappeared and it was all very unusual. The pudding was nice. We had sticky toffee pudding. We approached the bar for our bill. As we had been consuming a few alcoholic beverages we did not notice they had not removed the chips cost at £4.50 and they added on a gratuity charge of £10.10. Which i do not have a problem with but it would be nice if the bill had been given at the table so that we can review it and determine what was what and if it was earnt. Instead we had to get the bill with the owners waiting fo

I picked this place to stay overnight in our motorhome it being in Britstops and very convenient to visit Hardwick Hall the next day. There is plenty of room in the car park and I was directed as to the best place to stay. The staff and locals we met were very friendly and helpful. We chose to eat a meal in the bar and were looked after by Demi, a delightful, confident young lady. We chose the catch of the day which were generous portions of sea bass served with asparagus, pea puree and potato. It was both delicious, well presented and reasonably priced.

Lovely little village pub, very friendly owners and staff, amazing [affordable] food , very clean and quiet, definitely worth a visit either for overnight stay or just good food and drinks .. our room no1 was very clean and quite spacious, small shower room , but all we needed for a few days away ...

Booked for a birthday meal with family, arrived earlier than planned but were seated right away. Then took a full hour for drinks and food to be ordered as waitress seemed to be alone dealing with bar and restaurant covers. Several items out of stock off the menu, even had to reorder children’s meals as one of 3 options not available. Waitress very apologetic and felt for her as it was getting embarrassing with the number of things not available. Not what you expect of a small menu on a fairly quiet Thursday evening. Food was cooked well and we enjoyed what we had, ended up with an extra dish as it had gotten incredibly confusing with ordering, again some desert options not available and they were very overpriced, we left feeling a little underwhelmed by the whole experience and wouldn’t rush back.

The ribs were amazing. Sirloin steak perfect. Waiter perfect. Setting perfect. Always had great food here. You won't be disappointed. Close to Hardwick Hall. Great atmosphere, gentle chilled music in the back ground. Lots of tribute acts check their face book page.