Piedaniel's Review

Situated in the popular tourist hotspot of Bakewell in the Derbyshire Dales, Piedaniel's is a welcome slice of French sophistication for those people (like myself) who fancy something a little more indulgent for lunch than a ham and cheese panini at the local Costa Coffee. And so it was here I ventured with my Dad for lunch on a mild October Saturday.

We had a reservation but the place was dead on arrival; nonetheless the welcome was warm and we were left in the lounge area to peruse the menus. The restaurant itself is nicely decorated and has an upmarket feel, which is no bad thing. Well, I say no bad thing, that upmarket feel extends to the menu with the carte prices packing quite a punch; mains come in at around £24-£25 and there are sides available on top of those. However if the food is great then I don't mind paying for it; I was reasonably expectant of some accomplished cooking.

After a fairly substantial wait, we were shown to the dining room and lunch began. First up for me was a black pudding and bacon salad with an egg on top. It was fine; not particularly memorable but completely inoffensive. Next came the main course; I was expecting big things from my beef fillet and on the whole, it was a good dish. It wasn't a plate without fault however; I'd asked for the beef medium-rare (as always), it had been cooked considerably more than that which was a shame. Tasty though it was the dish also did feel a little incomplete; at the price points being charged you shouldn't really need to order a side in my view. I should add though the waitress did offer complementary vegetables (as are given with mains from the lunch menu) which was a nice touch. As I say, it was a tasty dish but perhaps not as good as I had been hoping for.

Dessert was an iced chocolate tart with (big pieces of) fig. It was a pleasant enough plate of food although I'm not sure the iced aspect really worked for me; just made me think the whole thing had come out of the freezer rather than adding anything to the dish. After dessert came a wait. A very, very long wait. I understand not everyone wants to be rushed out of the restaurant, but it really isn't difficult to ask a table if they'd like anything else. We were sat for more than twenty minutes whilst two waitresses completely avoided eye contact with me; one even cleaned away another table and replaced the table cloth while we just sat.... waiting. Eventually I had to get up and walk over to a waitress in order to get the bill; it really shouldn't be like that.

Overall however this wasn't an unpleasant experience; Piedaniel's is a good restaurant with many positive qualities and one I'd happily venture back to in the future.