River Garden - Amber Valley

We only wanted a small amount, having looked up the menu thought it looked perfect. When we arrived there was no a la carte, only an all you can eat for £19 a head, which wasn’t ideal-but given it was New Year’s Day and chucking it down with rain we accepted this. We ordered ribs, chicken satay and seaweed as starters, there was quite a lot of meat for a starter portion! Then our mains, char Sui and chilli beef, much smaller (more sensible) portions of each. Had we known the starters would be so large we would have only got one, so we could have enjoyed more of the tapas style mains. I think the waiting staff should share this information when seating guests. Our bill was a bit of a shock… 2pax £19 each, one wine and 1 beer came to £56!!! I can only guess there was a service charge but it was too late by then- we were tired and hungry after New Years and didn’t look at the bill until we saw the transaction back at the hotel. Also- you have to pay BEFORE you eat! Very odd indeed. When we are next in Belper we will be trying another Chinese unfortunately.

We visited as a group of 8 yesterday, new years eve 2023. From start to finish the experience was one of the worst dining in experiences I have ever experienced in a restaurant. Our whole evening was spoiled by a lack of organisation with staff members. Staff didn't appear to understand simple requests such as could we have an extra bowl to split a soup so as not to waste any food. Asking for extra napkins took 3 attempts to then be given one each. Service was slow and unorganised with staff members hanging around the kitchen/bar entrance rather than attending to tables. Empty tables were cleared by two staff members whilst tables with customers were left waiting. Orders were taken incorrectly. The list is endless really and we were left incredibly dissapointed. On leaving we paid the bill which again was a painful experience with the server. I got up to speak to the staff member on the bar to share how dissapointed I was with the service throughout the evening. Her unsympathetic response was that she knows the service was shocking which speaks volumes. Won't be going back in a hurry which is a shame as we enjoy the food here.

We enjoyed a fabulous all you can eat meal to celebrate a 90th birthday. Plentiful good quality food; we stayed for over 3 hours but were made welcome throughout with plates and napkins for the cakes we’d baked. Made the birthday girl very happy!

Lovely Asian restaurant with pleasant surroundings, excellent customer service and hot, freshly cooked, tasty food.

We ordered a takeaway and went to collect it. The staff were super friendly and it was a short wait for our food which was extremly tasty. I don’t understand all these negative reviews. We have always found service and food to be excellent.