Hardens Guide to the Best Restaurants in Burton Upon Trent
Hardens guides have spent 33 years compiling reviews of the best Burton Upon Trent restaurants. On Hardens.com you'll find details and reviews of 11 restaurants in Burton Upon Trent and our unique survey based approach to rating and reviewing Burton Upon Trent restaurants gives you the best insight into the top restaurants in every area and of every type of cuisine.
Featured Burton Upon Trent Restaurants
1. The Horseshoes Long Lane
British, Modern restaurant in Ashbourne
Long Lane - DE6
“A lovely (if small) bar and outside space” add to the appeal of this “nice old pub in the middle of nowhere but set in a pleasant Derbyshire Dales setting”. Run by chef Gareth Ward (a namesake of the chef-patron at Ynyshir in Wales), it offers “a good modern menu” with beer-battered haddock about the only dish on the menu that might qualify as ‘pub grub’.
2. The Cow Dalbury
Fish & seafood restaurant in Ashbourne
The Green, Dalbury Lees - DE6
“It’s nowhere near the sea, but they have great suppliers” and this handsome 19th-century Peak District village pub (fka The Black Cow) six miles from Derby is now a boutique inn (with six bedrooms) where Cornish-born chef, Nathan Senior, specialises in fresh seafood delivered daily from his home county. “They also do a fantastic steak. All round a perfect pub for a meal and stopover”.
3. Jack Rabbits
Sandwiches, cakes, etc restaurant in Ashbourne
10 Saint John Street - DE6
2022 Review: At the back of The Greenman retail and entertainment complex, this stylishly designed venue – with quirky angled roof and steel-and-glass frontage – is worth knowing about as a useful all-day option.
4. The Duncombe Arms
British, Modern restaurant in Ellastone
Main Rd - DE6
An “absolute gem just north of Uttoxeter” – this rather glamorous peak District venture is “the local we all wish we had”, to quote The Daily Mail’s Tom Parker Bowles; “the tarte Tatin alone is worth the visit” but the modern British menu (more casual in the bar) also features “excellent dishes such as omelette Arnold Bennett and crispy belly pork” and their rooms are “brilliant” if you stay overnight.
5. The Lighthouse Restaurant
International restaurant in Ashbourne
New Road, Boylestone - DE6
2022 Review: Over a decade on, this fine dining spot “sitting at the back of the Rose and Crown plum in the middle of nowhere” is “a revelation” to some reporters, “trying too hard” for others. The “regularly changing tasting menu” (the only option, coming with or without wine flights) is “getting even better, if anything”.
6. Ebi Sushi
Japanese restaurant in Derby
59 Abbey St - DE22
“Continuing to provide high-quality Japanese food, if a bit limited in range, for very reasonable prices in something resembling a Tokyo cafe but in the middle of the north Midlands ... Why? It’s just down the road from the Toyota factory!”
7. Anoki
Indian restaurant in Derby
Old Picture Hall, 129 London Road - DE1
“Great food served by very helpful staff” has attracted a busy crowd for more than 20 years to Naveed Khaliq’s flagship, a stylishly converted former picture palace with a gilded vaulted ceiling. A well-known name for good-quality Indian cuisine in the north Midlands, it now has offshoots in Nottingham and Burton.
8. The Saracen's Head
British, Modern restaurant in Shirley
Church Lane - DE6
2021 Review: “Really pleasing food”, “very good service” and a “lovely location” have earned plaudits over many years from the locals for Robin Hunter’s Derby Dales village gastropub, which has recently added the Church Lane Deli to its attractions.
9. Darleys
British, Modern restaurant in Derby
Darley Abbey Mill - DE22
2021 Review: This “old mill overlooking the river and weir” – part of the Darley Abbey Mills World Heritage site on the Derwent – has an “interesting menu and consistently high-quality cooking”. “Lunch here is always a pleasure, thanks to its setting, space and service as much as its food”.
10. The Boat
British, Modern restaurant in Lichfield
Walsall Road - WS14
2023 Review: You’re “always guaranteed a superb meal” from “a favourite top chef” – Liam Dillon (who has worked for the likes of Marcus Wareing and Tom Sellers) – at the “great pub” he has converted into an ambitious restaurant, with 4- and 6-course tasting menus in the evening and a chef’s table option.
11. Upstairs by Tom Shepherd
British, Modern restaurant in Lichfield
25 Bore Street - WS13
“Getting a booking is no mean feat” at Tom Shepherd’s “absolutely brilliant” operation – a “bright and crisp” 28-cover space “above his father’s jewellery shop” which in two short years has established itself as one of the Midlands’ most celebrated culinary destinations. “If you do, you will be rewarded with exciting and original cooking” with dishes that are “thoughtful in their concept, prepared meticulously and served beautifully”. BREAKING NEWS – In September 2023, Tom announced a second, more informal venture in the city (‘we’re going to open up with the mindset of small plates, drinks orientated, and the small plates will develop so you can almost have your own tasting menu’).
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