The Wood Norton

Disappointing stay

Looking forward to our visit to the Wood Norton but very disappointed in many areas. First greeting was that the lift was not working. I have bad knees and we were on the first floor! The room was not luxurious - the bed was lumpy and had very creaky springs. Room not very warm. Bathroom was superb - best part of the stay. The restaurant was not welcoming (rather empty and not very warm). A very limited menu was offered - labelled brasserie. Being between Christmas and the New Year I suspect visitors were down and choices and staff were both reduced. I had a sirloin steak which was fine but it was not very warm and the plate was tepid. My wife had fish. She wanted Monkfish but it was not available - she had Hake, again not very warm and the leek vegetable was so undercooked that she could not cut it. We did complain to the staff but heard nothing from the management (if there was any) either day. The next night we both had the steak and pleaded with them for hot plates, which we got. Unfortunately the steaks were over-cooked! The girl on reception did offer apologies and said she would report it to the management but nothing happened. The breakfast was OK.
The lift still not working, A member of staff brought our cases down and we left. Our overall feeling is one of huge disappointment. We do not know whether that was the normal way the hotel is presented or whether it was short-staffed and under-managed due to the holiday. We would like to think that someone actually looks at this review and gives us an answer. It was nowhere near to the standard we had expected.

Not the best

We had a number of challenges with our room. The first one had a large piece of wood under the mattress making the bed very hard and uneven. Our room was changed very quickly however this room had a leaking shower which pooled on the floor. Also outside the window our view was an old discarded washing machine and pile of refuse! The restraint in the evening was very nice but at breakfast clearly there was a shortage of staff, we were sent away for arriving 10 mins too early. Upon our return it took us an hour to receive our food. Around us were lots of uncleared tables with cold food . We complained on checking out and were given 20 off the drinks bill, however the duty manager remained behind a door literally 10 feet from us and left the receptionist running between us. I would have expected her to have owned the issue and at least taken responsibility and address us.

Reasons for above score

Very slow check in due to only one member of staff on reception.
Service in restaurant very very slow, long waits for any service between courses at dinner and food not great.
Breakfast was a disaster having a long time to wait to place a breakfast order and again a long wait ensued, we enquired twice about our order with a staff response that they would check, but still over 45 minutes before it appeared. When the food did arrive it was cold, dry and inedible. By this time we had had enough and left.
The restaurant was not busy at any time we were there so difficult to comprehend the staff and kitchen delays.
We quietly voiced our disappointment at reception, The receptionist said she would look into the problem and they would get back to us, but they never did.