The Swan at Lavenham Hotel & Spa

Lovely hotel let down by food

We stayed 1 night midweek and had a 3 course meal at the resturant and were really disapointed in the limited menu and the meals themselves were pretty poor. A couple at the table next to us sent their food back and left it was so bad. For a posh restaurant I couldn't understand how they use the centre piece table as a place to stack dirty plates when clearing tables in full view of many of the guests? Breakfast was fine you can't go wrong with a full english. We had afternoon tea, when we asked to sit in the lounge area to have it (where a couple of years ago it was fine) we were told we had to have it in the restaurant as guests would have nowhere to sit in the lounge? This was a real shame as the lounge area was lovely and we had had enough of the restaurant! As for the afternoon tea once again very poor presentation, choice of teas good but the cakes were all horrible. A real shame as the Hotel is lovely in a real picture postcard village.

Disappointing experience.....

Our 2 nights were bought as a 50th wedding anniversary gift and the experience was not equivalent to the type of the hotel publicity. Our room was at the furthest end of the hotel and entailed a long walk over various levels along a very scruffy corridor with worn carpets - it was situated over the kitchen and adjacent to the gallery of the dining room. The room had not been properly checked as we had to report three problems immediately - the sink did not drain, the entrance door was not self closing and was a security risk and a light wasn't working.Only one issue was resolved during our stay.The restaurant service was good but the evening dinner menu was limited and potentially boring.
Overall a disappointing and over priced experience.

Incredibly disappointing

Upon arrival, I was greeted by a receptionist who told me I d not been emailed with car park details as I was on a bargain break . This set the tone. Travelling with a small well behaved dog we were allocated a tired airless room, helpfully located close to an exit. Unfortunately, with neither opening windows, nor air con, during coronavirus and a heatwave it was unbearable. A fan was provided, but only moved air around.
Unable to sit in the restaurant or brasserie as we were travelling with a dog, we booked a table in the Airman s Bar. We were assured that our table would be set and reserved for us for a fine dining experience. . I m not sure why as it made no difference to staff who did not expect us on three out of four occasions. This was actually stressful, particularly when others were sitting having a drink at our table and there were no suitable alternatives as we had no choice in where to take our meals.
The food was in fact excellent, but service was always an afterthought, particularly sad when we walked past the other eating locations and could see a better standard of service.
Overall, it was probably one of the worst ever hotel experiences I have had.