Widbrook Grange

Hotel in nice area.

Very disappointed with our stay.
TV only had 4 channels
Restaurant was very poor. Food was not as stated in menu.
Small steak with skinny frozen chips.
Dessert poor. Very small portions. Tinned fruit not fresh.
Waiters did not check if everything was OK.
Service charge added to overall Hotel bill without us being informed.

Comfortable room, but the dining experience was very disappointing

My wife and I stayed at Widbrook Grange as part of an Off Peak Luxury package. The room was comfortable, the bed was excellent, and breakfast the following morning was enjoyable and filling.

Unfortunately, the evening meal was a major disappointment and ultimately overshadowed the stay.

Our package included a 35 per person dinner allowance, which initially sounded generous. However, most meat main courses were priced between 26 and 30, with a 12.5% service charge added on top. In reality, the allowance barely covered a main course once service was taken into account.

I ordered the roast pork loin ( 26), while my wife had the market fish ( 28). Both dishes were attractively presented but surprisingly small. The pork consisted of two small pieces of pork, two small dumplings and a cabbage roll spread across a large plate, while my wife's fish dish was essentially a single piece of fish served in a small amount of broth. More disappointing than the portion sizes was the fact that neither dish was particularly memorable in terms of flavour.

As we were both still hungry after our mains, we ordered the cheese board for two ( 20), expecting it would round off the meal. Unfortunately, this was also much smaller than we anticipated and did little to solve the problem.

With two pints of beer and the cheese board, our final bill came to 99, meaning we paid an additional 29 on top of the 70 allowance. What was frustrating was that this extra spend wasn't the result of ordering expensive extras, but simply an attempt to leave dinner feeling reasonably fed.

The end result was that I went to bed hungry after a dinner that cost close to 100 for two people. For a hotel marketed as a luxury country retreat, that was not the experience we expected.

Also the service was mixed. The waiter at breakfast was very friendly despite it being understaffed. However the barman in the evening clearly didn't want to be there and the waiter at dinner was indifferent.

The water in the bathroom went off for several minutes around 8am and again for 30 seconds while I was showering at 9:30.

Overall, the room and breakfast were good, but the restaurant represented poor value for money and left us disappointed.

Distressed hotel.

Sadly, not a hotel we d recommend. We stayed for three nights dinner bed & breakfast, which was too long. The restaurant has a fixed menu and we found the presentation and choice of ingredients unusual. For a three night stay we felt the choice rather limited. However, the duck breast we had on our first evening was really nice. Sadly the chef s idea of roast pork as a Sunday dinner was in fact a large chunk of pork belly. Too much fat and very little meat.
The hotel has opted for a distressed look with furniture and fittings that just looked battered giving the impression of a bric- -brac shop. Many of the seats I tried to use had no padding so I had to sit on the edge! The bath was so high my wife had difficulty getting in & out and the room heating thermostat seemed to have a life of it s own.
The final insult was the addition of 12.5% for tips to their calculations of the restaurant bill before deductions for the meal allowance. We ve stayed in better hotels at cheaper prices.