Large hotels taking the ****

[S70JPS]

I’ve just had a st meal in a 4* hotel again it boils my piss. They charge a fortune for dog st. To add insult to injury I’ve just ordered a brandy (basic cooking stuff) @ £5.95/ shot. What gives these people the right to take the piss? People have to pay their own way it’s not all on expenses anymore!! Why can’t they just serve honest food at honest prices? tts play on a captive market. Roll on tomorrow night when I am staying in a hotel I’ve booked myself at half the price with a wealth of good restaurants within a stone’s throw. Rant over.

[jamiebae]

Agreed, I stay at a lot of hotels and the only ones that spring to mind as offering really good food are the Doubletree in Chester and Dakota near Edinburgh. Most other 4* places seem to serve vac packed rubbish from Brake Brothers and charge a fortune for it.

[Cotty]

Seems to me the more you pay for a meal the less you get

Go to a greasy spoon with a fiver and it will set you up for the day. End the evening in a nice resturant come away hungry.

[LHD]

Cotty said:

End the evening in a nice resturant come away hungry.

That's just you Paul.

[car_era]

jamiebae said:

Agreed, I stay at a lot of hotels and the only ones that spring to mind as offering really good food are the Doubletree in Chester and Dakota near Edinburgh. Most other 4* places seem to serve vac packed rubbish from Brake Brothers and charge a fortune for it.

My wife and I went the Doubletree in Chester for new years eve just past, the food was absolutely rank, terrine to start was disgusting, slimely jelly and bits of gristle. Nobody on our table of twelve could stomach it! The rest of the meal was not much better, a very expensive waste of money.

Did however just enjoy a fantastic meal in the Lake Vernwy Hotel last week when we stayed there, a bit remote location but worth the visit.

[OdramaSwimLaden]

S70JPS said:

I’ve just had a st meal in a 4* hotel again it boils my piss. They charge a fortune for dog st. To add insult to injury I’ve just ordered a brandy (basic cooking stuff) @ £5.95/ shot. What gives these people the right to take the piss? People have to pay their own way it’s not all on expenses anymore!! Why can’t they just serve honest food at honest prices? tts play on a captive market. Roll on tomorrow night when I am staying in a hotel I’ve booked myself at half the price with a wealth of good restaurants within a stone’s throw. Rant over.

Probably best you don't read my post yesterday mentioning how at a black tie do at the Dorchester they tried to charge me £84.00 for 4 double G&T's!

[Puggit]

That's what this forum is here for

Book a hotel using advice from here, or TripAdvisor, and then find a restaurant using reviews too.

Don't chance it, as you've found there are too many duff joints about

[TonyHetherington]

Did you not complain? I don't mean in a whiney way, but if the food is that bad, and that expensive, you have every justification to talk to the manager and explain it was very poor.

[Mr Roper]

car_era said:

Did however just enjoy a fantastic meal in the Lake Vernwy Hotel last week when we stayed there, a bit remote location but worth the visit.

This is only up the road from me, I've eaten there a few times and can echo what you say about the food and service.....it's also a gateway to some great driving roads

[lauda]

Mrs Lauda was telling me the other day that a woman she works with is getting married at a well-known local five-star hotel in about 6 weeks time. They went for their menu tasting the other day and by all accounts it was awful. Fundamental stuff as well like over-cooked vegetables and a dessert that was hadn't been taken out of the freezer early enough and was still frozen in the middle (not that you would have expected it to have ever been near a freezer in the first place). In my experience, the rating of the hotel and the prices they charge are no indication of the quality of the food in the restaurant and I'm surprised that they hadn't sampled the food before booking the venue (which they did months ago).

Very unfortunate position to be in though, especially as they are both foodies. We played safe and just got married at the nearest register office to our favourite restaurant and agreed to have a small ceremony and meal so that we would be guaranteed decent grub.

[jamiebae]

car_era said:

My wife and I went the Doubletree in Chester for new years eve just past, the food was absolutely rank, terrine to start was disgusting, slimely jelly and bits of gristle. Nobody on our table of twelve could stomach it! The rest of the meal was not much better, a very expensive waste of money.

Did however just enjoy a fantastic meal in the Lake Vernwy Hotel last week when we stayed there, a bit remote location but worth the visit.

I had calamari then steak and it was really good last time, but I gues New Year and Christmas party meals are often different. I had an atrocious Xmas party meal at a nice-ish 4* hotel in Oxford last year which tasted like a Birds Eye microwave roast dinner.