Luxury country house hotel with award-winning restaurant
BookMember since 2018
Comfortable room, but the dining experience was very disappointing
stayed: May 2026
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.
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