Guest User
September 16, 2024
This is a beautiful old building with fantastic grounds. We stayed 2 nights in room 11 within the main house whilst visiting Southampton boat show. Our room was spacious and clean enough. Unfortunately the the place is very let down by the young inexperienced staff who lack good customer service, attention to detail and knowledge. We emailed the hotel in advance that I am Gluten intolerant, there were some GF biscuits on the tea/coffee tray in our room, but sadly no standard biscuits for my partner. The Oak dining room experience was unpleasant to say the least, I found it hard to enjoy my overpriced food once I finally struggled to work out what I could actually eat. I find it hard to understand why there was no separate GF menu, when they had a Vegan menu ( a lifestyle choice ) being GF is a dietary requirement, I would be very ill if I ate it. The menu, had symbols next to it of what the dish contained ( difficult enough to see in the poor lighting ) menu also states speak to your server for advice, one waitress, we could not understand, so there was not much likelihood she was going to understand me ! She sent someone else over, he asked me what I would like, then he had to go and ask the Chef if this could be done, after 3rd attempt I ended up ordering something I didn't particularly like, just to get something to eat, by the time it finally arrived on a cold plate, I was so frustrated and fed up of people staring, I could barely eat anything. I feel if hotel could provide a separate GF menu this would be less stressful for staff and guests alike. Breakfast was looking hopeful, said on menu, GF breads, pastries and cereals available, just ask, so far, so good. Then came the order for hot food, not a great deal of choice except for full English, I asked our young waitress if they had GF Sausages, she said yes we do, excellent, I ordered English breakfast minus black pudding. My breakfast arrived, no sausage, I alerted waitress, she apologised, went back to kitchen, as I started to cut bacon, I noticed one end of it was raw, the beans were luke warm, cold plates again, We called over waitress to take a look, she apologised again, offered us more coffee, I asked if the sausage was in its way, by this time I would have been happy with just the freshly cooked one, to which she replied, " oh did you still want it ?" She trotted back into kitchen, came out again and reported that they needed to be cooked. We gave up and left , with no breakfast. In the afternoon on our return from boat show, we decided to have a pot of tea in the lounge area, staff were milling around, but no one came over, trying to get their attention was impossible, like we were invisible, my partner had to literally go upto them and ask for some service. When the tray of tea arrived, no sugar, no tea spoons , young in experienced staff again. We shouldn't have to ask for theses essential items when you order tea for 2, surely. That evening, we ate in lounge area,