Lord Bagenal Inn

Loved our night in the Lord Bagenal..lovely staff, great food in a very atmospheric bar , room was great too, clean and comfortable with very nice en suite ..to cap it all had a grest breakfast before we left. Will definitely come back.......

The Lord Bagenal has all the qualities of a top hotel, but none of the boring/depressing aspects of a 'generic international brand'. It seems to be the unique creation of an inspired and purposeful proprietor. Its walls are hung with his own art collection, and guests can enjoy the magnificent displays of flowers - most hotels would not bother to go to these lengths. This large and spacious hotel may be entered through the small traditional bar on the main street, which then gives one the impression of entering a 'Tardis', or from the main entrance behind. Our room was twice the size that one might have anticipated, and met every expectation. Breakfast was marvellous, and the large dining/bar was full of atmosphere. The setting in Leighlinbridge is picturesque and full of character, as are its people. The staff were very friendly, engaging and apparently highly-motivated. We were delighted by our choice of hotel and can thoroughly recommend it to anyone looking for quality, character and a gracious reception, in a lovely location.

The restaurant menu is very overpriced and limited. We went previously over lockdown and thought it was better that time than what it is now. My wife asked for some coleslaw to go with her lasagne, a standard accompaniment with lasagne in most places, and she received a large bowl of it with which no cost was mentioned, until we received our bill to discover that we were charged €5 for it, outrageous. My chicken kung po was €25 and I must say that a Chinese takeaway would have been a better and much cheaper option.

This is, as far as I know, the only hotel in Leighlinbridge. Others are in nearby towns or villages. If I ever return, I will check those out, as I don't want to stay at the Lord Bagenal again. The town is small and sweet, I would love to walk along the river from Carlow to Leighlinbridge or some other point, as the trail goes for over a hundred miles. I stayed at the Lord Baganal Inn for two nights, taken in by the nice photos and reviews I saw online from 5,000 miles away. It's a weird place, obviously added onto at different times. My room was a basic American motel room. Several "wings" of the hotel require going up and down stairs after taking the elevator/lift to your floor. When I discovered that mine was one of these, I returned to the desk to request a room on the same level as the lift, and got one. The whole hotel smelled unpleasantly of fried fish one of the afternoons. It is a bit cavernous in the entry. My view was of various rooftops of the hotel. Very nice big bathroom with large tub. The food: I didn't try the 'carvery" since I tend towards the more vegetarian foods. Ordered "Caesar's salad" once -- big mistake. Here, as elsewhere in Ireland (so I'm told by friends back home who laughed) consists of a largish bowl of chopped iceberg lettuce mixed with mayonnaise. I had asked for the salad with chicken - there were pieces of fried chicken nuggets around the edge of the bowl. I ate the chicken, only the first bite of the "Caesar's salad." Dinner was edible but not great. The breakfast here is better than lunch or dinner. If I had had more time and knew about other eating and lodging places in town, I'd have gone there. I was on a "family history"pilgrimage," limited time. I should have done more research, but this seemed like the only game in town. Since many reviews here are very positive, one can only conclude that people's experience and expectations vary considerably. I don't go for the posh multi-star hotels, I usually like just a modest, clean and comfortable place. The *staff* here are very nice and friendly and helpful.

On the positive side, this is any easy hotel to get to - a few miles off the motorway from Dublin with free parking. That is important when you are getting used to driving in Ireland. The food and beverage service was excellent. High quality food with great bar and table service. I hosted three family members for an evening meal in the restaurant. The food and service were outstanding. I had the included breakfast the next morning in their Waterfront restaurant. Well prepared, fresh and plentiful served by a gracious and welcoming team. That said, this was the worst overnight hotel experience I have had in Ireland. After I checked in to my room - there was a flyer on the table indicating "Please beware that there may be excessive noise due to functions in-house. We apologize for any inconvenience". What they should have said is we probably shouldn't have rented your room to anyone. You will endure over six hours of pounding loud music and there will be intoxicated people on the ground level deck outside your room howling and screaming until 2AM. Alas, you've already paid. Too bad for you. The "warning" should have been on the website when we booked the room. Finally, while most of the public places in the Inn were quaint, in a good way, clean and well decorated, the sleeping rooms and the corridors outside them are in grave need of deep cleaning and/or remodeling (paint, furniture, carpets, etc. are well worn and older than dinosaurs.

We contacted the Lord Bagenal hotel to arrange an intimate family wedding celebration at very short notice. I met with Sue who outlined what options would work best on the day, all staff were extremely helpful and made such an effort to ensure everything went off flawlessly on the day. The food was superb and bedrooms excellent. Thanks again to all the staff who made our day so special, Gareth & Aoife

Fantastic meals and service from Deboragh and them team at Lord Bagenal. We dined 2 nights running and both nights were fantastic - the roast duck was outstanding as was the salmon red curry. Excellent steaks and sublime chicken curry. All served hot and generous. The staff looked after us and Deboragh should surely get a pay rise for outstanding customer service (let’s hope mgmt read these reviews :))

Lovely hotel. Decor quirky and interesting with beautiful flowers in reception area. Large comfortable bedroom. Excellent cooked breakfast. Plenty of food choices in the bar area. Staff friendly and helpful. Lovely river walks close to hotel.

We feel the restaurant has slipped down to a pub with meal availability. The Server forgot to order one of our 4 mains. The burgers were good, as was the catch of the day l. The fries were nothing special. Cesar Salad with scampi a huge disappointment as the scampy was chewy, indicating it was overcooked.