Restaurant at The Druidstone Hotel

Paul Thomson (8 July 2008)

We booked at the Druidstone Hotel in response to avid recommendations from friends and our local accommodation provider. We can only assume that we caught the hotel on a bad night as our experience was truly dreadful. With hindsight our first tip would be to ask whether you were being placed in the bar or restaurant. We got the restaurant menu served in the bar without being offered the alternative menu, which seems a little dishonest. We knew something was clearly wrong when we placed our initial order. Our starters of a salad drowned in dressing and vegetables toasted rather than grilled were barely edible. Our mains of tenderloin with caramelised apples was overcooked and glued to the plate by a caramelised dressing that had turned to hard toffee, the accompanying leek rösti appeared to have been deep fried and was inedible. The other main, a lamb with mustard crust was cooked well, but ruined by a fruit jus that had clearly been flavoured with a liberal amount of marmite. The desserts were no better, a chocolate mousse with the taste and consistency of cake mix and a truly dire 'druimisu' whose main ingredient seemed to be globules of Bird’s Custard. Our two surrounding tables fared little better receiving incorrect orders or failing to get orders at all. The service was abandoned at 10pm and we had to queue for fifteen long minutes to pay our bill while being regaled with complaints about the barman who had recently reduced his working hours.

Rosalind Archer (10 June 2007)

The meal I had at the Druidstone (for a wedding reception held at the hotel) was one of the best I have ever had. And by that I mean in any restaurant anywhere in my life. And no, I don't need to get out more - I have done Jamie Oliver, Gordon Ramsay, Marco Pierre and Conran, blah, blah, etc, but this one topped them all. It was authentic local cooking using the freshest ingredients. The lamb was to die for; it was quite simple, unadulterated and totally unpretentious but it was truly, truly delicious. The only meals I've had to top it were on a Tuscan farm in Italy and whilst travelling in South East Asia. This was a couple of years ago now - I hope they have the same chef and same suppliers but my experience was 100% wonderful.