Lovely location/property but food or service not up to scratch.
I just had my first overnight stay at Hambleton Hall last week with my business partner. We booked a room with dinner included, which was not cheap but what you would expect to pay for a quality luxury experience. We are both regular customers at The Ritz, Claridge's, Scott's Mayfair etc and other London quality eateries/hotels, so understand the joy of good food, wine and impeccable service. The hotel, location and room were amazing and the gardens/setting wonderful. The service and the food though, was not up to expectations for us, sadly. We waited to be served drinks on the terrace upon arrival for a good 10 minutes but in the end had to step inside ourselves to find a server to take our order.
I am a vegan but my business partner is not, so he experienced the full menu over dinner. The wine was not poured once during the meal but plonked on the table as the waiters were clearing and setting up empty tables around us before we had finished dining. The crab starter was bland and the salad starter very poor but the rest of the vegan offering was good. The cheese board was extensive but the portions were rationed by the server. We were not asked if we wanted more wine, as the empty bottle sat on the table for ages plus not offered any after dinner drinks. The service was truly terrible over dinner and the atmosphere in the dining area was deathly quiet with zero atmosphere.
We retired in the end to the bar area to get away from the servers clearing and setting up tables in the restaurant around us to get an after dinner drink. The barman was busy washing glasses, as we waited 20 minutes to be served, even though the bar was empty, so in the end, we left without drinks. In his reply to my feedback, the owner asked why we didn't just catch his attention but by this time we were a little fed up with a lack of attention to detail. We actually felt like we were an invisible inconvenience with money to spend but no one willing to serve us for it.
The scrambled eggs at breakfast were watery and tasteless and the service slow and unenthusiastic. I wanted to talk to the reception staff before we left when paying the bill but she was dealing with checkouts in a very small area that felt like Piccadilly circus. her own words, so I left it to deal with later.
I decided to write to the owner NOT for a freebie or refund but to give some honest feedback, rather than write a poor review on here. He wrote back after investigating my feedback projecting with excuses and somewhat dismissing our disappointment as not what others normally say about the hotel and service. This to be honest annoyed me and was not humble or caring, so I am writing the review.
It is a beautiful property, a little dated with in my opinion, poor service, inexperienced staff and in our case, on this occasion, over priced and disappointing for the anticipated experience. I would not return for another stay because my complaint was not acknowledged properly, therefore the issues cannot not be improved going forward. In this current economic climate every customer in any business is like gold dust and I would be listening and grateful to anyone who could help me improve my service and offering.