Hotel du Vin & Bistro - Harrogate

Something seems to have gone wrong. We have greatly enjoyed staying here before and dropping in for occasional lunches. We liked the good food and wine, and the exceptionally good service. The premises looked immaculate and smelt fresh. Back today, looking forward to a pleasant impromptu late lunch at about 1:30pm. People were eating but there were plenty of spare tables. We waited to be seated in the restaurant … and waited… and waited. After a while my wife reported to the hotel receptionists that there were similarities to the Marie Celeste. They said that someone would come. A few minutes later a barmaid arrived at the bar. We explained that we had been hoping for a lunch table but that there were no restaurant staff. She went to find them. But several minutes later she still had not returned. So we left. By that stage we had realised that things had changed at the Hotel du Vin. It no longer looks immaculate. We let the receptionists know that we had intended to have lunch, but had decided to leave. They didn’t seem bothered. This place used to have excellent management. It needs to get it back again.

We had pre booked 4 weeks in advance for a birthday dinner in the Bistro and asked for a candle on a slice of cake and provided the name of the person. On arrival, we asked the bartender for the cocktail menu only to receive a couple of photocopies with some pages printed upside down. Cocktails were unremarkable and Negronis poorly made. I also checked in to the bistro, reminding them of the birthday occasion, previous candle request etc. The restaurant was quiet, so it should have been easy to provide good service Good creative menu and decent wine list When we ordered a bottle of champagne, the waiter, who had been previously told of the occasion, made no reference to it at all. Service throughout was “basic”. At desert, NO recognition of the occasion. When challenged, the response was “we didn’t have a candle”, even though the request was 4 weeks old You can certainly do better in Harrogate as, with drinks it’s at least £60-70 per person

We enjoyed the most amazing service and the food was just brilliant can nor fault any part of our meal and servise from the Resturant manageress

Ok, but I would expect more for the price, hence the 2*. Food nice, but lacking the extra touch, especially on service when we arrived basically ignored for 15 minutes and then asked quite abruptly what food we wanted to order no offer of drinks etc). Asked for G and TS which were very slow in arriving and then came 2 minutes before the starter. Not asked if we wanted any wine, and didn't bother asking myself as thought it would probably arrive with dessert! Blood from steak on the table left when clearing up, had to wipe it down myself. Bins overflowing in toilets. Building and food were lovely but overall experience felt cold and transactional. Possibly they are suffering from lack of staff due to furlough, but expected better from hotel du vin, think they are just relying on their name.

I had been given a voucher for the Hotel du Vin chain and decided to use it as a dinner treat with my daughters. The Harrogate branch had tables free. The staff were fantastic, our waitress was incredibly friendly and advised us when she thought that the sides were too big so perhaps we could share. There was no cocktail menu but she said 'tell me what you like and I 'll get the barman to make it up for you ' so we had specially designed cocktails. They were in no rush and kept assuring us we had the table for the night so we could just stay and chat if we liked.