Sengelmannshof

The food and drinks are very good, and the prices are okay unless you choose the older alcoholic brands, which cost more. They look after bikers and cyclists, and the atmosphere feels like family. Six stars for the boss and staff!

It's a quiet, idyllic spot, with good local transport links to Düsseldorf airport and Essen. There's a restaurant, bar, and nine-pin bowling alley. Rooms and breakfast are fairly basic but do the job. I think you get very good value for money here.

I won't be going back. Last week, the food was neither bad nor good, and it didn't feel inventive or carefully presented, more like it had just been assembled. The room itself felt dowdy, dark, and gloomy, with lots of dull cream paint and uninviting tables with grey runners. It seemed basically clean, but wasn't welcoming. In an almost empty restaurant, service stopped after we'd ordered. The waiter seemed amiable, if not especially enthusiastic. My second glass of wine came only after a 10-minute prompt, when I was nearly finished with the main course. Nobody asked if we wanted dessert or coffee. We finally got the attention of the five staff members, who seemed absorbed in their own conversation, paid, and left. Sad to say, it felt typical of German service. I'd visited Sengelmanshof restaurant a few years ago and remember it as an okay experience, aside from a rather surly waiter.

I've enjoyed this restaurant on several earlier visits, but the Valentine Menu was a real disappointment. From starter to dessert, the whole experience was hard to describe, and I doubt any course had been freshly prepared. The presentation seemed focused on making maximum profit; if they carry on this way, the restaurant will be empty. There was so little attention to the wine that the glasses sat empty. My wife and daughter-in-law got just one glass of white and one of red between them. It seemed the service staff had been told not to be generous.