The Harbourview Hotel

We’ve already booked two more visits for this coming year. We stayed one night and thought the hotel was beautiful, with decorated rooms that were spotless and delicious food. All the staff were helpful, especially Carol on reception, who was so friendly. I can’t recommend the place highly enough.

The food itself was fine, but the service left a lot to be desired. We stopped for a light lunch and ordered the soup of the day (£8), kids’ goujons (£9, with no dessert or drink included), chips on their own (£6), and juice. I also asked for a jug of water. The female server said she’d bring the chips and water. The chips came in a tiny bowl piled high, with no plate, and she kept talking to a colleague without looking at us or checking if we needed anything. We did: there was no salt, pepper or sauce holder on the table, and the jug of water never came. Nobody checked on us during the meal. The younger male server, though, was asking other customers if they had everything and checking back with them.

We celebrated our son's 40th birthday here and had a great birthday meal. A lot of time, money and effort has clearly gone into refurbishing the hotel. I’d highly recommend a visit if you’re travelling along the Antrim coast 😀

The food was excellent, with three roast options served with all the trimmings, plus a fish of the day. We couldn’t fault the quality. The service, though, was really bad, which made for a poor experience. We only visited for Sunday lunch, so I can’t comment on the rooms. There were just two occupied tables when we arrived, but after the sign told us to wait to be seated, we were ignored for about ten minutes. We had an elderly gentleman with us who struggled to stand that long. Once seated, nobody offered drinks or even water. We had to ask to order, and the waiter seemed startled before disappearing. For each of our three courses, we also had to ask for cutlery and wait for it to arrive.