Stonehurst Manor Including Dinner And Breakfast

We arrived late after driving four hours, and they had left a delicious pizza dinner in our room. Such a relief on vacation. Everyone we met, from the office staff to the restaurant servers, was really friendly and gave us top-tier service. The place feels cozy and welcoming, with a couple of beautiful fireplaces going, perfect for reading or relaxing. The menu was delicious, and everything looked high class. It was our first wedding anniversary, and we’ll probably find more reasons to return.

The view out our window in the morning was beautiful, and the staff were amazing, kind, and very helpful. Our room was really clean, but needs a few fixes: there were several holes in the walls and chips in the paint, and the dresser was missing the knob for opening the door to hang things. We also couldn’t control the heat in our room. The room next door had a thermostat, and it seemed to control ours too.

We’d had a wonderful meal here in July 2023, with good food and service in the large dining room downstairs, so we booked Christmas dinner expecting another special experience. Something has changed. This time it cost $89 per person and was a huge disappointment. The entrance door was magnificent, and I had to include a picture of it, but we won’t return. We were told there’d be about a 20-minute wait, so we ordered drinks in the cozy library. The bartender had to look up the drink of the day, an Apple Crumble, and still made it wrong. It tasted like a Jack and Coke, came in a huge glass with a straw, and had no brown sugar or cinnamon on the rim. Then we were seated in the middle dining room. It was cold and so loud that it sounded like a bingo hall. I shifted my chair out of the aisle and my foot went into a hole covered by carpet. I asked to move, but was told it wasn’t possible, even though we’d passed a lovely warm room with a fireplace and could see a large sunny dining room just a few steps below. Neither seemed crowded. We should have left then. Brooklyn (spelling?) took our order. My husband had lobster bisque and I had a salad. Both were mediocre: the soup was like smooth tomato soup, and the cucumber in my salad was cut into huge, thick chunks, though it tasted good. I ordered medium-well prime rib and got medium-rare. My husband ordered medium-rare and his was too rare as well. He’ll eat anything, but I won’t eat rare meat. I managed with the cooked meat around the outside instead of sending it back. The two women seated beside us shortly after asked to move too, and were also told no. The room really was cold, unhappy, and loud. My husband offered me the first bite of his risotto, and it was very crispy inside. We told the waitress, who said she’d tell the kitchen but didn’t offer a replacement. The sweet potato mash and green bean and mushroom casserole were delicious, though I didn’t see a single mushroom on my plate. Dessert, crème brûlée with fresh fruit, tasted good but was tiny, like a petite treat at the 99. My husband finished his in two bites. It came without a spoon, so he had to borrow one from the next table because he’d used his for the soup. The waitress was nowhere around. When she returned, she was annoyed when I told her, then practically threw a new spoon onto the other table. I asked her to pack up my prime rib and, if a fresh risotto had been made, to add some for my husband. She said there wasn’t any risotto available in the kitchen. She was the worst waitress we’ve had anywhere. She didn’t seem to care whether we enjoyed ourselves, never asked if we wanted another drink, and left the huge black menu on our little shared table. We’ve waited tables ourselves and usually tip generously, but gave her 15%, only because it was Christmas. Maybe she was unhappy about working that day; we don’t know. We’d never experienced anything like this on our previous visit, when only two tables were being served. We don’t know what changed.

My girlfriend and I spent Valentine’s Day night here and were disappointed. The bed was comfortable, but the room had a dead hornet on the floor and flies flying around. There was paint stuck to the glasses, and the temperature swung between too hot and too cold. The heater was loud and creaky, and the TV had a white line down the middle plus a pop-up that came back every two minutes. There weren’t many in-room amenities. The food at Wild Rose was good, but the dinner service took almost three hours. Ten tables seated after us got their food first, including several with the same server. One of those tables received two free Filets after complaining about the taste. We got two free drinks. Even the water glasses were very dirty, including the replacement ones our server brought. Breakfast the next morning was much better. The dinner spoiled the mood for the rest of our stay, which was a shame since we’d been excited for our first Valentine’s Day together. We don’t plan to return soon unless the hotel makes some serious upgrades.