Scopri il tuo soggiorno a Barnard Castle

Having visited the inn a couple of times in the summer, when I received good service and great food, I suggested the Red Well as a place to meet some friends for a pre Christmas meal. Drinks order came quickly without any issues and we ordered our food. The waitress then returned to inform me that the only veggie option on theChristmas menu (other than a salad..) was not available so I had to order from the main menu. Starters came and went without any issues though the creamy garlic mushrooms, whilst edible, were disappointing as they had no garlic flavour and the sauce was made with cream cheese which is a cheap, corner cutting approach to creamy sauce. No big deal though. Then the mains came.. the Christmas dinner was a massive mound of frozen carrots and “quite poor” in the words of my friends eating it. My “curried roasted veg covered in mash potatoes had no curry flavour, no roasted veg and most importantly no sauce. It was a bowl of rock hard flavourless chickpeas with a little spinach added but nothing else, dry as a bone and simply not edible. Waitress offered to bring manageress over and she agree to remove it from my bill but nothing was offered as an alternative to me. So I had to go without the main part of my main meal. The other 2 meals looked nice but were cold. My friends didn’t bother to request they were warmed up as they’d seem the limited response I had received when making my comments about the food. We asked for the music to be turned down slightly as speaker was above us and waitress went off, and music stayed loud. When she eventually returned we asked again and the waitress told us “we can’t turn it down as those people at the other side of the restaurant have asked us to turn it up”, then walked away…When they finally returned to clear the table we were not asked if we wanted anything else so we kept chatting. When they returned later again and we were asked if they could get us anything else we said yes could we have 2 mins to look at dessert menu, only to be told 2 minutes later that the kitchen had stopped serving nearly an hour ago so we couldn’t have desserts. I suggested to the waitress that perhaps they should have told us sooner (especially as I’d basically missed my main course) and she shrugged and walked away… so we asked for the bill which came with 4 chocolates. However, there were 5 of us so they couldn’t even get that right! We commented and the manageress said she’d bring more but didn’t. Then as we left and one of my party said she was still waiting for her chocolate, the manageress got stroppy and slammed the chocolate into my friends hand. It is rare to receive such consistently bad service, and to be served pretty poor food too. Massive shame for this business as the 5 of us are all local and could have returned with other groups but none of us will set foot in there again whilst under the same management. There are too many good places to go to waste your time and money in a place as poor as this.

If I could give the room a 0 I would. The overwhelming smell of mould / drains in bedroom was so overpowering we had to sleep with the window open in 3 degree weather!! Such a disappointment! We should have known as when we entered the room the window was already wide open which tells me they are aware of the problem. A hotel that has absolutely lost its shine! The food throughout the stay was nice and actually the only thing I can try to speak positively about! Although hugely overshadowed by the fact every single person was sat with their coat on for the evening meal as it was bitterly cold. I don’t even know where to start with the spa. Rude staff from the beginning to end. We used to LOVE this spa. It has lost all of its uniqueness. Multiple things not working ie steam room was on and available but the door didn’t close properly so not worth your time. Water dispensers around spa not working. The cleanliness throughout was not great. I picked a contact lense out of the hot tub. We were the only people there. Which raises the question as to where this came from. No flip flops / slippers given which meant walking outside in the middle of winter with no shoes on. Massages given to me and my husband were both great so can’t complain with that. The drinks available at the hotel bar are so retro that nobody has seen them available since the 90’s. Could really do with some modernisation. Overall not a good stay and for a so called ‘high end’ establishment if they continue to cost cut in the manor they are without any reinvestment into the hotel I don’t believe they will be around for long.