Elan Hotel

Our stay was for one night 8/4/24. Very disappointed with this hotel (if you can call it that!) We drove from Ireland to Rhayader, and had booked this accommodation well in advance. We had arrived around 6pm, tired and hungry, so we were looking forward to a nice meal that the website had boasted about. The barmaid told us that the owners were not there, the chef was not in that day due to a hospital appointment, so therefore the restaurant was shut on that evening. It would have been common courtesy for the management to have notified us of this in advance of our arrival so that we could have made alternative plans, but this was obviously not a priority for them. The barmaid did not seem at all bothered by announcing the restaurant was closed, not even an offer of some bar snacks, but clearly there were none of these available in the pub. When we asked about alternative eating places in the area, the places suggested were all closed. So, for future reference, if anyone visits this place, do not visit on a Monday!!!! Our room (No. 2) was adequate, the bed was comfortable but upon every move it squeaked so not much sleep that night! There was no wifi. There was no local parking so had to park some distance away from the hotel. The best the barmaid could come up with was to park in the cattle market. The only thing we had to look forward to was the cooked breakfast, and that was nice. Read less

Visited on a Monday night, 18.3.24 for an evening meal with a friend. The website stated the chef had curated a menu using fresh and healthy ingredients etc. I later found out this wasn’t the case. The place wasn’t overly busy but the poor lady on the bar was rushed off her feet serving customers, taking orders and taking food out. Soup of the day resembled baby food and the bread roll was rock solid. Partially tasted and left the remainder. I suspect both the soup and roll had been microwaved. Chilli burger and chips next. The chilli smeared on top of the rock hard thin burger resembled diarrhoea. The chips were just about cooked. Again only partially ate and left most of this. I did have the started knocked off the meal but In hindsight I should have asked for something off the main too but didn’t want to make a fuss. The chef should have been embarrassed to have sent the food out. I left hungry and called the local shop and brought sandwiches. I did contact the hotel after the visit who replied saying that is common for food to batch cooked. Then went on to say the chilli was tasted from the same batch I was given and was of good quality, this taste test was done about 3 weeks after my visit. Hardly fresh. No real sincere apology from the reply as the staff did not agree with my comments about the food. Of course they aren’t going to admit to sending poor quality food out. One star for food based on my experience. With staying in the area a few days I would likely gone back had the food been any good.

Nice place, came in for dinner to watch the Liverpool Vs Tottenham game the food was better than the match, we had few drinks, and I had chicken curry dinner with chips, and rice, my friend had Macaroni and cheese salad, and chips. I had chocolate fudge cake.

Stayed at this hotel for 2 days but decided to extend it a further 4 days because of how much we loved it! No exaggeration! Whenever the sun comes out later this year I will definitely be come back to Elan because the staff was so friendly, the food was delicious, & the vibe of the whole place was actually amazing. I would definitely recommend for everyone to check this hotel out! Thanks for having me!

Had the most delicious food in town no doubt, i had a roast beef which was delicious and my family had curry and the steaks ALL meals were perfectly cooked, presented and highly delicious considering they were very very busy, the service was also above and beyond

Stayed 1 night. Family room was very spacious and comfortable. Staff were very friendly and attentive. Complimentary breakfast was nice. Parking available behind the hotel but only small vehicles can reach there through the small path. Worth the money paid. Will definitely choose The Elan Hotel for our next trip.

We booked a table for four and were seated in no time at all. The lady who brought the menu and would later bring our meals was exceptionally nice and we have no complaints at all regarding the service she provided. We each ordered the roast beef dinner but were extremely dissapointed with the qua;ity of the meals - beef resembled the thinly sliced slices one would find in a deli and the vegetables all appeared to be cooked from frozen and tasteless. I would go as far as saying that the tastiest items were the Yorkshire puddings and the gravy (though the four of us were not in agreement here!). We've heard good reports about some of the meals e.g. curries but I don't think we'll eat there again

My friend and I stayed here Sunday night, we were the only guests as evident from breakfast. They put us in the 2 smallest rooms, mine was more like 11sqft instead of the promised 11sqm. Toilet wasn't properly cleaned and they wouldn't consider any sort of late checkout on Monday when requested and no reason why not. The room was nothing like the pictures. Also the parking was within a narrow alley and longer vehicles like mine can't even make it in. WiFi constantly dropped as well and what kind of card operated door takes 10 seconds to decide to open? Also as you can see the loo wasn't 100% clean on arrival.

Whilst in Rhayader visiting family over the August bank holiday weekend, we visited the Elan Hotel for a meal on the Saturday night (26th). Our table of seven was booked for 6:30pm. Upon arrival we were greeted with guests queuing two deep at the bar to get drinks with only one member of the bar team working who was obviously overwhelmed. We finally managed to purchase a round of drinks and sat at our table. No menus on the table meant that, when the team member came to take our order, we had to request them, she came back ten minutes later, and we ordered. To be clear, the pub/restaurant was busy, it’s bank holiday weekend and the business was full of regulars and visitors to the area…but there’s only one bar team member on and one team member in the restaurant! At no point were these two team members rude or short with us and handled the obvious stress of the occasion extremely well. Then came the extended wait for food. Whilst waiting, we decided to have another round of drinks, and due to the lack of table service meant we had to endure another long wait at the bar. The wait for food would have been bad enough if it had been seven adults, but we had two young children in our party who were understandably getting fractious about the extended wait. Looking round the restaurant, we weren’t the only ones waiting. On a normal service you see multiple tables leaving the kitchen at the same time or in quick succession. The impression I got was that each table had their food cooked in order so once one order/table was fulfilled, the kitchen team moved on to the following order/table and you only got your food once you were first in the queue. An hour and fifteen minutes after ordering, our food arrived. Both my brother and I ordered the Lamb Curry, I’d heard good things about the curries at the Elan so was keen to sample one. When they arrived I can only say that they resembled greasy lamb gravy, I returned mine immediately and said that I wouldn’t be eating it. My partners Butter Chicken, whilst being a little thicker in consistency, was not like any Butter Chicken she’d had in the past and she only managed to eat half of it. Similarly, my brother only ate half of his Lamb Curry. On all three dishes the rice was clumpy and gave the impression of being precooked and reheated. My sister-in-law’s steak wasn’t cooked as she requested but she was that hungry she decided to eat it rather than make a fuss. In fairness my daughter had the rack of ribs and enjoyed them similarly my nephews enjoyed their meals also. I was offered a replacement meal and a menu was brought for me to reorder, but by the time the waitress came back to take my order everyone else had either finished eating or had eaten as much as they could stomach. The sum total of my evening meal was three slices of naan bread. I asked to see a member of the management team and was informed that they were in the kitchen cooking and would be around ten minutes. No problem I said, as