The Royal Lodge

A very friendly welcome by the front of house. Beautiful location. The burgers were good but the fondant celeriac dish was hugely disappointing, didn't meet the menu description, and was lacking in flavour and presentation. There was a very limited lunchtime choice particularly for vegetarians.

I didn't stay at the hotel, but went for a meal. Service is good, food and drinks are good. The reason for 3 stars are as follows 1) The gardens are small and tables are extremely close together. There is a upper deck where more tables could go to ease congestion. 2) The biggest for me was value for money, I know prices are going up, but.....its very expensive and portions of food in my view have definitely become a lot smaller. 3) The cost of drinks is extremely expensive Having said the above, the hotel has great views and well worth a visit, just make sure you have plenty of money

We went on a family walk to Symonds Yat and popped into the Saracens head which was packed, we had a nice drink by the river and whilst it was busy the staff were friendly and helpful. We decided to. Decamp to the Royal lodge as they seemed quieter. We entered the hotel and ordered 6 drinks from the helpful bar staff and then headed out to the garden. 2 large areas of which were chained off and not accessible. The remaining area was of course full (it was a beautiful sunny day and a Saturday) I had placed a jumper on a table not realising the area was closed, as we went to retrieve it an officious little man came running out to ask what we were doing. It appeared that one area was closed due to reseeding the grass, fair enough, but the other area was closed off for no apparent reason. I asked if he would open an area for us and he replied curtly with a no I will not it it 's inside only there was no attempt at politeness or customer service, he seemed to have confused running the building as being more important than welcoming paying customers. We ended up sitting on the wall along the drive, choosing to sit in the sunshine rather than indoors in the gorgeous weather. Had this odious little French man (I make reference to his Frenchness not out of xenophobia but simply so you can be prepared for equal levels of customer service) told us the outside area was closed before we ordered it might have been better but his attitude was completely officious and unwelcoming and on future trips we will stick to the much more accommodating Saracens head.

The food was average, the service was unfriendly, and the prices were too high. The ambiance was lacking, and there was loud noise coming from a nearby wedding. I would not go back to this restaurant, even without the wedding noise.

We had a delightful lunch today at a restaurant with plenty of outdoor seating and a friendly staff. We felt safe in terms of Covid precautions. Our bill came to £25, which included two pints, a cheese and pickle baguette with crisps and salad, and a prawn and crayfish cocktail with bread. We found it to be good value for a hotel in this area.