The Coniston Kitchen - Swale

This was the worst dining experience I have ever had in terms of both food and customer service. I went with my work colleagues for our Christmas party on a Thursday evening in December. We paid £40 per person, so I had certain expectations for the quality of the food. Unfortunately, the starters were lukewarm, the turkey was full of gristle, and the cheesecake was inedible. The vegetarian in our group was told they had run out of her pre-ordered option and instead given a plate of plain vegetables without gravy. Despite asking for vegan options in advance, another member of our group was given a poor meal on the night. When we requested to speak to the manager, he initially declined and later blamed the event manager and an agency chef for the issues. He was extremely rude, insinuating that we only wanted free drinks. The waiting staff, however, were polite and apologetic. Overall, it was a terrible experience and I will not be returning. It reminded me of a scene from Fawlty Towers.

Food was ****! Only one person behind the bar during the meal. A Muslim colleague had a sausage on his salmon meal and the turkey meal was swimming in gravy. Staff were couldn't care less. Not very helpful. The poor fellow behind the bar was run of his feet.

We decided to give the restaurant a second chance to see if it had improved since our last visit shortly after its opening. Unfortunately, it has not. The staff was seen shouting at each other, promised ingredients like fresh raspberries were missing, and the so-called "Rustic" chips were clearly just reheated frozen ones. The Gourmet Burger I ordered was dry and flavorless, almost as bad as something from McDonald's, topped with what was supposed to be cheese. The dessert, labeled as Death by Chocolate, was a bland brown cake with a drizzle of sauce and tasteless ice cream. Overall, we do not think we will be returning anytime soon.

Group of us went for a xmas dinner on Saturday night,we was very disappointed not only was it very cold it seemed very unorganised and it wasn't even busy, as we got up to get in line for the cavery we couldn't believe what the chef did in which I would rather not elaborate on only to say we wouldn't eat the meat, very unprofessional, I'm sure this is a lovely hotel but if you are going to put on events please get it right.

I was here as part of a large coach party the staff were friendly and polite ,the food was presented as a buffet which was excellent and well prepared the restaurant itself is very clean and well presented with ample parking