Laureate At Macdonald Kilhey Court

Firstly, there was no one at the reception desk as the staff member was serving at the bar. Later, the staff member was at the reception desk, so there was no bartender, and then they were taking money in the restaurant. The website suggests enjoying a pre-dinner cocktail in the Burns Bar or a wee dram before bedtime. When I asked the maitre’d about cocktails, they replied, "we don't do cocktails." However, when I showed them their website, they said it was not up to date. It took a long time for us to receive our drinks at the table. My whiskey and lemonade tasted strange as it seemed to be pre-mixed. During the meal, I ordered a second whiskey to dilute the lemonade. After waiting for about 30 minutes, I went in search of it and eventually received it with compliments from the manager. Upon receiving my bill, I noticed that I had been served Jack Daniels instead of scotch from the Burns Bar. Previous reviews have also mentioned poor service, even before COVID, so that cannot be used as an excuse. On a positive note, waitress Lucy was very pleasant.

The service was excellent, the food was delicious, and the restaurant offers lovely views overlooking beautifully maintained gardens leading down to Worthington Lakes.

We had a disappointing experience at this restaurant. Our afternoon tea, which was booked for 3.30, was not served until 4.15, despite there being few other guests present. The afternoon tea options were limited and not enjoyable. The real letdown was the dinner. We were informed upon arrival at the restaurant that they were fully booked and we should have reserved a table upon checking in at the hotel. This was not communicated to us earlier. We were eventually seated, but our server seemed disinterested. We were placed by windows with numerous flies, one of which landed in our food. Other couples requested to be moved as well. Despite a quick arrival of our food, my soup contained a hair. When I informed the waitress, she simply took it back without apologizing. The manager offered a replacement, but we declined and waited for our main course. We encountered further issues when trying to pay the bill, as it took some time and the incorrect items were included. Despite a credit we had from a package deal, we were still charged for the soup with the hair in it. There was no apology for this mistake. Ultimately, this experience soured our weekend getaway and I would not return. The package we paid for did not live up to expectations and the lack of customer service was disappointing.

We had a lovely cream tea here and there were scones with jam cream . sandwiches and a multitude of different cakes . We could not eat all the cakes and had to take some home . We also had a lovely pot of tea for two and some wine !!

I was recently gifted a voucher for afternoon tea at Kilhey Court by some friends who remembered that my husband and I got married in the hotel previously. Decided to make use of the voucher on our wedding anniversary as a special treat and had been very much looking forward to being back at the place where we celebrated our special day. From the beginning the whole experience was rather underwhelming having to wait to be seated despite the restaurant being virtually empty when we arrived, then having a further delay as the staff member had to start rearranging tables before we could sit down. Mild inconvenience perhaps but not a great start. Once seated at the table I noticed that my husband and I had mismatched cups, again minor detail but as a 4* hotel you kind of expect those kind of details to be taken into account. Waited for a short while before another member of staff arrived to take my voucher and ask whether we would like tea or coffee both my husband and myself opted for coffee and fairly promptly the lady returned with a smallish cafetiere for the both of us to share. Another 5 10 minutes passed and then food was delivered. Again, perhaps a bit nitpicky but presentation wasn't fab the middle tier with the mini cakes looked thrown together rather than any real care having been taken with it. Food itself was tasty enough however nobody came over at any point either to check that everything was ok or check of we would have liked a refill of coffee. When I looked around there didn't even appear to be any staff milling around that I could ask for another drink which I just found a bit poor. Ultimately we just finished our food and left as it didn't feel like anyone was remotely interested in enhancing or improving the dining experience. Overall a very lackluster experience and also rather disappointing after having previously had such lovely memories of the place made even worse when I realised how much my friends has paid for the whole thing too. Sorry Kilhey Court but I wouldn't be recommending this experience to anyone else.