The Royal Duchy Hotel

Just had a lovely night stay here courtesy of the children for our Christmas gift.. Greeted warmly yesterday and our room was lovely, Immaculately clean, the best shower I have ever had in a hotel in the UK, and really comfy pillows and bed.. The pool area is the only thing that lets this place down. We would stay again. Thank you.

While we have stayed here several times over the years we have eaten in the restaurant on very many occasions. Unfortunately our recent dining experiences were really disappointing. Everything about the hotel was superb as it always is. However the food was a real let down. The restaurant prides itself on fine dining and that has always been the case until a few weeks ago. We had a Sunday lunch which was anything but fine dining. Everything except the cauliflower cheese was piled on the plate and smothered with a thick gravy. The beef was thick tough and chunky. Gone were the separate veg dishes and gravy boat. Some weeks later we had dinner and expected the usual high standard but again another let down. The mussels for starters were fine but my coley fish had a strong unpleasant chemical taste and the garnish of glazed spring onions were so stringy to be inedible. My wife’s mushroom and chicken linguine was covered in a very strong sauce with chicken pieces dropped on top. Just a plate of gloop without any garnish. The crème brûlée’s to finish had a crust under which they were runny. We were so disappointed and really surprised as we have always had super tasty food beautifully presented in fact some dishes looked a work of art. Sadly there is no way that this dinner could be called fine dining which is such a shame as the staff were attentive as always. I would certainly stay at this hotel in the future but on a b&b basis until the food is back to his usual high standard.

A very quiet weekend stay. Beautifully clean hotel and spa. Use of their dry robes was useful for a windy wet walk on the sea front. The food was good but perhaps a little improvement on the vegan cream tea , such as vegan butter and cream, it was disappointing to just be served flora margarine and jam . The staff were all friendly and accommodating. The hotel was very quiet and seemed to be mainly for older folk, being in our early 50's we were quite possibly the youngest guests there .