Ardoe House Hotel & Spa

On arrival we found black hairs all over the bed !! We were upgraded to another room . On our first night at dinner I ordered chargrilled cauliflower as starter and was told they had run out of cauliflower!! The same with the White chocolate cheesecake. On the second night I again tried to have the cauliflower, they had run out again !! The good news was there was cheesecake, the bad news was the biscuit base was softer than the filling ! I didn’t complain to the waiter as it wasn’t his fault . He had no clue about pouring wine , or general waiting on guests.We had champagne at the bar , again the barman had no clue how to pour it . We were asked online if it was a special occasion, it was my wife’s 60th birthday. There was no mention from any members of staff to celebrate the occasion. I in fact asked if we could have a cake at dinner on her birthday and was told to go out and buy one . Overall I think it’s a case of not giving enough training to your young staff. Will anything come of my response? I doubt it .

Overall a very pleasant experience. Suite we stayed in very nice, perhaps a little tired but nice facilities. Food very good, I had duck with a glass of pinot noir. Nicely presented, service in restaurant very good. Slowish response at points from reception with no one present but probably just being picky with that.

Food was fantastic. Hotel tired and felt run down. Service could have been better,

The food was absolutely delicious, however the service was slow at points which really let it down.

Very disappointing this is not a 4 star hotel. First impression on entering hotel was it was very dirty, entrance hall, booking in area, dining room (chairs had holes in them and dirty), bar area and lounge area in need of refurbishment. Very dingy and dark. Lovely carpet on entrance but absolutely filthy. We had a Privilege bedroom and it was fine, although hadn't been vacuumed and lacking soft drinks etc in hospitality. A tray had been sitting outside room opposite all day and not taken away. Evening meal was fine with quick service, but dining room was dark and dingy, holes in chairs and dirty. A staff member was having words with a gentleman who came in to dine in his bare feet we certainly heard the conversation as did other diners. On wakening up next morning hotel had no electricity because of storm night before. Breakfast was dreadful, the only thing that could not be cooked was eggs, because of no electricity we were told, but there was a buffet breakfast laid out, ie dried up beans, a couple of rashers of hard bacon, 1 end slice of black pudding and mushrooms. No toast, some brown bread and 1 buttery left and this was at 9.15 breakfast went on until 10.00 very very poor. No Spa facilities as no electricity. We were decanted to another hotel at 2.30pm and told it would be like for like it was NOT got the last guest room in relocated hotel and it was tiny and noisy bathroom fan kept coming on every 40 seconds, not acceptable. On checking out of Ardoe was not offered any discount, they might have given us free drinks a double vodka and a dash of coke was £14.50!!!!! Would not go back even with electricity. A dirty, smelly hotel, how on earth Scottish Tourist awarded 4 stars I don't know, they need to revisit.

Absolutely outstanding stay and Blairs Restaurant food was excellent