Rydges Armidale — Restaurant in Armidale

My wife and I stayed 5 nights @ The Powerhouse Hotel by Rydges in Armidale and may I state this is one of the best run hotels I have ever stayed in right across Australia including other Rydges establishments ...From check in by Ryan who made this process seamless but covered all aspects included in our package with detail and accuracy, then to our room which was very tidy and with a large bed as well as a sofa lounge it was very comfortable.... not just the standard big bed and a single chair here...On our first night after travelling all day we went to the bar as we had complimentary cocktails in our booking and were attended to by Katie...she was both personable and very friendly ... just that happy face to see after a long days drive . Katie then arranged our drinks with a minimum of fuss..... and they were so good after such a long trip. I then enquired if the bar also had food and Katie said definitely we can do that for you and produce a fantastic tapas style menu which we then ordered a number of items ( bruschetta, arancini balls and spring rolls ) and the servings were both generous and very tasteful and enjoyable. The next day and subsequent mornings our package included a full breakfast and we were greeted at the Akza Restaurant by a young man named Patrick Rankmore who was in charge of the restaurant . May I say that Patrick absolutely made our holiday, and over the 5 mornings plus on 2 of the nights where we had a 3 course dining/paired wine package dinner that Patrick was a stand out. He runs the restaurant very efficiently, directing his staff in a clear but subtle manner which ensures everything to the customer runs like clockwork. Observing Patrick over the 5 mornings I noted he was very flexible with customers and their dietary requirements and always came up with a suggestion that pleased the customers , and he made each and every person he attended to have an enjoyable breakfast experience... a great way to start the day. Finally our 3 course dining / wine experience , which we had in our package on 2 separate nights....this was a highlight , the food was magnificent and we were attended to by Patrick who took us through the menu and also knew all about the paired wine choices for each of the courses. On our 2nd dining experience Patrick also gave us an option to change a couple of items ...which was just enough to ensure we did not have the exact same menu on both of these occasions .... A tip for diners of the 3 course dining experience : Have the Afogato with the maple & coffee liqueur from Dobsons Distillery with vanilla bean ice cream..... sensational. Patrick is a credit to the Rydges Group , and his senior managers should be very proud of the way he performs his role and sets such a great standard for Rydges. Finally to Monty Maguire the General Manager Powerhouse Hotel @ Armidale. You Monty must have the perfect management formula as over the 5 nights of our stay it was noted how efficient and organised all the staff of your Hotel are and such effort and pride in their work comes from the top , so well done Monty. I can thoroughly recommend the Powerhouse Hotel by Rydges @ Armidale as a first class place to stay whether it be one night when passing through or as we did 5 nights and use this as our base for day trips to other parts of the New...

The pluses - good location, adequate parking, comfortable bed, relatively soundproof, roomy for a motel room, generally friendly staff..

The negatives - even though our booking clearly stated we had a Free Breakfast , it took 4 attempts to have this added to our portfolio (we were there for 5 days). Consequently there was an 'issue' every time we turned up at the restaurant reception. This was embarrassing and could so easily have been avoided. After the 2nd day we were told we could only have the Continental breakfast. It didn't say this on our booking, it said 'Free Breakfast'. I would have thought Management would not argue the point but they did !!! If we wanted the Full Breakfast we'd have to pay more! Frankly, the full breakfast wasn't good so we stuck to the Continental.

I had joined Rydges so was entitled to a 20% discount on the restaurant evening meal but because I couldn't find my digital card they refused - even though the staff member could clearly see I was a Gold member on her computer. Hotel Receotion had also confirmed this too when I checked in but NO they refused the discount. I offered my Driver's license to prove who I was, but NO!

We were supposed to have a daily milk in our fridge. We had one on the first day only. I mentioned it to Management but nothing happened. I came across a friendly Housekeeper on the third day and she delivered a milk to me.

The safe in Room 227 is in a bottom cupboard on floor level. To access it you have to lie on the floor with a torch - to read the instructions - as it's recessed at the back of the cupboard. What designer of hotel rooms would come up with such a bizarre idea. The safe should be at eye or waist level. Any elderly person would give up in frustration. You have to be relatively athletic to access it. Only a halfwit would design a room with a safe on the floor and at the back of a small cupboard.

I pointed this problem out to 4 staff at Reception and quickly realised, by their bewildered looks, not one of them had ever been into our room to check out all the fixtures and fittings I don't know if every room had this problem but suspect they all did.

In summary, I was very disappointed in the attitude of the top Management. Surely, from a PR angle alone you wouldn't argue over the breakfast . If it was only Continental it should have said on my booking papers 'Continental Only Breakfast '. Management was asked on 4 occasions to change the breakfast portfolio to 'Free Breakfast ' for my room number but nothing happened. It really is embarrassing having to argue with the breakfast reception staff - I actually had to present my booking form each day to prove the point.

I won't be rushing back to stay at...

I have stayed in many motels in Armidale over the past 10 years. I thought this time I would treat myself and stay, in what appeared to be from your website, a more upmarket and luxurious accommodation and so I booked a 2 night stay with “PowerHouse Hotel Armidale” To say I was disappointed is an understatement. I was expecting so much more especially as your charge twice the price of other accommodation I wasn’t going to complain, instead I was going to put it down to experience and not book with you ever again HOWEVER you have sent me an email asking for my opinion and so I will give you an honest appraisal Things that were good

1. The Staff are friendly, pleasant and helpful.
2. The foyer is appealing and gives the impression of luxury.
3. Car park well lit
4. Close to town
5. Bed was comfortable
6. Room was clean. Things that were bad
7. Not able to park car near room.
8. Blanket on bed smelt like stale body odour …. DISGUSTING
9. Toilet loose and would wobble when used, not secured to floor properly
10. Fridge jammed inside cupboard and would squash fingers when trying to open fridge door
11. Rain shower head would leak cold water when using hand held shower hose
12. Metal taps on shower would heat up and become too hot to touch … REDICULOUS.
13. Lounge chair might look good but hideous to sit on and in the end I didn’t bother sitting on it because it was too uncomfortable.
14. Lights in ceiling would glow in middle of night when neighboring room turned on lights … indicating that the wiring in your motel is “dodgy”
15. Thin walls, makes it difficult to sleep, I could hear the person in the room to the left of us stomping around and I could hear the person in the room to the right of us having sex and then in the morning I could hear him singing in the shower.
16. Noisy water pipes
17. Lots of water wasted whilst waiting for hot water to come through pipes
18. Room tinier than expected. If you are going to charge twice the price compared to other accommodation houses then you need to make sure that your place is worth it. I am sorry to say that I am not able to recommend your business to anyone and would encourage people to go elsewhere. Final word … overpriced &...