The Black Fox — Restaurant in Bath

My wife and travel most of the year so we have stayed at a number of hotels, Airbnbs and others. We also own a small hotel in the US. I say this as we have a bit of knowledge on what is acceptable and...what is not.

The only good things about this hotel is the room was spotlessly clean and the young girl with long brownish-blond hair that served us breakfast, while very busy, (as in perpetual motion), still managed to smile and be pleasant with us.

Food, while not plentiful, was acceptable.

The location is good as it is near to the downtown area of Bath.

The rest of the stay...not real good.

If you're looking for a quiet place...this isn't it.

Not only is there the expected traffic noise, (the hotel is after all on a busy street across from the Bath College), but the neighbors in the adjacent rooms add to the noise level when they are talking.

The room is very small.

If you're like me at 5'11", you'll have to duck to enter.

My wife is 78 years old and walks with a cane. I have walking issues. When the reservation was made over 2 months ago, we asked for a room close to the ground floor.

In fact, Ben sent us an email confirming that our room was on the first floor.)

What we got upon our arrival, was walk up to the 4th floor on winding staircase...no elevator.

A significant pain if you have any sort of luggage or even a bag from the store.

The floors are not level. As in noticeably, not level.

The carpet has seen much better days.

In fact, there are parts of the carpet that are missing and is lifting up from the floor by the door.

Closet? There is none. Just a bar with a few hangers on it.

Table/Desk? Very small with one, cheap and plastic chair.

While there is a sink in the bathroom, about the only thing that it is good for is a very tight space to wash your hands. But in all fairness, it has to be small because the bathroom itself is very small. To put a larger sink in would diminish your ability to enter the bathroom itself.

Shower? The shower head is at my eye level. (Again, I'm 5'11", or, 1.8 meters). So, if you want wash your hair, duck down.

There is only the shower head...no hand held. So...if you need to wash the soap from a hard to reach places, you will need to become a contortionist.

Also, the shower itself is pretty small.

There is only room to rotate. (I say this as an average weight and shape man.)

Bed? Very hard...and small for two people...as in pretty much shoulder to shoulder.

Bed stand? About 12" (.3 meter) in diameter. It has the appearance of being someones woodshop school project.

The 3/4 length mirror is not affixed to the door or wall...it just sits on the floor in the corner.

There are no USB charging ports.

Would I ever want to stay here again? Not even if I was paid to.

To the reader, it may seem that I am being unusually harsh in my rating. The truth is, I am hoping that the owner or manager of this hotel will read this and make the necessary adjustments that it takes to make the hotel a more attractive place for its clients...

Stopped for lunch at The Black Fox and have to say we won't be going back! The food was extremely sub standard. The Ceasar salad was terrible, the dressing tasted rancid and the chicken was very ropey! When the waiting staff took the plates away we expressed just how bad the Cesar salad had been, so much so as for none of it had been eaten, she just said "oh ok" and took the plates away. Wishing to take the matter further we approached the manager behind the bar who proceeded to roll his eyes and say to another member of staff" here we go, knew this was coming" . On pointing out the poor quality of the food to him he said that we should have complained sooner and all he could do was offer a drink but not a refund as none of the tills were set up to make refunds, which I find absolutely ridiculous and unbelievable. On pointing out that we had clearly raised the issue earlier, otherwise how would he have been expecting a complaint, he just reiterated there was nothing he could do. We declined the offer of a single drink as firstly it would have had to be the most expensive cocktail to offset the cost of the food and secondly, as we were there as a party it would have meant the rest of us just sitting there waiting or actually buying further drinks for the others in our party and we felt that this pub didn't warrant our custom one minute longer. In short the staff are both ineffective and incredibly rude and The Wellington Pub Company should take on board the number of poor reviews that can be...

I chose the Black Fox for lunch because it described itself as a Free House and a seller of Real Ale. I was footsore and tired after walking round the city and didn't want to walk any further so I took a chance. The menu looked OK but they only had one beer on pump that day which was disappointing and very surprising but I figured it would be a decent pint in such an establishment. It was not. The beer - called Racing Pigeons - was cloudy but that didn't worry me too much, some beers are. But the taste was fruity, like a soft drink, and didn't taste like beer at all. A Free House should be offering a range of real ales and I daresay they normally do but if, for some bizarre reason, they only have one it should be a way better one than this. It wasn't cheap, either, at £5.75. My steak and ale pie came with peas and either chips or mash and I chose chips (£17). It was served on a plate with a raised edge, more like a flat-bottomed bowl than a plate, and drenched in gravy. This would not have been so bad if I'd asked for mash - although I hate gravy sloshed over everything - but it made the chips soggy and the peas were almost floating. The steak was good and plenty of it but the pastry was too thick and somehow both dry and doughy. I finished neither my meal nor my pint. The service was less than friendly, too. When I arrived there was only one table occupied and no-one else came in the entire time I was there. Hardly surprising, and I wish I'd read the reviews and passed...