Queens Head, Troutbeck — Restaurant in England

Initial thoughts of review

It is not in my nature to write a review, but in this case, as you have asked us to write one, myself and wife feel strongly in the interest of those who are not particularly fond of dogs to give a warning.

Firstly, I must inform you that we are Senior Citizens, experienced worldwide travellers, plus over the past 15 years I am a regular visitor to the lakes, staying and walking with a five member group. So this review will not be based on a first time visit but a general knowledge of what to expect.

This review will not criticize the quality of the hotel or any member of staff.

The 'Queens Head Hotel' was recommended to us several years ago for the quality and especially the food. As my 75th birthday fast approached, and loving the Lakes, I was given the choice to select a venue where I would like to stay for a three day break. I chose your 'Queens Head Hotel'.

Absolute Positive

The Hotel has been renovated to a top quality, with all furniture, rooms, bar side and outdoor being of exceptional quality. If not a little over crowded in some areas. Our room was spacious, excellently furnished with a dressing table and plenty of clothes hangers (my wife's biggest grouse). The cleanliness was unquestionable and the towels in the bathroom were a luxury coupled with fresh milk in the thermal flasks spot on. Unfortunately, the rooms are lit with very low light bulbs which are very relaxing, albeit not to my wife who finds it difficult to make up. I really think there should be at least one bright light available for the dressing table.

Our first evening meal was 'Fish and chips for two' . Excellent and good value. My choice for my first breakfast was a bacon sandwich. The bacon was lean and had been grilled to perfection, All was to our satisfaction at this point.

Point of Disappointment

The evenings meal was so disappointing, the quality of the cooking seemed to have plummeted, My wife's vegetables were over cooked and 'Catch of the day', which she always orders, was only forked through but mainly left. Our breakfast next day, seemed to have been fried in fat and was greasy, the mushroom was over cooked and soaked in fat, considering we were one of the first people down for breakfast. The next evening meals were over cooked and god knows what the vegetables were that came with my 'Steak and Ale Pie', they looked liked yesterdays sautéed carrots and turnips leftovers. I questioned the assistant if it was a different chef from the day before but she denied it. For our last breakfast we just chose toast and coffee as we had a long journey.

'Not Your Problem but Ours'

Our Biggest Bone of Contention (Sorry but it's a bit of a pun)

Whilst we were aware of the hotel as being a 'Doggie' Hotel, we did not realize to what extent. So this a 'WARNING' if you are not a 'Doggie' person; this is not the venue for you. It's quite apparent that that our canine friends are better treated than us. There are treats and 'Dog Menu's' everywhere, nine out of ten rooms are dog friendly. We chose the 'Sitting Room' for my celebration evening meal (Which sits ten persons on four tables), however, on being shown to our seats we found a couple with two large Retriever dogs, who had obviously been walking in the rain and the stench was obnoxious. On their departure I pointed out to the waitress/assistant that there was a carpet of dog hairs coating the floor . After the staff cleaned the floor and the next party were shown to their seats it included yet another dog that had apparently been joining the family on a Fell walk. Consequently the air was refreshed by yet another odour of 'DOG'!

And finally,

The one thing that I objected to was to watch staff stroke some of these dogs and then watch them serve up meals.

In conclusion, a once only visit for us but probably a relief to you that we will not...

Dined here on Friday evening and had such a lovely meal with fantastic service. Decided to ask about Sunday lunch and booked a table whilst we were there for 12pm (this was the time we were given as I said we were flexible). Arrived today at 11.55am ready for our sitting, only to find the door locked. It was raining heavily so we stood by the window, partially under an umbrella. We were seen by a number of staff, one of whom decided at 11.58am to open the door and say 'We don't open until 12' we explained we had a table booked for 12pm and he just responded 'We don't open until 12pm'. Now that's absolutely fine, and if we had turned up at 11.30/11.45 then I could understand, but at 11.55am, when you had a table booked in at 12pm, and it was torrential rain outside you'd think they would allow us in, even if it was just to stand in the doorway out of the pouring rain. There was no.....I'm sorry we can't serve anything from the bar until 12pm, but please come in out of the weather, just 'We don't open until 12' and the door then closed. We also wasn't told when we booked the table that they could fit us in at 12pm, but don't come until dead on the dot otherwise you won't be allowed in! It wasn't like there were a coach load of us....we were just 3 adults and two small dogs. At this point we got back in car and went elsewhere.

Absolutely diabolical customer service, which has put a downer on our entire experience.

We have dined here on previous visits and would have planned to dine here again in the future....but not now. I fully understand the premises will probably think it's only 3 people and only an £80-£100 ish loss, but maybe this will make others think twice before deciding to dine here too.

Such a shame that the staff are lacking common decency.

I can however highly recommend the Badger Bar who, even without a booking, managed to squeeze us in and accommodate us and we had such a fantastic roast beef dinner!

Following the owners response....

As stated in my review, which you have clearly not taken the time to read properly.

A number of your staff did notice us stood outside. It was because they had clearly seen us as to why we decided to leave. Especially when one looked at their watch and decided they would rather leave us out in the rain then let us stand in the dry for 2 minutes.

At no point when the door was opened were we asked to come inside. The words 'We don't open until 12pm' were spoken and that is the only response we received, followed by the door being closed. Another reason we decided to leave.

We arrived on time to be seated at 12pm. If we had arrived after that time we would have actually been late for our booking.

Why would I look to see what time on social media you open when we had a table booked at 12pm and arrived for that time. I'm not going to think 'I best check their opening times incase they don't open until 12.30pm when we had a table booked. I believe most people would arrive a few minutes early for their table rather then being late.

Unfortunately, on this occasion you have shown a poor level of customer service and empathy and having the attitude of 'Well they're early so they can wait' is not a good mind set for neither a business, nor as a person in this industry.

It is also such a shame that you believe putting the blame on us is the correct way to deal with...

Stayed here a couple of weeks ago for two nights. Whilst the pub/hotel offers nice accommodation, good food, albeit with some penny pinching portions, and some excellent ales, it somehow manages to disappoint in the area you would expect to be one of its main selling points, customer service. Similar to the hotels refurbishment in the style of a 17th century coaching house, the friendly lakeland welcome and individualised service is also a facade that masks a corporate owner business mentality where volume and client turnaround trumps customer satisfaction. During my stay there had been issue with water supply to the hotel, this wasn't the fault of the hotel, but the disappointing response was. Having looked forward to an evening of good food and drink my partner and I were informed of the water supply issue and that the hotels personal tank had run dry and that the course of food we had ordered would be our only one that evening. The pub/restaurant had to close early and we returned to our room (sans running water). Fortunately the water supply was restored shortly after, but there was no mention of the bar/restaurant being reopened. There was no further mention or apologies of the evenings problems and no allowance made within the final bill. Though the problem wasn't caused by the hotel, the lack of attentiveness and client focus was, perhaps we could have purchased a dessert to take back to the room even. The lack of attentiveness continued into breakfast with guests unaware of the procedure or menu due to the largely absent (and surly) member of staff on service duty. All in all if the feeling upon leaving an establishment is not one of satisfaction but disappointment then customers are unlikely to return, and to me the attitude of the owners towards customer satisfaction seems to be ‘heads you win,...