Restaurant Hywel Jones by Lucknam Park — Restaurant in England

Michelin worthy experience we are glad we tried. But would we return? The HJ experience started with a suggestion that we arrive early for a cocktail and a relaxed opportunity to review the menu. We are glad we took their suggestion. The Lucknam Park property is unique and beautiful. And the room where we relaxed with our cocktail was decorated a touch old school for my taste, but it was certainly beautiful and well appointed. The staff kicks of your pre-dinning experience with professional and attentive service that lasts through to the end of the meal. The dining room continued the theme of the entire hotel. Subtle luxury. we ordered the seasonal tasting menu. Collectively enjoyed the canapes (hit and miss, mostly hit), salmon (delicious), scallop (tasty), turbot (well prepared but not particularly flavorful), lamb (beautiful), cheese (a solid hit) and dessert (unmemorable). Bottom line, we were looking forward to HJ and enjoyed our meal. But it got me thinking about what one really receives from a fine dining experience. For every slam dunk awesome meal (San Sebastien's 2-star Amelia), we get a couple (HJ and The Latymer on this trip) that are enjoyable, but also inconsistent. I guess finding the gem is the point of experimenting with fine dining on occasion. While we would not return to HJ I recommend you try it for yourself. It's a good operation, it just did not wow...

I dined at Hywel Jones last week during my trip to the Cotswolds and had a mixed experience. First off, the good - the food and wine were amazing. We chose to do the à la carte menu and each dish was so balanced. The amuse bouche which was a parsnip mash was incredible. The dishes were also beautifully constructed. Now on to the bad - the hostess was awful and quite abrasive. She barely looked us in the eye and kind of tossed us the menus. She said she would send the sommelier over and walked off. As this was our first encounter with the staff, it instantly left a sour taste in my mouth. Luckily the rest of the staff were lovely. I had dined with 2 other people and we all realized that we had felt the same coldness from the hostess when discussing the dinner after the fact. A few minor things we noted about the service was that no one removed the crumbs from our table between courses and our napkins were not placed on our laps. These are things we have experienced at other Michelin star restaurants in France etc and while minor, they do enhance the...

Stayed a night at Lucknam Park to enjoy the hotel, spa and culinary delights of Michelin star chef Hywel Jones - and, even though the restaurant itself is a little old fashioned bordering on stuffy, it was a delightful dining experience. We enjoyed Mackerel tartar to kick off. A great dish, though a little under seasoned. The Scallop dish was wonderful with girolles, celeriac puree and a beautifully delicate sauce. The Turbot, followed by the Lamb dish (which we were later told was beef) were equally amazing. Then the Cheese course - wow, great selection and presentation from the young lady from Newport. The dessert was the only shortfall. It wasn't at all ordinary, but it wasn't extraordinary either. The recommended accompanying Gattinara Italian wine went down a treat. So overall, a classy and tasty fine...