The Portland — Restaurant in England

A friendly , welcoming hotel/ restaurant on the outskirts of Ashington.|We were welcomed by a member of staff, who after booking us in, showed us to our room, explaining how the hotel/ restaurant worked.|We had a long trip to get to the hotel, so decided to eat in the restaurant .|This was a pleasant experience, the staff were very friendly and prompt taking our drink orders, and then the food order. Which came out very promptly, best of all very hot and very tasty.|The menu was being updated whilst we were visiting and some items that were on the website, were no longer available. But this didn’t detract from the food that was available. |Unusually for this type of hotel/ restaurant they don’t serve a cooked breakfast during the week, there is only a continental type.|With a good choice of cereal, fruits, meats , cheeses,yoghurts, pasties and breads although this is a separate cost and some might think it’s not worth it.|The cook breakfast is available at an extra cost on the weekend and personally didn’t think it was worth it. I had a cooked breakfast an hour after breakfast started and a majority of the food was cold.|On the other hand, the Sunday carvery, is a must. (This must be booked in advance)You can have 1 of 3 sized plates, and then fill up on a choice of meat(s) that are tender and juicy, a large Yorkshire pudding, and a great range of vegetables, lovely gravy and a great choice of sauces.|The hotel side for us was a large comfortable room, with a comfortable bed and unusually a fridge, which we enjoyed.|Our room came with a large TV, iron , ironing board and a fan.|Large soft towels that were changed on request and a complementary shower gel/ conditioner in the bathroom.|We had a decent complementary tea/ coffee tray in our room, with plenty of tea bags, different types of coffee and hot chocolate. With various types of biscuits. The milk was in the usual little plastic dispenser, and this was stored in the fridge.|The whole feel of this place is relaxed, yes it can get noisy in the evening if people sit outside in the pub garden, but it didn’t go on late.|The car park is on the tight side and on a Sunday ( carvery) gets full quickly.|My down side. There is a £10 per night for the carpark if you are staying over|This added an extra £100+ to our bill, |The breakfasts costs were a little steep if eating there very day, as charged per person . I know you don’t have to eat there but it is a extra cost.|Overall this is a friendly , comfortable hotel / restaurant . All the staff from the cleaners to the front of house staff have been friendly, helpful , and nothing seemed to much effort. |Would happily come here again, and have recommended...

A friendly , welcoming hotel/ restaurant on the outskirts of Ashington.|We were welcomed by a member of staff, who after booking us in, showed us to our room, explaining how the hotel/ restaurant worked.|We had a long trip to get to the hotel, so decided to eat in the restaurant .|This was a pleasant experience, the staff were very friendly and prompt taking our drink orders, and then the food order. Which came out very promptly, best of all very hot and very tasty.|The menu was being updated whilst we were visiting and some items that were on the website, were no longer available. But this didn’t detract from the food that was available. |Unusually for this type of hotel/ restaurant they don’t serve a cooked breakfast during the week, there is only a continental type.|With a good choice of cereal, fruits, meats , cheeses,yoghurts, pasties and breads although this is a separate cost and some might think it’s not worth it.|The cook breakfast is available at an extra cost on the weekend and personally didn’t think it was worth it. I had a cooked breakfast an hour after breakfast started and a majority of the food was cold.|On the other hand, the Sunday carvery, is a must. (This must be booked in advance)You can have 1 of 3 sized plates, and then fill up on a choice of meat(s) that are tender and juicy, a large Yorkshire pudding, and a great range of vegetables, lovely gravy and a great choice of sauces.|The hotel side for us was a large comfortable room, with a comfortable bed and unusually a fridge, which we enjoyed.|Our room came with a large TV, iron , ironing board and a fan.|Large soft towels that were changed on request and a complementary shower gel/ conditioner in the bathroom.|We had a decent complementary tea/ coffee tray in our room, with plenty of tea bags, different types of coffee and hot chocolate. With various types of biscuits. The milk was in the usual little plastic dispenser, and this was stored in the fridge.|The whole feel of this place is relaxed, yes it can get noisy in the evening if people sit outside in the pub garden, but it didn’t go on late.|The car park is on the tight side and on a Sunday ( carvery) gets full quickly.|My down side. There is a £10 per night for the carpark if you are staying over|This added an extra £100+ to our bill, |The breakfasts costs were a little steep if eating there very day, as charged per person . I know you don’t have to eat there but it is a extra cost.|Overall this is a friendly , comfortable hotel / restaurant . All the staff from the cleaners to the front of house staff have been friendly, helpful , and nothing seemed to much effort. |Would happily come here again, and have recommended...

Unfortunately our visit to the Portland on a Sunday evening was disappointing. I checked with the person that booked the table and nothing was said now that it was just pizza, pasta and tapas on a Sunday evening after 6pm. Obviously this was really disappointing because on our last visit, our party of 14 were very well looked after with plenty of choice. I understand it's not the staffs fault, they are just doing what they are told but the choice was just really disappointing, my brother is vegan and the only choice for him was a veggie pizza with no cheese. The tapas menu 4 for £20 was hardly a good deal with the 'cheese plate' being 3.5 meager slices of manchego cheese for £5. The other dish several small slices of chorizo also £5. With staff being adamant that only that food was available, at least have it available...2 portions of mushrooms left, 1 portion of croquettes left. On the question if chips being available, apparently potatoes are only peeled on a Monday is probably the most ridiculous statement I've ever heard. On ordering the pasta to be fair, they did prepare a lasagne for me with believe it or not some chips which were fine despite being peeled last Monday apparently...they could only do the chips because it came with the lasagne...eh I'm very confused now... despite only offering pizza and pasta and on the menu apparently pasta comes with garlic ciabatta. Nope! None left...oh and forgot a dessert even though they were in the fridge...nope not available but I can have ice cream? Honestly by this point it had become a running joke really. Apparently this change only happened a couple of months ago, probably to feed the outside beer garden crowd. Honestly this table had been booked well in advance, you'd have thought a bit of planning might have taken place in advance if this. Considering if dessert was available the business could have earned an additional £7 per head I found the whole experience to be completely bizarre, a whole different experience to the last time we dined with the family. Looked like we'll be choosing a different venue next time or maybe order ahead and certainly not on a Sunday evening....so very very disappointing but in fairness to the staff I think they did their best with the instructions they were working to. Apart from the tapas the food that came was nice enough but being a foodie, that pizza was not fior de latte but standard pizza mozzarella. Just a disappointing but...