Penhelig Arms Hotel — Restaurant in Wales

With reference to our recent stay here I was most dissatisfied with the experience as a whole. We have been coming here for numerous years and have never had a problem however, this year has been very different. One of the main reasons we stay here was because of the friendly staff and dog friendly hotel. I have a 3 year old rescue dog who struggles with busier situations so when we left the room we politely asked that the dog must not be disturbed as it makes him very anxious and when the room needed cleaning we would take him out however, this was ignored as the cleaners disturbed him which left my dog scared and shaking upon return to which he had been crying for an hour (duration the time we were out) due to his condition it makes it very difficult to take him into busier situations such as meal times in pubs. He is crate trained and is left no longer than 2 hours and doesnt make a noise unless disturbed (we have cameras in our house). When we received the first phone call from the manager he stated that the dog had been whinnying for a short amount of time and was checking the dog was ok we explained the situation however, the following day the manager rang back after the cleaners had disturbed him yet again and was very abrupt and rude. When i confronted the manager about this matter i was very apologetic and understanding that this could of caused some frustration however, the manager proceeded to be arrogant, unreasonable and NOT dog friendly. He stated unless i was buying food from his hotel I was not to leave my dog unattended at all. Based on the issues i have raised this is disgusting behaviour.

Furthermore, on day 1 on arrival the shower head was leaking within the shower cubicle, i dont not feel this was an issue as it was inly a small amount. Day 2 i had a knock on the door whilst i was showering to say there was a leak coming from our room. The manager made us feel very uncomfortable by excusing us of getting water over the bathroom floor. The following day a plumber had clearly fixed the leak however, this did not cure the problem so the problem was obviously elsewhere yet when we were speaking to staff they said that the manager had told everyone that the dog had made the mess over the floor not only is this wrong this is very unprofessional.

As we have been coming to the hotel for many years we have become friendly with many of the staff all of which have stated that the hotel has gone down hill and the management is very poor. I even witnessed bad attitude from the manager towards to staff.

I would not stay here again unless a new manager...

The suite was spacious, clean and lightly decorated with sufficient storage, comfortable bed and beautiful bathroom facilities. Two teabags were left each day and a small amount of sugar, thankfully we had brought our own. The train behind the suite was barely noticeable. Parking was provided but not always adhered to by other guests. The main issue for us was that although I told the booking system that my husband had limited Motability, the suite was accessed at the top of a metal winding staircase outside the hotel without lighting for 1 out of the 3 nights that we stayed. There was overhanging bushes which did not let anyone hold on to the partial handrail. There was however another way to access the suite and indeed the restaurant for our meals this was down a quite steep gradient hill The staff were not always consistent. Dave the manager was more than helpful and gave us a warm welcome. The young man on dinner service on Monday night was a very hardworking, but rushed member of staff. This was due to the fact there were only two members of staff working both the hotel and restaurant. Service was slow but understandable On Weds evening we were treated to another member of staff a lady who was lovely except for the fact she took away our starter dishes and immediately arrived with our mains.The young lady on morning service seemed to share her smile for other colleagues and not residents. This of course changed on the last morning when she cheerfully announced that the hotel had run out of eggs, if we wanted eggs then we would have to wait 10 mins. The lady on the Thursday evening service seemed quite cheery and had a hold of service. The food on the whole was very good. The steak, garlic mushrooms, prawn cocktail and pate especially. However the dish which really needs a mention is the Hunters Chicken snitzel was so good i had it twice, The same with the soup. The food that need reviewing is the crumble, this was under mixed and the pie which had a hard pastrey. I know that this hotel has had a recent refurbishment but some health and safety and basics...

I’m unable to review the room as we did not stay, however we did pop in for a Sunday lunch. Could see it was busy and it appeared to be under staffed. However poor organisation and miss management compounded what appeared was already a problem for them. To start with we had no idea where to go to be seated and once seated we were given no instruction of where to order. We then queued at the bar for a while to order our drinks, there wasn’t one dedicated person behind the bar so someone would have there order taken and then that member of staff would disappear for 5 minutes ready for another random member or staff to come in taking orders, it was just messy. After waiting we finally had someone take an order for our food, unfortunately greeting us all sweaty and hot and bothered it was rather off putting to be honest. Most of what we wanted they didn’t have. There was a speaker on the bar that was quite loud so they were unable to hear us order our food and he just kept his back to us so we ended up shouting out orders to him.

We then waited approx 20 mins for the starter which was fine, the soup of the day was stone cold, the chicken tenders were tiny and cost £7, a disappointing start.

We then sadly waited probably 50 minutes for our mains. Our dishes from our starters remained on our tables for over half an hour as staff members walked past them multiple times. I had to ask for them to be cleared. Whilst waiting we could see into the kitchen and our dishes sat on the hot plate for over 20 mins. By the time it got to us the coleslaw on my plate was warm and dried up it was sat there so long.

The place has so much potential but sadly it’s so understaffed for a popular destination and therefore the quality and...