New Dungeon Ghyll - South Lakeland

Was recommended this place. Looked good. Small menu so hopefully fresh and in a beautiful setting. Sign on blackboard in bar said ‘ask us for vegetarian options’ being vegetarian I did just this and was told I could have the chicken Caesar salad without the chicken, bacon and anchovies… so a bowl of lettuce with some Parmasan shavings then… or the pasta without the chicken… both at the same coast as with meat. That was it. Absolutely awful. So, now don’t laugh, went for the roast beef dinner with no gravy and fed the beef to my dogs, if I have to pay for it then they can eat it. So had a couple of roast potatoes, parsnips and carrots with some mixed greens and a Yorkshire pud for £16! We all had ‘haloumi’ fries as starters, shame they were covered in breadcrumbs and frozen and then deep fried.. I know haloumi is chewy.. but these were like rubber. Took nearly any hour from starters being cleared to being asked if we were ready for mains… One redeeming thing was the lovely chap singing… but he’s not there every day. My family enjoyed their food, and the dogs loved the roast beef, but if you are a vegetarian then stay well clear…

We tried here as well as the Old Dungeon Ghyll and were firmly in agreement that the Old was comfortably the better of the two. There was a real lack of atmosphere here, the staff were unfriendly and the food average at best.

Visited hotel over a few days and met a few fellow walkers, nice lounge area, saw staff being overworked, so not suprized rooms were unclean. Small food portions, overheard staff talking about portions too, management was cold with no people skills and hid away from any conversations.. food way overpriced and charge 1.50 for choc bar. Lovely views and walks in the area but when asking about the food the chefs were cold and hostile. My advice would be bring food with you and a bottle opener

We had lunch in the Hikers Bar after a long walk and found it to be very pleasant. A small lunchtime menu (with Specials) but the food was excellent quality and unpretentious (I had a veggie curry and my wife had soup) and really nicely presented. There is also a good range of beers. The bar is designed for hikers so is rather basic but the tables are lovely scrubbed pine and very clean. The staff were helpful and friendly. We would certainly return to this venue.

We visited with family this month. The room was a VERY basic twin room, it had numerous cobwebs in the bathroom, nowhere to put your toiletries, clearly not cleaned properly from previous occupants, not enough hangers in the wardrobe, my headboard was on a 45 degree angle, it stunk of smelly dog. The Bar area was ok, but didn 't feel right sitting in there (as a hotel guest) when all sundry can walk in. The dining room, dirty menu covers, no fresh linen on the table, no linen tablecloths, no bread rolls, and yet they say on their menu they have homemade bread I think we saw it twice in 4 days, (probably an uncut loaf from the shop) service of some of the staff was dreadful, the food was very basic repetitive, breakfast was dreadful to the point where some mornings it was inedible, we had a pudding also unedible. I can appreciate the short staffed issue, but it 's not the paying guests fault, if you can 't cope then you need to half or quarter your capacity of guests, until you get it right. Would we come again............most definitely not, its a shame because the scenery was amazing.