Dunbrody Country House Hotel

We had a delicious meal, three courses and a bottle of wine for €111. A little pricey but the food is of exceptional quality. Perfectly fresh and the flavours exquisite. I had pan fried trout and to say it was tasty is to do the dish an in justice!!! It was a lovely evening, spent in calm, relaxed environs.

Excellent experience total relaxation staff fantastic very friendly and professional Food excellent we ate in restaurant bar and local pub and all 3 were excellent Great wine list with good advice Loved that breakfast served until 12 noon

I first visited Dunbrody Country House Hotel in 2013 on a glorious summers day. The sun was shining, the cloudless sky was blue and it was warm. I sat out on the patio and soaked in the setting overlooking the gardens and thought I could easily be in the Italian countryside. When I left, I remember feeling disappointed with the rooms as they seemed tired and showing signs of wear and tear. But that was my missing the point. Like a classic car, Dunbrody is a fine older lady not afraid to show her age and with enough character to give you a memorable journey regardless. Despite my initial disappointment in 2013, I have been back on at least 12 occasions, the latest being last weekend (August 2017). It would appear the place has grown on me - it has a certain charm and character that endear me to it. I say this knowing it is run by a well known Irish Chef and his Wife and with the Irish economy only just recovering, they must have faced considerable headwinds to keep this old building going during the recession. Here's what you wont get at Dunbrody Country House Hotel - its not slick, its not contemporary and it is not a five star luxury property. Yes, the floor boards may creak and every mirror may not be spotless but...its character is its charm. The food is very good for a hotel (as it would be for a hotel run by a Chef). There are various rooms on the ground floor to discover and hide in around the bar which is very cool and backed onto by a patio which is a great escape when the weather is fine. The big lawn and shed to the rear allow great space for children to run and explore. Some of the hotel is a little dated and the rooms are showing signs of use but the staff tell me there is a refurb programme in progress. There is the most charming little Pub on the grounds (which are great for walks by the way!) serving food which I would highly recommend in good weather and the Spa is a hidden little secret (no one told me about it in 4 years!) where the interior is modern and contemporary and the head therapist Laura is very experienced in most beauty and health treatments. One of my biggest complaints of Spa's and therapists in general is the high staff turnover means the service is inconsistent. Laura has been at the hotel for 16 years so you are assured of a great service. When you come to Dunbrody, don't expect perfection. Instead, come ready to walk, to explore, to taste, to savour and even enjoy the odd imperfection that comes with. Like me you may go away a little disappointed...but I suspect you will certainly return.

I have been meaning to write this review for ages. My husband and I try to have a night away to ourselves once a year and this year chose Dunbrody. Although we did enjoy our night away, we were disappointed by a number of issues. We were shown to our room and the first thing I noticed were the grubby windows, I would have been out with my windolene had it been my own house. We went out for a walk, the area surrounding the hotel was just so lacking in attention with empty glasses, pealing paintwork, dead plants, it looked so unloved, not at all what we would have expected. There was a match on, we watched the first half in the local pub and decided to watch the second half in our room while we were getting ready for dinner, no Network 2 in the room so my husband had to head back to the pub. But the piece de la resistance happened at dinner. I ordered a bottle of Fleurie wine at dinner. From memory it was about €40, the maitre d' came back to let me know it was out of stock and suggested an alternative. NO mention was made of price. I still had my menu sitting beside me and I could see the alternative that was suggested was nearly €80, almost double. Thank goodness I did, and that I'm at the stage of my life that I have no issue saying I wouldn't spend €80 on a bottle of wine. I thought it was such poor service and so inconsiderate. I wrote a very polite note the following day Sunday saying I had found the above details disappointing. By Wednesday morning, I had heard no response so I called to make sure the management had received my note. I received a curt email a short time later to say they couldn't be expected to remember the price of each individual wine to which I responded again that I agreed but if some particular wine is out of stock to have at least a replacement suggestion at a similar cost. I didn't receive a response. I don't want to sound sound completely negative. We enjoyed our stay, the food was good, the staff (in the main) were lovely. However it is an expensive night and dinner away and my only reason for writing would be to suggest that there are nicer places to stay where your business will be appreciated a little more.

We were recently given the opportunity for a couple of nights away from the kids. Having seen Dunbrody described as 'luxury' and one of the finest country houses in the world, I was eager to give it a try. Unfortunately, it did not live up to expectations. Our experience had both positives and negatives. On the largely positive side was the food: Overall it was excellent throughout our stay. We first sampled the offerings of The Local, the onsite pub. We were very happy with all we ordered and the chips were divine. Next we tried the Champagne and Seafood Bar within the house itself. The food was again lovely. The Guinness left a bit to be desired. The first one was awful so it was sent back. The second one was only a marginal improvement so we didn't bother to order any more after that. For our last meal we dined in the main restaurant, The Harvest Room. This was definitely the standout experience for all the right reasons. Every single thing was spot on. It certainly lived up to the hype. Breakfast was also served in the Harvest Room each morning and was quite nice. Now for the more negative side, the accommodation: We don't get away too often these days, so we decided to treat ourselves to a suite. The cost was considerably more than a regular room but we thought, what the hell? This was an error and we were majorly disappointed. The room was definitely larger than the average hotel room but unfortunately, that for me was where the positives ended. In general the room was tired and drab and in need of a serious update. There was absolutely nothing special about it whatsoever. - The decor was outdated and the opposite of charming - The bed was smaller than the one we have at home. The smallest I have come across in a suite - The two couches looked fit for a skip - There were robes but no slippers - The shower was temperamental and kept stopping mid-shower - The bathroom lights flickered on and off - The room was extremely warm and stuffy. The outside temp was approx 16C throughout our stay yet our room was stifling. We were grateful for the large fan provided. - There was a balcony/terrace but no furniture out there and no way to keep the door open to allow some fresh air in. It kept slamming shut. - Curtains had been stuck to the walls with tape but all had come unstuck to reveal unsightly tape marks What I found most annoying was that the room looked vastly inferior to the one pictured in the Blue Book. Why place fresh flowers for the picture if you have no intention of providing them for your actual paying guests? Before our trip we imagined that we would spend a lot of time relaxing in our room, lapping up the luxury and enjoying time out of our hectic schedules. Our room turned out to be so uninviting that we spent most of our time off the premises. Thankfully the surrounding area has plenty to offer in terms of sight-seeing. So overall, for what we wanted, we were very disappointed. In spite of the lovely food experiences we won't be back. We live such a distance away that a visit to the restaurant would require an overnight stay and quite frankly I would prefer to stay at home.