Carton House, A Fairmont Managed Hotel

Went for morning coffee recently with a friend. Lovely venue in which to relax. However, the coffees were barely warm, the scones were heated without requesting such, (I always wonder if this means they're not fresh!) and having asked for jam with the scones, we were given marmalade! Marmalade is for toast! We were told that they was no jam. We later asked her a second coffee, asking that it be hotter and were duly served them so. Our waitress was lovely but management needs to look at what it offers. Would expect their prices to reflect the service & product.

Iconic is one word for it, but for all the wrong reasons. We were a party of four (two adults, two children), and we choose this with expectation, given the premium pricing, of a five star standard both in terms of service and quality. From the outset it failed to impress, there was notable issues with service. Lukewarm colored water was served for the tea (breakfast tea and whiskey cream tea). Sugar was missing from the table, milk was no where to be found. it seems like an inconvenience to the servers when we requested milk. When the food arrived, the kids food (sandwiches) arrived first, followed by a significant delay to their cakes, all the while the adults were left waiting 5-10 mins for their plates. We were informed that tea's were "unlimited", yet it was a struggle to even obtain a second cup of tea. When it finally did arrive, we had to request new cups (as we had changed flavors - in particular from a hot chocolate to tea), and this seemed like a shock and inconvenience to the servers. the tea's arrived and we waited again for cups, as which point we had enough and requested that our items be packed up to go. One of the kids ordered a sprite half way through and this did not arrive until we were due to leave. We were informed that this would be "comped" ..but the "mandatory service charge" was applied to the value. We were given boxes to pack ourselves - which I wasn't expecting given this is not the case from other experiences i have been too at a similar price point. i would suggest to stay clear of this experience - although the gold room was pretty, and views out to the grounds were lovely - everything else was a total disappointment. book shelbourn / merrion instead for an experience thats 100 times better.

Beautiful from the outside lovely greetijg from Outside doorman set the tone but unfortunately went downhill from here, queue for reception, left standing for some time no offer of seats whilst waiting. No offer to bring bags to rooms. Ordered drinks in lobby bar bottle of champagne cheap champagne flutes no coasters and when we asked for some we were told there are none!? Not even napkins to put under our glasses. Service slow had to keep getting up to get service. And then Drinks then served one by one not all together. Very disappointing. Food in Kathleen’s excellent if this could only be replicated in service and across all touch points. Breakfast in outside club house. Underwhelming experience. Overall not a five star but five star prices. Very disappointing.

Superb experience in Kathleen’s Kitchen this evening, incredible braised beef paired with excellent Rioja thanks to Sommelier Alex. Level and quality of service and food of the highest standard.

Great evening. Ismael looked after us very well for dinner