Reviews in County Durham

Visited 06th Dec, couldn’t fault anything, restaurant was busy but the staff didn’t falter! Only complaint is you need to invest in some wine glasses, the wine was served in what could only be described as a pop glass.

We visited on the 3rd of December and it was tremendous the food was exceptional and we could not fault the staff they were very attentive 10 out of 10

There was an event in the main room so the evening menu was reduced. Prawn cocktail and parfait starters were ok. My main of mushroom risotto was cold and had to send it back. It was brought back heated up but had the consistency of rice pudding . My partners pork belly main was nicely cooked and the sticky toffee pudding was tasty. My Eton mess desert was basically a bowl of whipped double cream with no meringue and very little else. The service was very good and staff were helpful but half of the meal was very underwhelming

Fabulous Spanish restaurant. Amazing atmosphere, delicious food, good service, fun music! Fantastic vegetarian paella and the profiteroles were divine! Brilliant atmosphere in a cosy restaurant and old interesting building. Thank you! A great place to eat after enjoying the Christmas festival. Only suggestion- May be add a couple more dessert choices.

We went on a Thursday night for some food/drinks. The restaurant was very busy, and a little loud but the atmosphere was good! We ordered the burgers, which were amazing and made our way to the bar area for a couple of drinks, which was nice and cosy, with friendly service!

Excellent meal and service in the bistro. The prawn and crayfish deserve a special mention. Delicious

The food was absolutely delicious. Pork Belly and the Duck. Lovely Christmas atmosphere in the hotel.

Food was cold, dishes were mostly over cooked. Staff didn't seem to care when we told them. No atmosphere and they kept having power cuts. Sangria was nice though

Amazing food and all of the staff were brilliant too.

Very disappointing. Having read other reviews I don’t know if we just happened to go on a bad day, I booked the main restaurant as it was a significant birthday celebration for my mother. In hindsight I wish we had just had a bar meal as the bar was quite busy and I suspect that was the kitchen’s priority. I tried not to make too much of a fuss over my meal as I did not want to spoil the experience for my mother. However I had to give in and send my dauphinois potatoes back as they weren’t cooked. I did say I would have been happy to have them popped in the microwave to finish cooking them, but that did not happen. I waited and then was asked if I would like a different kind of potato as it wasn’t possible to serve the dauphinois. I declined and just had what my mother hadn’t eaten as I didn’t want to delay the meal. I had duck breast, which was as tough as old boots, but to send that back would have definitely delayed the meal and spoiled the occasion. Despite all this my mother enjoyed her meal of Dover sole, which at the end of the day was the main thing. If it was not a special occasion and just my husband and I eating I would have sent it back. There was no discount on the final bill to reflect the problem, which was also disappointing. On the positive side the staff were very friendly, but on the whole there was a lack of attention to detail.

Food is excellent but the service is very poor we ate there on the sat night 13 of us and we were over 3 hours in there the kids were falling asleep .it seems it’s all young disinterested young staff it’s a shame because the hotel is beautiful they brought a dessert menuthen came back 35 mins later to see if we wanted anything !,,, it was the same in the bar we had the dirty plates and pots on the table for a couple of hours I had to ask them to clear the tables they just kept walking passed looking at them but I have to say there was 1 young man in the carvery on Sunday he is a credit to you hard working dark hair and glasses sorry I’ve forgotten his name they need to be taking a leaf out of his book

Four of us stayed in the hotel on Saturday night and had dinner in the restaurant. It was an exceptionally good! It was beautifully presented and we all said that it was probably one of the nicest meals we have had of late. Compliments to the chef and team who also made me feel very special on my birthday. Would highly recommend.

Lovely restaurant with cosy decor. Food was really nice but more vegetarian choices needed please. Food did take quite a while to come but we were t too bothered. Staff really helpful and competent too.

Went for Sunday lunch x 4 of us. Meal was very poor. The beef was tough and there was no extra vegetables brought to the table. My review is late due to my being away on holiday. I feel bad that I recommeded tthe Hall Garth for Sun lunch but I had been there for afternoon tea and had stopped over with an evening meal and it was lovely. The staff were lovely but I wouldnt recommend Sunday lunch again not for the price we paid. We should have made our disappointment known at the time.

Lovely food and great service. Very quiet so not much atmosphere but not their fault. Will go back

Came tonight - wanted a three course meal but left after two. The starters - garlic mushrooms - gorgeous. Chicken Pate - tasteless, needed seasoning unfortunately and the toast felt like dehydrated breadstick. It wasn’t great. Side salad was lovely. The mains - both were gorgeous - fish and chips and Cumberland sausage. The service - absolutely dire. If we were mystery customers you’d have been slated for the service. We weren’t asked if things were okay, we weren’t asked if we wanted another drink with empty glasses, we weren’t asked if we wanted desserts (which we did), we weren’t asked anything. It was just a bit crap, you want to be waited on when you go out for a meal, it’s supposed to be a nice and effortless and it just got annoying so we left. We will come back because the Sunday dinners are lovely but I’m hoping the service is better next time - perhaps some staff training might help.

My husband and my daughter and I had dinner at The Farmer's Arms recently and the first thing I would say is if you're planning a visit, make a reservation. We were there on a very busy Wednesday evening but we were quickly shown to our table which was clean and set. We chose our food from the three courses for £10 menu and each course was delicious. The food was very well presented and we were not disappointed with any of it. Unfortunately we were somewhat disappointed with the service. We waited just over thirty minutes after sitting down before the waitress came to see if we had ordered anything. At this point we hadn't even ordered drinks so we asked for drinks and gave her our food orders. To be fair the food arrived quite quickly after ordering but we had to remind the waitress we had asked for drinks. We were asked if we would like any sauces to accompany our food and my daughter asked for mayonnaise which never appeared. The value for money with the three courses for £10 is excellent and the choices on the menu were plentiful but the place was very busy which definitely had an effect on the level of service the night we were there.