Lympstone Manor Hotel Restaurant & Vineyard - Relais & Chateaux

We recently had lunch at Lympstone Manor when they were offering a special lunchtime deal. This place is beautiful, the setting is idyllic and we were very well looked after on arrival. After some drinks and canapés, we were taken to our table and shortly given our appetiser. Then nothing happened for 45 minutes, we watched tables around us being served ahead of us, and were confused what was happening. Because it’s such a posh restaurant and there was so many staff, we figured they must know that we were waiting so we left it longer than usual to point out that we hadn’t even had starters. By the time they arrived we had been sat there for an hour and after a 90 minute drive to the restaurant we were starting to run out of things to talk about, and were generally feeling awkward about the delay. We’d also eaten two bread rolls eat because we had been waiting so long and we’re very hungry which then really took the edge of our appetite for the main event. The food was all very nice and the rest of it came in a timely manner afterwe’d complained. The waiter did remove our soft drinks from the bill, (approximately £10) and offered to remove the service charge, but we declined that offer. I wouldn’t have written a negative review if it was just this instance, but the time before that, when we visited in April 2024, we were saying in one of the shepherds huts, and went for dinner at the new poolside restaurant. Again, we waited a fair amount of time for our starters, and when our main courses came, they were wrong so had to be sent back. When they returned with our food, our steak was half the size of the original overcooked one, the chips still had truffle on, which we’d asked to not be added, and our mushroom is missing. We ate this meal though. as it was getting late. In the end they didn’t charge us for a meal, but it was our anniversary and we had gone and stayed there as a special treat & especially to enjoy delicious food, and so had been left very disappointed and unsatisfied. I was expecting them to invite us back for dinner at a reduced rate or a complimentary meal, but they didn’t. And then again visiting this week I was left disappointed by what is a Michelin star restaurant. Maybe we have just been unlucky.

First the really good bits. The hotel is in a beautiful location. We arrived on a sunny afternoon and spent some time wandering through the vinyard and down to the estuary, back via the sculptures and the pool, all very impressive and the hotel looks very beautiful from the grounds. The service when we arrived was excellent, valet parking, a tour of the hotel and our Grand Estuary Suite was extremely luxurious and very beautifully decorated, we really appreciated the roll top bath and the outside seating area. The staff here seemed to be quite young and friendly, I thought a less formal approach might suit the team better. The interior of the hotel itself is very pleasant, we had no problem in ordering cocktails in the bar/lounge. I was surprised that the food was not quite up to the standard I was expecting, based on experience in other Michelin starred establishments. We had the tasting menus and my Vegetarian menus had one less course listed and cost the same as my husbands meat based one. We had to ask for a cheese course to be included so that we both had 8 courses. The meat and fish based menu had lots of top grade ingredients such as caviar but the vegetarian offering was rather dull and the portions were far too small, much smaller than the normal menu. There were no really stand out courses or any great innovation in either of the meals. There was no provenance given for the butter, as it was the same at breakfast |I assume it was not from anywhere they wanted to declare. The waitress was friendly but struggled to explain the courses too us. This was a special occasion for us and the meal was somewhat spoiled by an exceedingly long wait between some of the courses in the middle of the meal. At this price point, £255 for the 8 course menu, everything needs to be spot on. The wine list had a good selection at all price points. Lastly, the terrible. This was the worst breakfast I have eaten in hotel that I can remember. There was a lot of evidence of scrimping with the fresh fruit dished up in small dishes rather than put out for guests to help themselves to. There was only orange juice - which was issued by the glass by the waitress, not out to help yourself to. Our cooked breakfast took an hour to arrive, how can this even happen? The waitress was embarrassed and didn't know what to say, in fact she said it was on its way when it wasn't. When it did arrive it had tinned tomato, which is unacceptable. The waitress assured us she had told the general manager about the long delay but no apology was issued when we checked out. I am sure that it is very expensive and challenging to run a hotel to the standard this one sets for itself, but scrimping on breakfast and having insufficient kitchen staff to get the food out in time is a false economy. An extra charge for breakfast would be better than this situation. If the manager wants to see what the best hotel breakfast looks like a trip down the road to the Pig at Combe might be a good idea.

This is an example of the best in customer service, fine dining and beautiful surroundings, all of the staff are incredibly professional and helpful, the tasting menu was superb as was the a la carte, and lunch in the pool house was equal in quality, breakfast was individually Cooked and of the same standard as everything else, absolutely no complaints about my weekend at Lympstone Manor and we will go again

I have wanted to visit Lympstone for years. We finally were able to pop in for lunch at the Poolside Restaurant on the way to Cornwall. It was a lovely sunny day and the view from the hotel was absolutely glorious. We thoroughly enjoyed the food and service was just the right level of attentiveness. We took a peek inside the hotel on the way out and the staff were very happy to show us round. I now want to actually stay there, praying!

**** WARNING - THE HOTEL HAS TRIED TO GET THIS REVIEW REMOVED SEVERAL TIMES AS THEY CLAIM IT CONTAINS 'PRIVATE' INFORMATION. PLEASE BE ASSURED THAT THE CONTENTS OF THE REVIEW ARE GENUINE AND THE SUPPORTING INFORMATION IS PUBLICLY AVAILABLE **** My family of 4, stayed at Lympstone Manor for 5 nights in April 2025. We had one suite and 2 additional rooms for our teenagers. My total spend was nearly £14,000. The hotel is in a lovely setting and it is extremely quiet and private once you are inside the grounds. The booking process was very friendly and efficient, with the hotel even calling me the day before we arrived to check everything. The rooms were adequate but nothing particularly special. The plumbing in all 3 rooms we had was poor and to flush a toilet properly required several attempts which was really annoying. Housekeeping was generally quite poor. Staff knocked on our door before breakfast on the first morning to ask when they could service the suite. We explained that were about to go for breakfast and asked if they could come after then as we planned to go out for the day. To our surprise, when we returned from breakfast, they had already started to service the room which made it a bit awkward. On the following day, the room was serviced very quickly whilst we were at breakfast. We found that towels were not always replaced with new ones, despite leaving them on the floor. It didn't look like the room was vacuumed during our entire stay. Empty wine bottles, carafes and glasses were left in the room, even after housekeeping had been. The thing that really let the hotel down was the service. There is a nice lounge bar area but there was never anyone actually serving in it. Each time we wanted a drink, we had to go and find someone in reception. This was poor for a supposedly 5-star hotel that is serving champagne cocktails for £27 each. When I order two cocktails for £54, I expect good service and I also expect them to be served with nibbles but they were not. We occasionally saw some other guests being served their drinks with nuts but we never received them. On the first day I questioned whether the cocktails came with nibbles, the staff member who didn't speak very good English, fumbled around and eventually produced a bowel of crisps for which I appear to have been charged £3.50 on my final bill. There always seemed to be one or two members of staff loitering around behind the reception desk doing nothing but never anyone actively attempting to take drinks orders. Even ordering another round of drinks meant getting up to find someone. The only member of staff who was proactive in this regard was their apprentice Joe who was really impressive for his age. The hotel had surprisingly few guests when we were staying. One staff member claimed the hotel was 'half full' but I would be surprised if that was even the case. Dinner in the pool house was comical. There was just one front of house member of staff tasked with doing pre

Had afternoon tea here. For a hotel of such standing and what they charge, we expected something outstanding and a little more special. It was disappointing. The finger sandwiches were starting to dry around the edges, and not very generous with the fillings. The cakes were very "samey". Mousse fillings very sweet. A portion of fruit cake or plain Madeira cake would have been nice. Scones were good. Jam - was just red sugary goo.. Wasn't sure whether it was jam. A good choice of teas was available or coffee if you preferred. The decor is starting to look tired, especially the wall light shades.. frilly knickers comes to mind.. The surcharge, which they have the cheek to add to your bill, is definitely not worth it..