Courtyard Biel/Bienne

Location is ok, but during winter time still quite cold to walk to train station. Overall is a very new hotel, staff is friendly.

This is a review of the Courtyard's restaurant Bluma - not the hotel. We were a group of 9 people who had lunch at the hotel's restaurant yesterday. The restaurant has a rather nice selection of smaller dishes (a tasting menu) from around the world (e.g. quesadillas, Bao buns, falafels, etc.). The idea is that you order 2-3 items and, if possible, share dishes at your table. In general, a nice concept and a nice looking restaurant. My issues with the restaurant: - COSTS: the costs are high, especially when going for lunch. The dishes cost from CHF 14.50 - 22.50 and a liter of water cost CHF 12. So, you are easily spending close to CHF 40 per person, assuming you only get 2 dishes. As some of the dishes were really very small, many of us needed 3 dishes. This is a very expensive restaurant, even for Switzerland. - SERVICE (1): the restaurant was empty except for our group (perhaps because of the cost issue above?). We all ordered fairly quickly, but the dishes came out staggered over the next 70 minutes. As I only ordered one dish, I sat there watching everyone else eat as mine (the Goan beef curry) came out last. Why would it take well over an hour to get all the food prepared? There was no one else in the place! And, one of the steak dishes was forgotten and had to be re-ordered, so we had a rather hungry teenage boy for awhile. - SERVICE (2): the wait staff did not understand even basic German, you had to speak French (preferable) or English with them. - SERVICE (3): we asked for separate bills by family which would have meant 5 separate receipts for our group. As the restaurant was completely empty, it should really not have been a problem. Yet, we still received one bill at the end and it was quite difficult to separate. Anyway, I hope the hotel F & B management is reading their reviews and does something to fix their cost and service issues. Again, the concept of a tasting menu is interesting and the reason we selected your restaurant. Consider offering a special lunch menu & price and please do look at the service issues.