We stopped on way back to Dun Laorghaire harbour and were pleasantly surprised. Great value dinner; attentive staff; convenient location - only a few miles from motorway; town was easy walking distance. Would recommend to others travelling through ireland.

Stayed for one night to attend a friends wedding and must say the hotel has a lot going for it. The decor of the bar, terraced garden, function room is lovely throughout, the staff especially the bar staff, are excellent and we were very well looked after, (and for you critics out there i was not drinking so this is not one of those 'they served us all night' mails) The staff are local, pleasant and hard working. The food at the wedding was excellent, as was the breakfast and the late lunch we had the day after. The hotel seems to do a busy sunday lunch trade as well as the bar was hopping, our party were sitting in the lobby and we were not once made as though we were using precious space as some hotels we have previously stayed in made us feel.
One small downside is that the bedroom we were in had no air-con nor would the windows open properly so the sleep was not the most comfortable as the room was rather stuffy, but we were there for a celebration so such a thing can be overlooked!
Would happily visit and stay in this hotel again.

When we arrived, I thought the hotel looked old fashioned and a bit grim. Our room was fine; comfortable beds and everything we needed was provided. We had booked a weekend special which included dinner, but this seemed to only include the main course. Although, to be fair, the main course was huge and I doubt if we could have squeezed in a dessert. On our second night, we only had starters; these were larger than some main courses in other hotels.
The staff were extremely helpful and pleasant, apart from one of the receptionists who gave off about 'our' son running around; it wasn't our son at all, but she declined to apologise. This did leave us with a rather bad feeling on check out.
On the downside, there's not much to do in Abbeyleix.

Our room was nice and clean, and check in was easy. Our dinner, however, was pretty terrible, as was the bar service. They didn't have any cider (Strongbow, Bulmer's) available, nor did they know how to make a martini! Very strange for a bar. We stuck to the continental breakfast the next day.

Lesson learned- If a restaurant claims to be "the best in the Midlands", don't believe them!