We booked the room with one day in advance and we were offered only the the-luxe room, really expensive. Well, the room was spacious but absolutely ordinary. The bathroom had problems with the hot water (according to the personnel, to have hot water we had to open SIMOULTANEOUSELY the bath, the shower! It is not acceptable.
The swimming pool was small and the spa was not working on tuesday, the day in which I was there.
But the dinner was a really fantastic experience.
So, I'd suggest to go there only for the restaurant, choose another hotel!

This hotel has everything, situated on the banks of the river Yonne, it has a table gourmande with chef Jean-Michel Lorain, fabulous bedrooms overlooking the river with private terraces,equipped with sun loungers and a table and chairs, an indoor swimming pool, garden overlooking the river , a spa, very comfortable bar with fire burning in grate (october visit ) and a little gift shop. Across the road is a wine cellar selling local wines. There are regular cooking schools held. All situated on the edge of the small town of Joigny.
The food was delicious and the wine selection superb. The staff were excellent and made you feel very welcome. Our room was very modern and the bathroom huge. A lovely place to stay, look forward to staying there again.

We stayed at La Cote Saint Jacques for one night on our way home (South East UK) from Decize (Loire). The primary purpose of our visit was to try the restaurant so we selected the lowest tarrif rate for a double room at 200 Euros.

The hotel is on the opposite side of the river a little away from the main part of the town and the town itself doesn't look anything special, at least based on our short drive through it. We were able to park right outside on a Saturday daytime and a porter immediately arrived to take our luggage, park our car and show us to our room. From start to finish we cannot fault the service form any of the staff.

Our room - Number 10 on the first floor of the part of the building that is away from the river - was spacious but rather dated. Furniture and decoration was of poor quality (think early nineties Hilton). The bathroom, however, although a little dated in style was sparkly clean with a big deep bath and shower over the bath. The TV was small. Large windows on the bedroom side overlooked a rather grotty rooftop of part of the hotel below and there was no view. The window to the front of the room (by the wardrobe and bathroom) overlooked the road. The bed itself was king size and very comfortable. Additional pillows were provided. So overall not bad. We've had much better rooms for the same price, but for the convenience of bring right by the restaurant, it was fine.

The restaurant itself was fabulous. We had the Menu Gourmand and, at around £500 for two including a champagne apperetif and some nice wines by the glass, it certainly isn't something we'd do often, but as a treat meal for the end of our holiday, it was definitely an experience worthy of its awarded three MIchelin stars. The chef is not 'safe traditional' (like Waterside Inn) neither is he a gastro-physicist (like Blumenthal) but pleasantly in-between the two so you have some truly interesting dishes like the lobster with liquorice sauce (absolutely stunning) and the skate with coconut milk and kaffir lime (to die for). The only issue with the meal ... being so full by the pre-dessert that I could only have small amounts of the two main desserts that followed! But goodness me it was worth trying!

I would definitely recommend the restaurant for those that like to dine at that level and don't mind paying the price-tag that comes with it. The hotel, at least for the room we had, was definitely only average for the price, but not unpleasant.

This hotel has "have" or "have not" rooms. The rooms next to the river have a view and have air conditioning. In a second building across the street the rooms have no view (except of the parking lot) and no air conditioning. No air conditioning during the summer months makes the rooms very uncomfortable. The decorating is out of date - do not think quaint antiques, think the disco era. It is not obvious from the website the huge differential in room quality so be careful when booking. You can save about $500 (for two) if you skip the dinner and eat in town.