I was in New Plymouth on business and did not pay for this b&B so can't comment on the price but New Plymouth is a sweet town and coming to home and waking up at the Nice Hotel has the qualities of coming home. The food is good, the rooms quirky and interesting and library full of books that are worth browsing. It is across from a lovely church with wonderful old trees. New Plymouth is a walking city with good museums. I loved coming home to the Nice Hotel and had a room with a tiny but lovely porch. Terri is your instant knowledgeable pal. My husband played golf that Terri arranged and that worked very well indeed.

We had so been looking forward to our Easter break at the Nice Hotel. The hotel and its owner Terry had been highly recommended to us. We were also looking for somewhere to hold a special private function later in the year and hoped that the Bistro (Table restaurant) at the Nice Hotel would fit the bill.

To start with the positives: the hotel is well situated and the rooms (although small) are well appointed with lovely decor, good quality beds, towels, pillows etc and the bathrooms are fabulous. The staff were welcoming and friendly. Sparky the hotel dog was a real treasure and we also enjoyed the library with complimentary port.

However, the experience was disappointing for a number of reasons. Firstly, at $230 per night, we would have expected breakfast to be included but it was not. Secondly, service was quite variable. The milk and coffee in the fridges were not topped up and neither were the bathroom essentials. When I asked for some bath/shower gel, I was given some half used tubes of body moisturiser which I thought was quite odd. Wi-fi was also charged for, albeit a small fee. The other problem was road noise. The hotel is on the corner of Brougham and Vivan Streets and the latter is a triple carriageway thoroughfare so even at night is very noisy indeed (and I usually sleep through most things). I know there is little the hotel can do about this but it is the one factor that would prevent me returning to the Nice.

The most disappointing experience was our dinner at the Bistro on the final evening. My partner is vegetarian. There was choice for the starters but only one main which at $35 for some beetroot jelly and chick pea salad was very poor value for money (and as someone above has said, this would be expensive even in Auckland). In fact, the order was mixed up and my partner did not receive his main meal at the same time as mine and so he was offered a complimentary dessert. This consisted of rhubarb which was so tough and uncooked a chainsaw would not have helped. This was then swapped for another dessert. In all, we were just so disappointed as we had been very much looking forward to the experience and it did not deliver. On the other hand, the decor and ambience in the Bistro is lovely and there is an impressive wine list. The lamb that I had was very tasty even if a bit small.

So, the low down is that the hotel is lovely but not worth the money. I would think about going back for a return visit as long as Terry was in town (he was away) as I do wonder if service standards had slipped in his absence.

Will start by saying that the owner Terry is away which may be why things are so sloppy here but our three night stay was a real disappointment. At two hundred dollars plus a night shouldn't have to remind them to refill coffee shower gel etc but that was only start. Turn down service first night only . Despite wording of heritage inn brochure breakfast
not included
nor is wireless access which we paid for and they gave us wrong
password. All forgiveable
for a hotel lacking a manager albeit one that charges two hundred plus dollars a night but the bistro was shocking . Prices are expensive for Auckland but one main didn't arrive , the dessert was inedible and to add insult to injury our bill had been combined with another table so we had to re dictate all we had had to them otherwise we would have been overcharged by hundreds of dollars. You can forgive a couple of errors but this was ongoing incompetence and lack of guest
care. Truly disappointing

I cannot speak too highly of this hotel and especially its bistro. Don't expect a lavish reception area - just a pleasant Kiwi welcome and rooms which are both well appointed and clean. Everything worked fine and even though some guests might find the roadside room a little noisy frankly the quality of the rest of the amenities makes this a really minor distraction.

The real star of this hotel though is the bistro. The menu is imaginative, the food beautifully prepared and the service welcoming and discreet. The wine list is equally impressive and it is clear that being rural NZ the establishment is unable to command the large mark ups that restaurants in the large centres sting you with - maintain this feature please!!

We were going to book the hotel for friends of ours travelling down for a special event later in the year only to find that the hotel is already full.

If staying again in New Plymouth, whether for business or pleasure this will surely be the number one choice.