very good stay staff very polite and efficient .food was first class rooms clean and well serviced .overall 10 out of 10

Stayed at the Casa for 2 nights. Booked online as the photos of the executive rooms looked just what we wanted for a base while travelling around the area visiting family and we arrived early Thursday evening to check in. The receptionist was rather curt when my husband said that our booking included a newspaper of our choice "show me where you read that?" he was asked and no apology was forthcoming when the relevant information was pointed out. Our room was 63 which was just about the furthest you could get from reception. No indication of the distance or help with our bags was offered. We were extremely disappointed with the executive double room which was at best a standard double, based on our years of experience in using hotels. The pictures on the website of these executive rooms may apply to some but not to the majority. In fact on departure my husband inquired as to what made this an executive room and was told that some of them had four poster beds - needless to say ours was not one of those but was still charged as so. There were many small irritations that made this room sub standard for executive, such as only one set of towels and no one answering the reception telephone causing one of us to have to traipse back to reception to ask for further towels. The seal around the shower door in the bathroom was non existence and thus the water leaked over the floor when we used the shower, making the floor dangerously slippy. There was no extractor fan in the bathroom so that when the shower or bath was used then the windows and mirrors in the bedroom steamed up, which may account for the slight musty smell that lingered in the room. The walls of the room are quite thin and we could hear the conversation in the room next door as well as the occupants using the shower and toilet. We were also disappointed with the lack of wifi reception in the lounge, which we could never gain access to, dispite having the relevant codes. Very poor mobile reception in our room was another minus point and I fail to see how business people would be satisfied with this level of technology. Having to wander the car park while using my mobile later on in the evening was not ideal.

In contrast, we had lunch and an evening meal on Friday. We were mostly looked after by Linda, the manager, who was the personification of professionalism and friendliness, who made us both feel thoroughly spoilt. Our lunchtime sandwiches were nice and our evening meal in the restaurant was excellent. All the restaurant staff were attentive without being obtrusive and the timing of the food delivery was spot on, even though the restaurant was very busy. A small quibble would be that my husband requested a coffee and when it arrived it was just a small cup, the choice of perhaps a pot of coffee, especially at lunchtime, would have been nice.

Breakfast offered a good variety across the board, nicely presented and kept warm. Personally I was delighted to see mugs on the table, as I do enjoy my morning "cuppa", but was dismayed when a small teapot was then placed on the table, which only filled the mug once!

On balance, we would not hesitate to use the restaurant again but would double check on what room we were actually getting before booking into the hotel to stay.

Not what I was expecting. The blurb made it sound luxurious etc.. The room I got was far from it. The TV was small had very, very poor signal, and only 5 channels. The bathroom sink, I kid you not, was patched up with some silicon gel stuff. I am not talking a small spot I am talking a massive chunk the size of a large mango, but this kind of goes along with the rest of the bathroom, OLD<, DATED and POOR QUALITY. The shower gel and shampoo was 1 product from a squeezy bottle attached to the wall. The sinks one was empty (probably used to patch up the hole) the shower’s one thankfully had some gel in it.

The room was basic to say the least, while the bed was comfortable it only had two pillows for a double bed and they were of a poor quality.

There was no wifi in my room. Internet had to be from a cable. Not good if you only have an I pad (other brands are available)

The room was clean however.

I do think the hotel has better rooms. Mine was in the basement area below the rear car park. The upper floors probably have better rooms.

The restaurant.
Don’t bother with the set menu. I was on a business trip so had limited spends so I had to if I wanted 2 courses. I got the Ham, duck egg and triple cooked chips. I got ham, which was no better than most Bernard Mattews (God rest his soul), two duck eggs (A bout the same size as large chicken eggs) and triple cooked chips (no better than once cooked chips to be fair). This was very uninspiring a bit dry and tasteless. The other options looked no better. The dessert was quite tasty however - rice pudding. The service was ok but it did take 3 reminders (subtle acknowledging looks to the waiter) and 15 minutes for my first drink to arrive.

There was loads of parking.

Breakfast was ok. Nothing to write home about.

Despite my negative opinions of the place I would give it a second chance but beg for a room upgrade and order from the al a carte menu and hope it fills me.

We last visited this restaurant on 20 January 2012 and I posted a very poor review of our experiences that evening.
The management responded with an invitation to go again - with a generous discount on the bill!

We went as a party of 4 on 16 May, and the evening was a complete contrast to our previous visit.
The service on this occasion was very good, and the food excellent. The whole organisation was immensely better - plenty of very well trained waiting staff - and drinks and wine came promptly.

We shall certainly use this restaurant again.