Appuldurcombe Room, Royal

This hotel is top notch, the staff are more than welcoming a lovely venue for occasions. I would fully recommend the royal ventnor iow.

I went here with my girlfriend and mum to celebrate my girlfriends birthday. We started the evening with cocktails in the bar, which were delightful. We then dined in the grand dining room. The staff were incredibly attentive and friendly- tending to our every need. We had five courses with the highlight being the garlic risotto- made with garlic grown on the Island! To conclude the evening the whole waiting staff sang happy birthday to my girlfriend. A massive thank you to Stefan and his team for making the evening so great!

What a shame, had high expectations, food was not at fault, compliments to the chef but service was non existent, in fact we were treated as if we didn’t even exist. Originally booked Afternoon tea for 3 to celebrate a family members birthday, however as they were poorly and could not attend my partner and I still decided to attend on this rainy afternoon.When we arrived at 3.45pm it was quite busy, there was a table set up for 2 but it was right next to the entrance to the hotel bar and an empty table next to the windows at the front of the hotel.I called a waiter over and asked if we could move to the other table and they were obliging helping me and my partner move the plates and cutlery, that’s where the service ended. The afternoon tea arrived for 3 not 2, despite the fact we phoned them earlier this day to advise it would be for 2 and our table was only set up for 2, when they realised they quickly scurried the third tea away. We were enjoying the food and thought we may include some champagne and upgrade tea, but not one waiter for the rest of our time there came over. No one came over to ask if we were enjoying it nor if everything was alright. Several of the other tables and parties ended and within 45mins of us being there a manager appeared and with other staff members started moving furniture around us, they continued to ignore us and kept moving furniture and talking loudly over the banging of the furniture which overall was really distracting to the point I was struggling to hear my partner talk and was actually in disbelief that they could all see us there including the manager and they totally ignored us or the fact we had not finished our tea, I was so shocked I actually took a video and photos and they didn’t look at us once. I had to eventually stop a waiter in his tracks to ask for a box and again fr the bill. The bill arrived and the charged us for 3 teas??? So we then had to again flag another person down to redo the bill, I am gutted because we were really looking forward to spoiling ourselves and the food was good, but the service ruined the whole thing, I am thankful that the birthday girl didn’t have to experience that as that would have been mortifying.

I paid a few pence short of £50 for a three-course meal at this grand old lady of a hotel, which BTW I've been visiting for 30 years. I'm still in shock! My starter comprised a piece of duck no bigger than my little finger, and this was followed by a piece of lamb which, while tasty, was no bigger than a box of matches. At breakfast my cafetiere contained ONE cup of coffee and my cooked breakfast comprised one piece of bacon, one very average sausage, and one tablespoon of scrambled egg. What has happened here Mr Bailey? I know food costs have risen but this is ridiculous. It's as simple as this: I can no longer afford to eat at this hotel. If I come again, it'll be on a B&B basis only. I'll have my dinner elsewhere!

An excellent meal was had by all this evening. One gluten intolerant in the party and one vegetarian, they were both very well catered for. Staff were so friendly and efficient. Will definitely be back and look forward to their tasting menu being reintroduced in October.