Lough Eske Castle

“Overpriced and didn't feel like 5*”

We stayed there with a group of 7 friends travelling the west of Ireland and particularly Donegal. Chose the hotel because of the 5* rating and presumably good food. Let's start with the positives: Check in was smooth, checkout went swiftly, too. Staff in restaurant, bar and front desk generally v… more

We stayed there with a group of 7 friends travelling the west of Ireland and particularly Donegal. Chose the hotel because of the 5* rating and presumably good food. Let's start with the positives: Check in was smooth, checkout went swiftly, too. Staff in restaurant, bar and front desk generally very friendly. We were upgraded to a large room which was really big and clean. Beds were very good. That's it basically. Disappointments: though the name implies it, I was unable to spot the lake anywhere except when leaving / arriving. Only the old castle is charming (and old :-P). The rest the looks ugly and is really large (read: long walks from entrance/car park to your room). Many rooms have a view to the car park :-( and can enjoy noises from drunks or other folks going home (or to the car) after parties. We dined twice in the restaurant. Evening one they simply forgot one person. Delivered their food with something like 10-15min delay. We rejected it and to be fair got a credit for her whole dinner - so mistake was handled professionally. Would have preferred to get 7 instead of 6 dishes, though. Food generally ok, but a bit boring and nowhere near fine dining - both from the quality and more importantly from the creativity - just the usual lamb, angus, salmon etc. you get in all irish restaurants. We didn't use the Spa - so no idea how that may compensate. Generally in my view totally overpriced and really not a 5* hotel. Would certainly not stay there again.

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“Lunch review”

I recently celebrated a wedding anniversary lunch with my husband in the Father Brown bar mid week as non-guests. We were very disappointed. The menu offering was limited and very lacking in creativity and innovative culinary plates that would befit a 5 star hotel. There was burger/chip and fish/… more

I recently celebrated a wedding anniversary lunch with my husband in the Father Brown bar mid week as non-guests. We were very disappointed. The menu offering was limited and very lacking in creativity and innovative culinary plates that would befit a 5 star hotel. There was burger/chip and fish/chips for example. Classic takeaway chip shop options. The choices we did order were nice but underwhelming, served on a plate slightly bigger than a side plate, small amounts that did not fill us in any way, and were hard to slice as everything was crushed on such a small plate. There were 3 choices for glass-only white wine - 2 of which were French - no variety especially at €15 per standard glass. The experience was accompanied by an excessive amount of flies hovering over our food which staff should keep under better control. There was no background music and it was chilly. A very dry non-cosy experience. For 1 x wine, 1 x water, 2 x lunch mains, 1 x dessert, 2 x coffee = €90. Very overpriced for very small portions on very small plates with lack lustre menu options. The creative cooking team need to up their game with imagination and something exciting and fresh. Beautiful hotel otherwise.

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