The Old Swan - Harrogate

Me and my girlfriend were recently gifted a voucher for afternoon tea by family and we were super excited to go to such a posh establishment and wind down together for a couple of hours. Upon arrival, reception told us to go through the corridor to the room on our left. When we arrived, the room was unstaffed and we were stood there about 5 minutes before being told to sit. We were given a pot of tea to start and our sandwich order was taken swiftly. I ordered the beef and horseradish sandwiches and the chicken and stuffing. My girlfriend ordered the brie and chutney sandwiches and the egg mayo. After 15 minutes of waiting, the nice girl on shift apologised for the delay and said our sandwiches should be here shortly. Another 15 minutes passed and at this point, we’re getting quite hangry. The lady again apologised and said she was unsure what was taking so long. Every time we heard footsteps we were swinging our head round in excitement, thinking it was our finger sandwiches. It never was. It was a dark time. Finally after 50 minutes of waiting, our sandwiches were placed in front of our eyes. It looked like they’d been mauled as they were all squished. I took my first bite of the beef and horseradish sandwich, only to find that 1 of 2 key fillings was missing. NO HORSERADISH. I didn’t want to bother the girl again as she was clearly busy, nor wait another hour for this to be rectified. So I politely munched on the dry slices of cow, underwhelmed and dissatisfied. My girlfriend was also disappointed with her brie sandwiches. The cheese was cack-handedly sliced meaning that some bits of brie were overwhelmingly thick, where as some areas of the sandwich were empty. It clogged her throat, and at this point, she had to rely on the cold pot of tea to wash it down (which wasn’t replenished). All in all, considering the amount of slander listed above, this was actually the best layer of the afternoon tea. Onto the scones. THERE WAS NO BUTTER. That’s all I’m going to say on this matter. Moving on… The cakes. Don’t get me started. My girlfriend is an avid cake muncher and never leaves a crumb untouched. However, this selection of cakes was very random and unappealing. The rum cheesecake tasted so strongly of alcohol that we couldn’t finish it. It didn’t need to be doused like this, it tasted like straight, cheap rum from the bottom shelf in Tesco. Onto the mini roll, this may as well have been unwrapped straight from the Cadbury’s multipack and placed on the plate. Nothing special and very boring. Parkin, why? A very odd choice and I didn’t go near it. Dense and horrible. The only thing that was palatable was the mini shot glass with a dash of crumbled digestive and a bit of mashed banana. And that’s saying something. This shouldn’t be the showstopper. If we had paid for this ourselves, we would be extremely upset. We made the 50 minute drive from Leeds to enjoy a lovely, civilised afternoon together. But emerged needing therapy and a good feeding. Considering this is a 4 star hotel, I really don’t think this is acceptable. Maybe they were too focussed on the wedding party going on in the other room. If this is the case, don’t bother taking other bookings if you can’t handle the stress. We will NOT be returning. Will go to Betty’s next time.

I don’t even know where to begin! We booked here for our Christmas party 03/12/21 and we’re greeted with a mismatched table of glasses filled with Buck’s Fizz? And ushered into a large room which was decorated nicely with a grand tree in the corner and tables for around 200 guests. Each guest paying £30! Yes £30!! At around 7.30 we were ushered to our tables for what can only be described as the worst food I have eaten in many years! I am a chef by trade but moved to the NHS but still keep up with food trends and know how food suppliers work and what they charge. I would have to physically try to produce food that bad! Whoever bought or made that food snd thought it fit for human consumption should hang up their aprons and leave the industry with immediate effect! My terrine of duck???? Looked and tasted like it had been made, sliced, frozen to a point where it had frostbite, defrosted and then left out on a side to dry for a few hours! The “bread” toast or whatever you could call it evaporated in your mouth like a dust storm…. The only saving grace was a teaspoon of onion marmalade. My partner had the smoked salmon (as did the person next to her) and the size difference in each piece was comical. The salmon itself was tasty but again had been sat drying out for some time and served with a remoulade? (Again a teaspoon) oh it turns out it was some form of root vegetable coleslaw, and two dry yet soggy (if that is possible) pieces of bread. My main is the only saving grace in all of this, a turkey dinner! It was warm and edible and tasted fine. My partner had the lamb croquette that she said was so dry that she struggled to eat it. The meat tasted nice but it was pulled lamb, rolled and then breadcrumbed and deep fried. It was served with two roast potatoes, parsnips, carrot and swede mash and a couple of sprouts. Both edible. No we come to what can only be described as horrible! The “chocolate cheesecake” neither chocolate or cheesecake was what can only be described as gruel! Where did you find it? What company out there would put their name to such a bad product. Not one person on my table could finish it and not through want of trying! It was flavourless, devoid of texture and just horrible!!!! Even just giving people a digestive biscuit, a spoon of cream cheese and a piece of chocolate and calling it a deconstructed cheesecake would have been better than the drivel you served! I’m actually offended by it that badly that I have had to write this. I did try the Christmas pudding as one was left on our table after a guest couldn’t make it and it was fine. It was bought in so you can’t mess that up one would think. Others had a panna cotta but there were no positive comments about it. Now we come to the drinks……….. £27 for a bottle of white wine that must have been bought as a bin end from bargain booze! It was awful and warm! In this day and age there are soooooooo many good wine suppliers so why do you serve that ****! Have you tasted it? Honestly, who tried it and thought “I know let’s just buy the cheapest **** out there” and sell it for a premium as they won’t have any other choice. I bought two single Gordon’s gin and tonics snd a bottle of staropramen and it cost £20!!! For three drinks!! Gordon’s is £14 a bottle at retail so would have cost them £12 at most for 28 shots so how you can justify £4.50 for a single is beyond me! Another example of Harrogate and it’s over priced culture. One friend is going again in s week and already dreading being put through the experience again. There are so many good products on the market that you could have used that would have made the night amazing but the dancing was eclipsed by the food and poor wine. The end

As guests at the hotel, we enjoyed breakfast and dinner here. The food is very good and plentiful and wine by the bottle is of a good quality. Staff are attentive. The restaurant is a traditional wood panelled room with a beautiful patterned glass ceiling which makes for a relaxed atmosphere.

3 course meal included in stay, great value for money. Choice and food very good, service excellent.

We booked a 3-night stay at this hotel and on the first night, we both ordered the shoulder of lamb for dinner. When it arrived, it looked overcooked and I have never seen lamb served in that shape before. I decided not to eat it, but my wife ate it and ended up getting sick all night. We brought this up the next day, but nobody apologized or offered any resolution. The menu remained the same every evening, which was quite monotonous for a supposed 4-star hotel. Breakfast consisted of concentrated orange juice and a tiny piece of smoked salmon, which is not what I would expect from a high-quality hotel. The only positive aspects were the attentive staff and the location. However, the hotel decor could use some updating. Additionally, we were unlucky to stay during a wedding, and it would have been more considerate to have a separate bar for wedding guests instead of making other guests wait a long time for service.