Avon Gorge Hotel By Hotel Du Vin, Aquam Bibe

The Laurent Perrier suite was simply stunning. Loved the twin roll top baths. Only thing was where to plug in the kettle on the amenity tray?!? No plugs nearby so had to put by room door. But very minor point. Beautifully appointed room. Stylish bar with great staff and service. However, we found the dinner very disappointing. Had the a la carte. My scallops were tiny and like rubber bullets. They were in a grilled gratin and it tasted bought in / from frozen not prepared fresh in the kitchen. Same with all my dishes. Lumpy pomme purée, bland processed tasting sauce, boring buttered greens (chewy savoy cabbage only). Hubby had carpaccio and sirloin steak. He was happy but wasn’t a great steak. We expected more for £140 for 2 people. No better really than good pub grub. It was a special occasion so even more disappointing when so many eateries in Clifton. Breakfast however was superb.

Beautiful location and beautiful hotel. Great HDV decor and rooms were nice with good bathroom. Cocktail bar was nice. Reception staff were a bit rude and asked us to produce a receipt from the restaurant the previous night. They were unable to check this in their system and made it feel like our fault we didn’t keep dinner receipt. The restaurant was poor. Had oysters which were small and they didn’t bring a spoon to serve the vinegar. Served white wine with no ice cooler. Had the monkfish tail - was tough and at 35quid I expected much more. The greens was basically a bowl of cabbage in butter. In my opinion the restaurant is overpriced. Good dishes and cooked and served poorly. The serving staff didn’t look they were supervised and you could tell it was poor service. A shame as the location is excellent and the rooms are good too. Best staff were the boys in the bar serving drinks. However had to pay straight away for all drinks as there was no mechanism to charge to card details and deposit left with reception. In summary beautiful place but avoid the overpriced restaurant and don’t expect the service the price tag would suggest.

Our stay at the Avon Gorge was a mixed bag. While the hotel is nice, it was ultimately a bit underwhelming considering price of the room. Starting with the good - the location is very convenient and in a beautiful part of Bristol. The views of the suspension bridge from the lounge and our room were stunning. The standard room was spacious with a comfy bed and clean bathroom. The staff were also very polite and helpful. Onto what could have been improved. Although the room had been stylishly renovated, it was painted a very dark color and had barely any lights. Combined with the fact that the UK is a very grey country in general, this seemed like an odd choice. We booked this hotel because I needed to work remotely during the trip and it looked like a quiet, comfortable place to do so but the lack of light made it difficult. The staff was helpful in finding a floor lamp that I could use, which I was very grateful for but even with that the room was very, very dark. Another design flaw is that bathroom mirror was mounted very high so it's useless for anyone under 6'. We also opted not to include breakfast and they attempted to charge us for it while checking out so that was another minor frustration. Other issues had more to do with the other guests staying nearby. They were smoking in their rooms for at least two nights. The first night, setting off the fire alarm multiple times and the second night stinking up the hallway so much that it was wafting into our room. Also, although the rooms were soundproofed well against noise from other rooms, they were not well soundproofed against hallway noise. We could hear everything that was said in the hallways and people were constantly stomping around, coming home drunk late at night and shouting, and kids running and screaming through the hallways. Ultimately these issues are not the hotel's fault but they did make the stay less pleasant than it could be. While it wasn't a terrible experience to stay at the hotel, it does feel like they are an average hotel passing themselves off as luxury based on the location and a fresh coat of paint. Lots of style over substance.