Grinling Gibbons Restaurant in Melton

We are staying at the hotel so booked the first night in the restaurant. Another guest said beforehand that the portions were too small but we found with three course and bread that was fine, for us. As a 2 star rosette restaurant I was expecting more. Beautifully presented though. We did have an exceptional dessert. If there are few guests you are seated around a large lounge area which lacks atmosphere. The playlist was very interesting - low level very obscure country tracks, some of which were unknown to Spotify!

I was looking forward to visiting for dinner with my fiancé as the menu looked lovely. When we got to the restaurant (after we finally find our way, due to the lack of signage), we found out the menu had changed - we would have actually cancelled the booking because the options were not to our taste. However the Venison was lovely, and the steak for the main meal not so much. No flavour, had not been seasoned and although I had asked for rare/medium you could tell it had been cooked on too high of heat as it was crispy. Dessert menu was probably the worst I have seen, I had Pana Cotta and it was more like a soggy bread pudding - the textures were horrible. Think I just had bad luck, my other half chose better options and thoroughly enjoyed himself…

I never check reviews on places that we intend to visit, preferring to make a decision based on the experiences we have. I would suggest that the whole environment we experienced does not meet what you may expect from glossy brochures, the front of house would seem to operate with young inexperienced staff with no social interaction with guests and the food provided i would say is acceptable for the price point but it would not encourage me to be a returning customer. Was our experience tainted because we visited in the lull between Christmas and New Year ? Somehow I think probably not.

We booked afternoon tea here several months before our holiday and the price online was around £28 per person with champagne. The afternoon tea itself wasn't bad, sandwiches were average with tinned salmon rather than fresh salmon, two small scones were nice but not warm, and the cakes were very good although not was stated on the menu. The maitre d (?) was very good and the server was good too. However...when we received the bill we had been charged £48 each PLUS a £12 service charge. We completely understand that the cost of sourcing products has gone up since we booked the afternoon tea but to increase the price by over 50% and to not pre-advise us of this is disgraceful. Also we usually tip if the service is good so we do not appreciate being charged a service charge of 12.5% without giving us the choice of tipping or not, especially for a party of two. We regularly go out for afternoon tea and have never been served tinned salmon in a sandwich, in fact for the price charged it was appalling. Avoid at all costs!

The food was reasonable, although rabbit was dry. However staff not knowing which side to serve plates on was very disappointing and a 20 minute wait for post dinner tea was too long.

Lovely room overlooking the gardens. Service was hit & miss. Three course dinner was small portions with side orders required.

Terrible food, lovely house, beautiful location, but lacks good food, the Sunday lunch was shocking. The roasted veg were boiled veg flamed with a blow torch, so bad. The deserts were a joke.

We only ate breakfast (twice) in the Grinling Gibbons restaurant but it was so good that it's worth a mention. Great choice of dishes from the ubiquitous full English, through kippers with poached egg, to Eggs Benedict or Eggs Florentine. The coffee was superb and the offerings on the buffet table were good too. The best thing to say about it all was that everything was of the best quality and how rare is that nowadays!

Abysmal service and tiny portions of very average food - eat elsewhere we were so disappointed the first night we cancelled the second and went to a local pub

This visit was a birthday dinner treat for our neighbours. We were met as we drove up to the main entrance, welcomed and escorted into the hotel/restaurant. We had pre dinner drinks in in the library bar, and were paid close attention to our drinks and menu needs. We were escorted into dinner and were very well looked after by the catering staff on the night. The menu was varied and quite substantial. Our food was very well presented and excellent in taste with two of our guests trying new dishes (pigeon breast/black-pudding) for the first time, and absolutely loving them. The accompany wine list was also very substantial with some reasonably priced bottles on offer. Overall, an excellent return for us and a great treat for our neighbours.

Stayed at Stapleford Park for a couple of days and ate in the restaurant both nights. The food is excellent, a mixture of modern cuisine techniques mixed with high quality local produce and geat service, very attentive without being overbearing. The wine list is extensive and you can spend a LOT of money on it but even the lower priced wines are very good. Definetly worth a visit.

I booked a surprise Valentines meal at Grinling Gibbons and it was superb. The special meal was a seven course tasting menu and every course was a delight. In particular the Alaskan Crab and also the Dexter Beef. It was outstanding with excellent service as well as wonderful surroundings. Special occasion meals don't get any better than this.

Had booked a table for two whilst staying for a night in the hotel. Booking is a must at the weekend. The dining room is in the main house and is lovely, set up for a candlelight dinner with pure white table cloths. Thankfully we didn't spill anything on it! The staff were all excellent and you are made to feel very important and treated superbly from the moment you arrive to the moment you leave. Your napkin is opened for you and your glasses are kept filled, even the water, without you doing a thing. All of the staff were so attentive, smiling and couldn't have been more polite towards us. Our meal came as part of a one night package and entitled us to a three course meal. We were also provided with some complimentary canapés and amuse-bouches (small tasters) before our starters. If we had been paying separately, our meals would have been about £60 per head excluding drinks but including service charge of 10%. Presentation of all courses was exquisite and the flavours superb. For starters my partner had roasted vegetable salad but it didn't seem to be roasted! I had the crab which was delicious. For mains we both had the steak fillet, served pink and we swapped the beetroot for carrots. We decided to add an additional side of vegetables part way through the course and it arrived quickly. This was suggested to us when we ordered in case we needed more. This is fine dining so portions aren't huge to say the least, although the piece of fillet was a good size and was melt in the mouth. My partner is dairy intolerant and they accommodated her needs throughout. This was particularly the case with desserts which they made up a fruit salad and sorbet especially for her, whilst I enjoyed the dark chocolate tart with coffee sponge and cardamom sorbet (an egg sized piece of chocolate coated in edible gold leaf). Yum!! If you have something special to celebrate then this is well worth a visit. Thank you so much.

Truly fabulous food, wonderful staff with just the perfect amount of attention, and a superb interior by Grinling Gibbons himself.

Service was brilliant and the food was brilliantly presented and outstanding. Certainly will be going back excellent.

Great room for dinner (and breakfast !) - I highly recommend the chateaubriand, cooked to perfection, in this beautiful setting.

Soy lo suficientemente suerte para viajar por todo el mundo y algunas comidas realmente extraordinaria. Esto puede no haber sido el mejor pero era increíblemente bueno para un lunes por la noche en un hotel lejos de una gran ciudad. Mi arranque del huevo de pato fue arrastrado junto con una variedad de sabores y texturas interesantes - cada pieza era individualmente en general bien preparada y el plato combinado muy bien juntos. La principal del cordero era excepcional. El cordero era increíblemente tierna y la salsa era un lugar de aluminio, mejorando en vez de insoportables.

I am lucky enough to eat in lots of very nice restaurants in London - but this is certainly in the top 10 of meals I have ever had. Really couldn't recommend it enough.

Aquí en el parque antes de Stapleford hace 5 años para mis primos de boda.

Nos quedamos muy impresionados por el nivel de la comida y el servicio en el restaurante. No soy un fan de "siempre bastante comida" ya que es a menudo un caso de estilo sobre la sustancia.

Very high class food in beautiful surroundings. This is not cheap but the saying "you get what you pay for" is so true.

Todo acerca de esta comida era magnífico, filete de carne que se derretía en la boca y maravilloso pudin, personal muy bien servida y todos entendieron que el menú

Nos alojamos en el hotel por un paquete de golf, y esta cena incluido en este encantador restaurante. Nos ofrecieron un 8.45, que fue más tarde de lo que hubiera querido, pero cuando nos registramos en el hotel, el recepcionista nos distribuyó por 7.30 - perfecto, gracias. Edward, nuestro camarero era muy servicial y educado, el grado de atención. La comida era magnífica. Las raciones eran del tamaño justo, con cada menú de tener varias partes constituyentes, combinando todos los platos para hacer una obra de arte. Mi marido tenía vieiras (tempura enorme y perfectamente cocinado), y yo tenía los huevos de pato como entrante - encantador, sabores sutiles y, a continuación, los dos tuvimos un filete de res perfectamente como plato principal nuestro rosado. Las patatas congeladas, el diminuto confitado con queso azul y la armonización en purple onion todo un gran plato. Para terminar Queso - 6 quesos locales con pequeñas, sabroso maridaje. Impecable.

we were staying at the hotel and had the dinner package.this was mid-week so we had the feeling that the meal would just be ok. how wrong we were! it was a meal that you would get in a 5 star hotel in London starts well with a pre-dinner drink with canapes and your order being taken very relaxing.we were then shown into the restaurant and severed the chiefs first dish and the tastes and flavors came out heaven!! the main i had the salt marsh lamb the chief had made the dish with a lot of odd things but wait until you try it Wow......

For a two rosette restaurant it was the poorest meal I've had in a long time. Nicely presented but badly cooked and delivered by extremely poorly trained staff with a limited grasp of english.

We ate at the restaurant for my partners birthday. We drank sloe gin in the bar, lovely, and had a three course dinner in the dinning room, followed by a cheese board and port in the lounge (we kindly bought through by the bar man). I can honestly say that the whole experience was wonderful. The dinner was delicious, the seasonal indigents, the wine menu and the incredible customer service made the whole experience unforgettable.The waiter advised me out of my dessert choice... and I was over the moon he did. The Salted Caramel Panna cotta was amazing!

Food is outstanding with very attentive staff. Nothing is a problem at stapleford park, the staff are very professional and will do their utmost to deliver your exact requirements.

Quite yummy. We would eat here again which is good going for a hotel restaurant. Deserts were around 10 pounds but Cheese was more. Both worth the splurge in money and calories.

We had a great dinner and breakfast at the staple ford hall restaurant. Our chateaubriand came perfectly but simply cooked with a good creamy bernaise sauce. We had wonderful, imaginatively presented puddings too and enjoyed the wines. The service was friendly without being intrusive.

The food was okay - nothing really amazing. But the service was absolutely dire. No Restaurant Manager or Maitre'D in charge, the waiters has no idea what each of them were doing (for example, three waiters changed our wine glasses in the space of 10 minutes without pouring any wine at all - we also served our wine and water ourselves the whole evening).Breakfast service was just as chaotic with the staff keener to rush from one room to another, while avoiding eye contact with customers who just wanted a pot of tea, maybe some milk on the table, and to eat toast, not a burnt mess. I wasn't best impressed with the buffet breakfast - I thought there would be better to eat than rubbery scrambled eggs malingering over a bain marie in the hallway.Someone needs to take charge here and quickly! It's not cheap and this service just ruins the whole experience. Pull your socks up chaps!

The abiace was in keeping with a classic country Manor House. The young waiters, under the watchful eye of the Maitre'd we obviously well trained, a joy to watch. Service in the traditional style.loved it! The food was well prepared, perhaps the menu was perhaps a little limited, I don't eat seafood, and I guess the menu changes all the time. Couldn't fault the food, loved the miniature 'loaf' assortment on the bread board, also the largely local cheeses on offer. My wife loved the creative sweet dishes on offer.

This was our first time to Stapleford Park but being reasonably local to us (45 min drive) understood that it had a good reputation and were keen to explore the house too, which up until 25 years ago was a privately owned private estate, rather than a hotel.Located literally in the middle of nowhere, the house stands in over 500 acres of grounds, originally designed by Capability Brown, and the long driveway upto the house introduces you to this landscaping. Driving through an archway to the 'front' of the house to the car park, the house stands proudly in the grounds. With various editions since the 14th Century, the place boasts an air of history like few other country houses, and wonderful ornate stone carvings. The hall is furnished in period style of a friends country pile, animal trophies in the hall, worn leather chesterfields, wooden panelling and parquet floors, although there's an eclectic mix of other furnishings too. We had pre drinks in the drawing room, which was tastefully decorated, but later set for afternoon teas. After a glass of fizz, we were escorted into the Grindling Gibbons dining room for our £29.50 Sunday lunch. The dining room is named after the ornate wooden carving in the dining room, Gibbons being one of the leading wood carvers of his generation.The dining room was empty, other than the four of us, (this at 1.15pm) which surprised us somewhat.There were three choices from the 'set' lunch menu, which would cater for most tastes, and as it happened our party tried all three, We'd already chosen our menu over our drinks, and we were soon served with our starters, Parnsip Veloute, Ham Hock and Poached Salmon (which was more of a tartare to be honest.) Some in our party were slightly disappointed with the size of the starter, two small morcels of Ham Hock (on slate plate - a pet hate) and two small portions of salmon with some arty bits of cucumber and drizzle for good measure. The soup however looked plentiful.We'd all plumped for proper traditional Sunday lunch with Beef being the roast of the day - we were asked how we preferred the beef cooked, which was a nice touch, but perhaps wasn't as rare as it could have been and it wasn't languishing in sauce (read gravy) either. By mid way through the main course, we'd been joined by another 4 or 5 tables, so it wasn't such a disaster after all. Service, however, was somewhat difficult with our Spainish waiter, who hadn't got a complete grasp of the English language, asking for a little more sauce (read Gravy) with the meat was a bit of a challenge, but a sauce boat came eventually....as it did to other tables in the restaurant, so we were not on our own with the shortage of sauce (read gravy). A delicious dark chocolate torte with a salted caramel ice cream finished the meal perfectly.We were served coffee on the terrace, overlooking the grounds, the bill came (without asking for it, which was a bit presumcious).We then had the arduous task of asking the the bill to be split in half which couldn't be done even with the use of a calculator. After telling the bar staff how much it should have been, we then queued to pay as there was only one credit card machine working, which was in the bar area and the signal didn't travel far enough to do this at table. .....After coffee, we wandered around the formal areas and walled gardens, which are delightful - a wedding celebration was being held in the hall on the Sunday afternoon, as was a significant amount of afternoon teas, so the waiting staff could have been a little stretched, which could account for a lot of this preamble - as most of the experience we throiughly enjoyed.Perhaps a return visit for dinner, or indeed an overnight stay may makes amends.?

The food was excellent, comprehensive wine list, lovely dining room and brilliant service. The staff were polite and helpful without being intrusive. The food was delicious and well presented. We had two wonderful evenings and enjoyed every minute.

I visited this venue as part of a birthday dinner I had arranged. Everything was perfect from the venue itself, the ambience and service to the quality of the food. The staff were welcoming and helpful whilst the dishes were sufficiently varied to accommodate everyone and we're well portioned, balanced in flavour and cooled perfectly. This rates in a close second to the best place I have eaten. The venue itself and the service rate as the best however the food lacked the depth and complexity (if I'm being very critical) of a wonderful place in Italy. Nonetheless highly recommended. It is expensive, but worth it

A beautiful setting, with excellent service. However we found the food to be bland and mediocre at best. What a shame.

Great service, great food, excellent bread, fantastic wine. We enjoyed the whole experience immensely and could not recommend more highly. Go tonight!

Our party of 8 ate in the restaurant on Saturday night food good but not exceptional, however service was, young and friendly staff added to our enjoyment. Eel starter was bad choice by my husband as eel was virtually non existant!! and plaice main chosen by my husband again was bland and tasteless, others enjoyed duck, lamb and beef. Impressive surroundings with a lavish feel. Would eat here again choose different options.

I have been to Stapleford on several occasions over many years. I have often enjoyed lunch, afternoon tea and dinner and also the club house menu which is also usually very good. So I was disappointed when I went for Sunday lunch recently and found the beef to be of such poor quality really letting the meal down greatly. It is a shame that such lovely surroundings and excellent service were undermined by poor quality meat. I expected more.

Try the ham hock terrine with fois gras starter - just brilliant! The star was dessert - vanilla cake with cherry ice cream... worth coming back for

The food here is either very good or very bad, no happy medium, plus they don't change the menu regularly enough so if you are a hotel guest for more than one night there is a lack of choice. Obviously not a problem if you are only visiting for dinner. Also they don't use the best quality ingredients that you'd expect. Husband enquired what variety of "new" potatoes were being served, waiter didn't know but went to ask, and came back with the reply "they are small new potatoes" which they so obviously weren't, they were in fact small old potatoes cooked with skins to look like new potatoes! Also ordered Seasonal vegetables as extra from the menu expecting a selection of 2-3 vegetables, but got one portion of Asparagus. Would have expected this calibre of restaurant to use local produce at the very least, though they don't appear to bother with such things. Oh and don't expect anything outstanding from the dessert menu, because it isn't!

The food and presentation was excellent, very much better than expected and certainly the Chef deserves recognition for using lovely seasonal food - the rhubarb souffle deseves a medal!

Fabulous menu and every course was beautifully prepared. A lovely dining room and the service was excellent.

Enjoyed a wonderful meal at this restaurant - the setting is beautiful, the staff were attentive and the food and cocktails were gorgeous!

Having stayed at this hotel on a number of occasion and being very happy my partner and her family treated me to a Sunday lunch at the hotel restaurant .Having dinned there many times expected the usual high standard,I must say the Sunday roast which two of us had was excellent but sadly my partner who is a vegetarian had little choice regarding main course so opted for the butternut squash risotto the size of the portion was very meagre to say the least served in a starter soup bowl ! . Come on Stapleford park! I'm sadly fighting to defend your in my mind high reputation to a disgruntled family who think we could have had better quality for value from a less prestigious establishment .

My wife and I recently thought we would treat ourselves to a meal at the Grinling Gibbons for our wedding anniversary. We accept that the venue and reputation will mean a premium price but .............The food was very dissappointing:1. The crab starter had so little crab that the taste and texture of the dish was dominated by the aspic that it was served in; frankly it was unpleasant;2. Some of the meats are not source locally, for example, we were told that the veal is imported from France. Given the abundance of fantastic locally available produce this is simply outrageous. I could give them a list of local farms that supply quality meats with exemplary animal care credentials.3. My fish main course was overcooked and lacked taste.Also, the wine was extortionately expensive; I guess you should expect this.

What a shame. Fabulous house and grounds. Lovely proportioned dining room. Great potential. However the food is somewhat uninspiring. Bread nice presentation but tasteless. Butter bland. Reasonably tasty crab starter but incorporated shell fragments. Beef dish acceptable but lacking any real wow factor. Béarnaise sauce again OK but not the best. Missed the mark and lacked balanced seasoning. Chocolate sweet actually rather good as was coffee and petit fours. The Serving staff were well presented but were not active preferring to stand in a group by the corner of the restaurant rather than topping up customers wine glasses etc. In short food lacks ambition, service lack training. Shame as Leicestershire really need a fine dining restaurant of note and this could be it but not right now.

What a pity. this lovely hotel in its grand setting has completely lost the plot. We had our Civil Ceremony here 5 years ago, it was fabulous, as was our first anniversary dinner, However we had a less than impressive meal last year but decided to give it another chance. What a mistake. The young staff were pleasant and keen but completely untrained. They knew nothing about bar service ( wrong Glasses) or cocktails, the Canapes were dull and tiny, the Amuse Bouche was a slightly bigger version of the canape, The starter was poorly presented and the Halibut? was totally inedible as was the replacement pork . The wine list was poor but extortionately expensive( like all the drinks,) £43-00 for a very mediocre Pouilly Fume and our first bottle was corked. At no time did we see any management staff and the youngsters were left to battle on their own. I honestly think it was the worst meal out I have ever had and we have eaten in restaurnts and hotels and pubs all over the world. To be fair, they did not charge us for the food but we will be going to Hambleton Hall ( also local to us ) for our next extra special dinner and otherwise our local brilliant pub The Crown at Greetham Stayed January 2013

I visited Stapleford park with my partner for afternoon tea and we were very pleased. We had originally being going to Kilworth House, and we had to cancel, then there was no space on the spur of the moment. Not a problem here. So we arrived in the beautiful grounds and were made very welcome. The afternoon tea consisted of incredible scones, mini creme brulee, beautifully presented pastries and other treats, and the tea was of a high quality loose leaf. We enjoyed the luxurious surroundings, and afterwards, we walked around the grounds and had a lovely afternoon exploring. We're going again in a few weeks, first class.

Stunning food with stunning surroundingsStaff were very polite and helpful and the experience very enjoyable

Gorgeous Food and fab service- I recommend the Fine Dining menu. Waiters also had great knowledge of wines to go with your meal. Brilliant overall experience- A real treat for anyone!

Deffinatly some where to celebrate a special occasion or just to treat a loved one, The food was fantastic with a relaxed atmosphere and very friendly staff.