The Conservatory Restaurant in Carlisle

Afternoon tea a bit short on savouries only one each. No offer to fill up teapots.

Booked for a celebratory afternoon tea as my partner had had a big pay rise at work, and invited my grandparents who I rarely get to see, and while the hosts were accommodating for the fact that 1 of my guests was vegetarian, we had several items missed off the menu for the normal booked afternoon tea along with some awkward atmosphere. A sandwich was missing for the 3 normal guests, so 3 of us had 3 finger sandwiches while the vegetarian guest had 4, we did not receive another savoury item as well entirely and watched this being served to other tables around us, and we were not served macarons with our desserts either. We were missing about 20% of the menu. The girls serving us provided us at first with French press coffee which all the coffee grounds were above the press, and while they replaced this quickly when asked, argued amongst themselves within earshot of us over the mistake as they went to retrieve another pot which made us feel very uncomfortable. I raised the missing items while paying the bill, and the server checked with the chef, confirmed we were indeed meant to receive them and knocked 1 person off our bill, however I chose not to raise the awkward overheard conversation between the girls so as to save myself and my grandparents more embarrassment. I waited to raise issues until paying the bill as my grandparents are very conservative, and would have gotten upset at a fuss being made while they were present so I asked my partner to take them back to the car before I raised my concerns so as not to spoil their afternoon. The price of afternoon tea has also changed from the menu displayed online. It is now £22.95? Not £21.95 so the original bill came to over £90 for 4 of us. I ended up paying £60+ instead with the 1 person removed from the bill, but this was absolutely not worth the service and I will not be dining here again. The fact that they attempted reparations in form of a discount was their saving grace.

Both our meals were dry and not very tasty, very disappointing for such a nice hotel, we shared a dessert, it was described as caramelised pineapple with coconut mousse, sounded tempting but it was two small fingers of pineapple with a tiny cube of mouse, I would have expected the pineapple to be warm since it was caramelised but it was cold, very mediocre meal for such a high price!

Very nice meals. Fish and chips. Steak pie and chips. Fab food 😋

Sooo delicious! Highly recommend! Everything was wonderful, great kitchen!

We checked in to one of the hotel's cottages for one night, booked a table and headed there at 7pm. My wife and I are on whole food plant-based diets (i.e. focusing on 'nutrient rich' not 'calorie dense') for the clear health benefits, which sadly restricts what we can eat when out and about. I ordered a large tomato & red pepper soup starter as a main course with a basket of brown bread, but there were no larger bowls (so I asked for two smaller) and the only brown bread available was sandwich bread. The first bowl that came was warm not hot and with white bread, and I'd finished it before the brown bread (that I reminded someone about) -arrived, the second bowl was nice and hot - both were very tasty. My wife ordered the Moroccan vegetable Tagine on a bed of cous cous, which was ok but lacking protein (e.g. chickpeas) and lacked a decent breadth of flavours. Service-wise no-one asked if our food was ok after it was served, or if we wanted a dessert or anything else after we'd eaten our mains. So I made my way to the bar to pay. Oh and an adjacent group's order was mixed-up after one person changed the sweet potato fries to triple fried chips, then all three of them were served regular french fries. Overall highly disappointing.

Absolutely amazing staff Justin great guy Food was delicious

Beautiful place and foods amazing

It was only open for breakfast as its part of the hotel ... evenings it was closed. The restaurant in the pub/bar certainly didn't serve food like that in the photos !

Service was good but sadly the food was mediocre. Bland and very salty.

Awful, untidy and the bar was swimming and they ran out of wine and gin

Christmas eve pub meal . Very good food

*Edit* Pathetically late 2 month response - no this is the restaurant, it cancelled our 5 person booking less than an hour before and we had to frantically find an alternative restaurant. Cancelled a pre-made booking for a very poor excuse. We made a booking to eat there, made arrangements to do so and even left a car in a garage as we knew dinner was sorted. Then less than an hour before the booking it was cancelled. Pathetic way to do business, I guarantee if I booked a room and cancelled it an hour before I was going to stay they’d be quick to charge.

The Soufle was poor. The fish n chips not very appealing. Greasey fish did not seem anything like Cod. Chips were a bit better. Service OK. £50 with a scotch & gin and tonic. Not worth it. Room was OK. Clean spacious and comfortable. . Perhaps on a Tuesday the chef was off.

Fantastic menu very clean good food

Hospitality amazing, meal delicious would recommend.

We thoroughly enjoyed our meal hats off to the new chef and management

Excellent venue with food to match worth a visit

Group meal around Xmas, which is never going to be an amazing, freshly cooked meal. However, this was particularly disappointing. Potatoes not cooked, sprouts hard, turkey dry. The staff were nice and the coffee at the end was nice but overall not great.

Great service, good food, lovely warm atmosphere. A well deserved 5 stars

Party Night!! - food and service very good and female vocalist was exceptional!! she created a party atmosphere and was part of it.

Very nice atmosphere. Food is good and plentiful and a great pint of Guinness

Third time at this restaurant and it still manages to outdo many others with Michelin star chefs. Good setting, parking, great food and well staffed with lots of the existing ones having been there for years. Go there and try it yourself. You will enjoy it I am aure

Nice pub with uninspired choice of draft beers and only Beck's and Bud in bottles. Pleasantly appointed though, just a shame about the wall-mounted television.

The Conservatory Restaurant, Crown Hotel, The weather turned cold and thus we decided to eat in the hotel at the Conservatory. My wife had the Twice Baked Goats Cheese Soufflé which she really enjoyed it. It was accompanied by a pear and walnut salad I had the Seared King Scallops. It had a minted pea puree which was a nice decoration but did not add to the taste for me. However, the black pudding bon bons was almost as good as the scallops! the pea rock salad was a nice decoration. The orange sorbet was nice to cleanse the palate before the main course. For the main meal my wife had the Lakeland Beef & Ale Pie. It comes with choice of chunky chips or mash potatoes. The pie was very nice and deep. It did not have excessive sauce but was filled with tasty meat. Breast of Guinea Fowl. The buttered new potatoes were very deciduous and I enjoyed the wild mushroom butter. I tried my wife’s pie and hers was the better choice. I am never a fan of sitting in the lounge to order your food and drink before going into the dining room. I presume this is an English or European custom? Another concern is that water was on the table but we had to serve ourselves. Also, we were never asked about refills on our drinks but they did ask how each course was. Finally after waiting 15 minutes for the bill we left the dining area, walked up to the two bartenders, mentioned the same and our room number.

Stunningly beautiful restaurant in a stunning location

Friendly staff and meals were lovely would go back again