The Grill at Macdonald Craxton Wood in Cheshire West and Chester

Excellent service and a good menu. We went two nights running and on the first night had good old fish-n-chips, and the fish was superb. My dessert was panna cotta but not quite as we know it. Nevertheless I had it again on the second night. On the second night I had slow-cooked pork belly - a dish which every chef prepares differently. This one had no crackling on top which it sometimes does, but was none the worse for that. A nice range of wine by the glass, although my favourite Malbec was a bit pricey. Some very good whiskies available.

Disappointing for the price. I had a starter of mozzarella and tomato salad. One small tomato was flavoursome, but the larger part was slices of beef tomato, which had no flavour and hard centres, the mozzarella was low quality. My main course was rack of lamb, with a large portion of tasty mustard mash and tender stem broccoli. It was just a bit boring to be honest and could have easily been more tasty and interesting with a few baby carrots or cauliflower florets and less of the cheap, filling mash. My husband had a prawn and crayfish starter, which he found quite hard and chewy. His rib eye steak with quite thin and very tender, but had an overwhelming taste of burning and smoke. I tried it and it was awful. Personally, I would have sent it back, but he didn’t want to make a fuss, as it was my birthday night out. If the prices had been much lower, then I would have given this a higher rating, but at £50 per head for 2 course,it was poor and we definitely wouldn’t go again or recommend it to friends.

We came here for a late 4pm lunch, after having driven for hours. It is the restaurant at the hotel we are staying at, so it was most convenient. Ambience - 4/5 - getting to enjoy the end of the summer with a beautiful view of a well manicured garden is lovely. Service - 2.5/5 - our waitress was not super helpful with us. When I asked if they had elderflower, she said no. Upon taking a look into their fridges myself, I noticed two elderflower products, and I was surprised she didn’t tell me about them herself. Other than that she completely forgot about our dessert order, which definitely made the lunch far longer than it should’ve been. There is room for improvement here for sure. Food - 3/5 - we ordered on the limited menu. My husband ordered the burger and said it was good. I ordered the curried vegetable rice dish. It was okay. Very basic. We also ordered fries, which were average. Price - 3/5 - the bill came up to be quite high, but I figure you’re paying for the convenience of eating at the hotel. Overall, this place certainly gets away with a lack of quality as a restaurant, due to the fact that they have the foot traffic of the hotel, but there is so much room for improvement here, in both quality of service and food. I wouldn’t mind paying even higher prices if the quality matched it.

Great if you like reheated food. my son had sausage and chips from children’s menu and I’m fairly certain the sausages were left over from breakfast then reheated in the fryer. Terrible meal, even if it’s included in hotel stay package I wouldn’t bother.

We enjoyed a spa break at the hotel and booked the restaurant without any expectations. We had the ham hock terrine and onion tart for starters, the sea bass and monkfish for mains and brownie and a cheeseboard for dessert. All were presented well and tasted incredible. The monkfish was the star of the show cooked to perfection. The service was great and very friendly making the dining experience very enjoyable. Special mentions to Bella, Nicky, Sophie, Maddie and Hannah for their excellent service. We'll be back.

We ate this evening and had a lovely meal. We were served by Izzy and Jasmin and both were very polite and helpful. We both said the steak was the best we've had in a long time. We would definitely come back!