Vespers in North Down

Limited menu. Unexciting menu. Limited vegetarian sishes. Brocolli or mushroom starter and a mushroom main. Manager got a dahl made for my husband.

We had previously dined at Vesper's, so booked Good Friday evening with hope of a lovely evening. Sadly we were disappointed, we booked the Vespers Dining for two, confirmed by email, only for an email 2 hours before our arrival, to say it's changed to Vespers tasting menu. No phone call to explain, and when we tried to call before driving to vespers, no answer. We arrived and indeed given tasting menu, at £80 pp. The tasting menu is not online, so we had no idea what the menu or price was. If you look now, the tasting menu is dated 2021. The system should not have allowed us to book vespers dining, if this was not going to be the menu. We were very disappointed, and left.

Unbelievable poor experience for a so called 5 * . The Resturant was freezing on arrival ,despite the December forecast for cold conditions all weekend. Heat wasn’t on with excuses suggesting they were working on it . The turkey dinner comprised the meanest slice of tough roulade turkey with tasteless stuffing centre and sprouts . Disappointing to say the very least so decided phoning the next morning to complain to duty manager but was kept waiting 10 minutes and still no one answered after a second call I left a message for someone to call me . No apology offered but a defensive assertion this was fine dining and the lack of heating would be looked into. I further added in frustration that the staff were only attentive when offering additional courses and drinks but never asking how the meal was or if everything was alright offering no opportunity to make comment at the time . I suggested better training be cultivated with their staff to avoid them becoming overly familiar and overstepping boundaries with guests especially whom they don’t know .This was epitomised on a previous occasion when the waitresses on arrival at our table wanted to know where my partner bought her blouse. This brought further defensive responses from the duty manager and instead of learning from client feedback closed the door on it and offered no attempt or gesture to retain a frequent client. Clearly the restaurant for a Saturday evening had few occupants for good reason.

We have had fantastic experiences in the mitre restaurant many times, the food this time was very different. I ordered the sea bass risotto and there was as much oil as rice in the dish. The truffle mash arrived late and again was swimming in a pool of oil. It seems obvious now why there was no one here. Partner ordered the beef fillet which was fine. Staff very good though as always. Not sure when we would be back as there is no comparison to Noble or even Fontana in Holywood as food goes.

Great service! But very small portions disguised as fine dining! This does not cut it, larger portions or sides need to be offered if the price being quoted is warranted. For a better dining experience the cultra inn is literally a 5 min walk away at a fraction of the cost

Waited 60 mins for some pretty poor food. The restaurant itself was relatively unattractive compared to the rest of the hotel. Far better eating in the Cultra Inn next door.

Great Food and brilliant service, well worth the money. Hand a great meal.

Horrible food and next to no portions of food the plate! Pretencious and such a waste of time.

This will be brief but accurate review. I had dinner at Mitre restaurant at Culloden- and it was truly excellent. The food was perfect, the staff excellent and the whole experience incredibly enjoyable.