Cloisters - Table reservation

The Cloisters is the main restaurant inside the gothic style Nutfield Priory Hotel. The location is fabulous and we enjoyed pre-dinner drinks on the terrace overlooking the Surrey countryside. Once inside we took the 5 course tasting menu. Generally the dishes were good, nicely presented with interesting combinations of ingredients, such as salmon ballotine with air dried cherry tomatoes. Fabulous. We also ate on another night and enjoyed the richly flavoured beef mosaic and the tomato carpaccio with butter bean caviar which was rich and imaginative. The overall experience is let down by the chaotic service. There is something wrong with the staff organisation, because despite lots of very f...

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During our stay at the hotel, we dined at the restaurant and both opted for the French-inspired 5-course tasting menu. Each course was complemented by a fantastic selection of French wines. The bread with sundried tomato butter was a delightful start, followed by onion cream soup, duck liver pate, a delicious beef steak, sorbet, and tart tatin. The dishes were not only flavorful but also beautifully presented. The staff were polite and efficient. The only downside was the lack of atmosphere in the restaurant. It felt dull and cold, reminiscent of a dark corridor on a winter evening. Perhaps in the summer, diners could enjoy a beautiful view of the South Downs, but unfortunately not at 7/8pm...

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When booking a room, there is an option to add a set meal add-on at this restaurant. Unfortunately, it is expensive and the website misleadingly suggests it is the same as the premium set menu. However, the reality is that the meal provided is quite poor in comparison. It felt a bit awkward to receive such a different and inferior meal compared to other diners in the restaurant, especially after already paying for it. It seems like a tactic to increase profit margins. A simple solution could be to make this menu available on the website with all the others, ensuring transparency. However, this might discourage bookings. Additionally, the wine selection was not impressive and overpriced.

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Exceptional food, we chose the Taster menu with wine pairing. The only criticism I have is that the dishes were not explained to us, I had to get the menu to remind us what we were eating, as too with the wine pairing, it would of been nice to know why it was chosen etc. The restaurant was very quite so lacked atmosphere. Hopefully this review will help with educating the staff and encourage people to go to add to the atmosphere, would definitely go again just for the food.

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The food for both the breakfasts and dinner were outstanding. Exceptionally polite and helpful staff and nothing was too much trouble.

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