"Mount Stewart Hotel Portpatrick First of all can I just say that this review is for both the Hotel and restaurant,not just the restaurant which is what tripadviser is asking about, My wife and I checked in on 18/7/22 for two nights dinner bed and breakfast, our initial impression was that the hotel was at the top of a steep road up from Portpatrick Main Street. With only a few parking places at the front, however there is resident parking at the back of the hotel but you then have to carry your bags down a hill at the side of the hotel to enter at the front not a problem but if elderly or infirm could be difficult. It would be sensible to unload at the front and then park at the back of the hotel, if there is no parking at the front, however when you first arrive you don’t know that there is no entrance at the back or anything about the hotel, so first tip would be dump your bags then park the car. On entering the Hotel we were greeted by a welcoming pleasant nice reception person young lady who quickly processed our admission and explained the layout and arrangements for meals etc, good start. We were located in the Wallace room which on the web site is listed as almost a suite, no exaggeration we loved it, a large room with double bed, good sized wardrobe a courtesy mini bar tea and coffee making facilities with a kettle and kenco coffee machine, a large tv never on a large en-suite shower room. In the en-suite there is dormer window this opens and has a pull down blackout blind built into it for privacy from the houses behind it takes a wee bit of fiddling to sort it .Best bit in the room was the window seat with a fantastic view over Portpatrick and the Irish Sea, I cannot express the pleasure we had watching boats coming and going from Portpatrick harbour simple pleasures And the window fully opened to allow air into the room, during the hottest two days of 2022 this was important and needs to be mentioned. On night one we headed down for dinner looking forward to a bit of fine dining and were directed into of all places the breakfast room to be seated at our table I think this is used for residents dining but I feel the room is a bit lacking in atmosphere We asked for a change of table to the bar area with a window table, this was sorted everything was great. Based on our two dinners in the hotel I would have to give the kitchen the thumbs up, the food was good and the service was chatty and friendly all good. Breakfast was well cooked with plenty of choice for cooked options there was cereal and fruit juice to help yourself to but no fresh fruit or yoghurt I found this unusual in a four star hotel. The only niggles I have are to do with the room we were in, there is a large burn in the carpet where someone I think has put the hairdryer down , the window in the main room is difficult to operate because of a rusted locking plate making the mechanism catch, the shower room door has no lock and no door catch so does not stay closed, we had to use a paper wedge to keep the door closed for a modicum of privacy, also an idiot sheet to explain the working of the dormer window would be helpful as most people wil never have had to operate one of these things. On our last morning my wife had a long lie then tried to take a shower only to find that there was no water, I went downstairs to find that there were only some breakfast staff in the hotel, they were very helpful and checked to see if there was any empty rooms, unfortunately there were none, the lady I was talking to explained that the water system in the hotel meant if others were using their shower there wouldn’t be enough pressure to get water to the top floor namely ours, so my wife used bottled water to clean her teeth and then we waited to see if the water pressure built up enough for her to take a shower this was a real adventure, eventually a trickle started then a real shower was had and equilibrium was restored, I found out later that a plumber was in and I take it had fixed whatever the problem had been. Please do not see these things as anything major, we really loved our stay at this"
