Bellinter House Review

I want to start this review by saying I know these last 2 years have been hard on the hospitality industry. However, Covid is no excuse to drop basic industry standards. I also want to say that I regret not reading reviews before booking here. I was so excited to stay here after having many trips cancelled over the last 2 years that I did not look at any reviews like I normally would. Had I taken 10 minutes to read Trip Advisor I would NOT have booked here and saved a lot of hassle and money.

All this said, the staff at Bellinter House let down the entire experience. We arrived early (check-in is 4pm) but thought (wrongly) we would be able to have a drink in the bar while we waited to check-in. Reception off the bat were not impressed that we arrived before 4pm. For reference, we arrived at 2pm. Rebecca at reception told us we could go to the bar. Once in the bar it was clear we were an inconvenience. Cathal offered us a table but then another member of staff told him we couldn’t sit there because it was reserved. We were then told we could sit in where the bar staff were working. Cathal was becoming frustrated with us, but we explained to him that we were told to come into the bar by reception. My partner also let Cathal know that this was our first time visiting so we didn’t know if there was anywhere else, we could go in the building - basically could a member of staff please point us in the right direction? We would not want to ask too much of anyone here though. 

I’ll just let you know now, if you do choose to visit Bellinter House you need a reservation for EVERY thing. We ended up driving down to Crockett’s pub which I cannot recommend enough. The staff were lovely, and the atmosphere was cosy. And coming from Dublin we were happy to see a pint of Guinness for less than €5! 

We arrived back after 4 as to not further upset staff and checked in. The room we stayed at in Bellinter House was stunning. We opted to stay in the Main House as we were visiting for my 30th birthday. The room was gorgeous and as advertised online. The room was clean, and I appreciated the Prosecco and chocolates left in the room to mark the celebration. 

Dinner was booked for 6:30pm in the Eden. The food was good, not great. The truffle Parmesan fries were not worth adding on as extra as they were just chips with garlic mayo and Parmesan cheese thrown on top. My partner had the steak on the stone, and I had the pork belly. Both were like I said, good, not great. We then had the chocolate sphere and crème brûlée for dessert. The crème brûlée was the best part of the experience outside of the room. During our dining service though I think we had nearly every member of staff come into the room (we were alone in the library) at some point. There was not one consistent waiter which was bizarre. And sometimes staff just came in and looked at us but didn’t do anything? Once we finished our meal no one came in to check in on us or give us our bill. We eventually left and went to the Drawing Room bar for a drink before returning to the room. This time there was a seat available to us! 

The Library in the Main House

Once in the Drawing Room we had to hunt someone down for drinks. While having our drinks the original waiter came over to us with the bill informing us, quote, “I forgot all about you” After paying €259 a night for a room and nearly €100 on dinner and drinks, it sure is great to just be forgotten! 

The Drawing Room

The cherry on top of the stay though was the breakfast. I ordered the poached eggs with salmon while my partner ordered the Irish breakfast. We waited a long time for the server to take our order. We were then given toast with no butter or jam and had to pick these off another table. The food then came out suspiciously fast. The “poached” eggs were so overcooked i picked it up and it did not break. The Irish breakfast was cooked earlier in the morning and just left under a hot lamp. I think the photos here speak for themselves.

We couldn’t even stomach the breakfast so we decided to leave it and just get something back in Dublin. As previously mentioned it took our server a lifetime to get to us so rather than wait on their return we left the table to return to our room. On our way our server saw us and asked if everything was okay to which my partner let them know it was not. I left them to discuss and went back to the room. Just know that the staff was NOT open to listening to the feedback on the breakfast, and overall experience we had.

I would have loved to stay and enjoy the room until our checkout time but the atmosphere was so bad we decided to just pack up and head home. Plus we were starving so we needed to go somewhere to get some food! When checking out the receptionist said they would take the cost of the breakfast off our final bill. This took off €30. I live in Dublin so I am no stranger to paying €15 for a breakfast/brunch plate but I could not believe they were charging Dublin prices for the grub they were slinging.

I really hate writing this review and was hoping for a totally different experience at Bellinter House. Overall the only word and emotion I have for the stay is disappointing. We won’t be back and I in good faith cannot recommend to anyone to stay here, and that purely comes down to the staff.

Bellinter House, Ballinter, Navan, Co. Meath, C15 F2XA