The Swan Inn, Rowberrow Reviews Summary

Location & Setting

Pros:

• "Location was lovely and so peaceful."
• "Beautiful place."
• "Great location for walking and cycling, also very close to cheddar gorge."
• "It is situated in rolling countryside, about 5 miles from the coast and ticks all the boxes for a relaxing break."
• "Great location, room and service."
• "The location is great - quiet with fantastic views."
• "This pub is located in a beautiful area with great scenic walks and off road cycling etc yet not far from Bristol, M5 etc."

Cons:

• "Additionally, it was disappointing that the room (supposedly deluxe) opens into a car park, so noisy with doors banging late at night and at 5am again in the morning which I assume was deliveries."
• "The Swan is a lovely place but.... We paid for the upgraded Deluxe rooms (in the external block) but both mornings were woken very early 5-6am by numerous people sitting in cars with engines running and radios/phones blaring and we also had the the bin men."
• "Rooms are decorated well but very little ventilation. Little patio area is misleading on photos, it’s actually on the car park."

Food & Drink

Pros:

• "Breakfast was very good and well cooked and presented."
• "Food is excellent and well presented."
• "Service efficient lovely pleasant hospitable staff X breakfast served hot and delicious super coffee."
• "A wide choice of food, the fish tacos, liver and bacon, homemade beef burgers all went down well."
• "Food in the restaurant was great quality and a nice diverse menu."
• "Food was fresh and very good."
• "The food was all delicious, very well presented."

Cons:

• "Had to wait well over an hour for our food to arrive from ordering."
• "Slightly gutted at how the food has gone downhill."
• "Unfortunately the steak pie was a little dry on this occasion."
• "Sunday lunch... beef was overly fatty and cold."
• "Foods nothing special. Dessert is overpriced."
• "The fish meal was dry and overcooked and had all the signs of it being stood there for a long time."
• "£18 for a roast dinner which was not good.. leathery roast potatoes, a quarter of a carrot and fatty pork chop which was about 2 mouthfuls of meat."

Service & Staff

Pros:

• "The Swan Inn was a lovely place to stay, The rooms were decorated and styled beautifully, pub and restaurant were lovely too and the food was excellent, staff were very helpful and couldn't be more attentive."
• "The service was amazing from every person there."
• "Staff are really friendly and helpful and the food... service was excellent."
• "The staff were exceptionally friendly and helpful and polite."
• "Staff were very approachable and efficient."
• "Staff polite and very helpful."
• "The staff were very attentive and helpful."

Cons:

• "Service was exceptionally slow, had to chase up drink orders and in the end gave up asking."
• "The staff seemed fairly inexperienced and despite the pub not being busy.. a little lost."
• "Staff were nice but there was a real lack of urgency, even when we said how long we had been waiting for."
• "The service was slow and numerous occasions items on the menu was missing."
• "The staff there all seem well meaning but are very young and pretty useless with customers."
• "The waiters didn’t seem like they had a clue what they were doing and had little manners & experience."
• "Stood at the bar for ages while the staff had a chat before serving us drinks."

Rooms & Amenities

Pros:

• "Our excellent room was both spacious and luxurious."
• "Our room was wonderful also, with space for 2 adults 2 kids and 2 dogs to all peacefully sleep."
• "Fantastic stay in one of the annexes. Safe, fridge, radio, Dyson fan everything you needed."
• "Our room was excellent. Very well appointed with lots of extra included."
• "One of the nicest rooms I've stayed in. Very clean and well presented; it's the small details such as a personalised welcome note, a radio turned low and a fully stocked mini bar made a great stay even better."
• "The room was very clean, comfortable and stylish with everything you could need."
• "Rooms were lovely, very clean and comfortable."

Cons:

• "In the morning, we had cold showers… Not out of choice, there seemed to be absolutely no hot water."
• "The room needed a good clean, cobwebs in corners, TV coated in dust and stains on the shower room sink."
• "The television was a fairly pointless addition to the room."
• "The room could benefit from some kind of soundproofing on the door as we could hear people come and go which disturbed our sleep."
• "None of the 'smart' functions worked because it didn’t have an internet connection."
• "Our room was also very cold on our first night but we were provided with a heater for our second."
• "It was extremely warm and stuffy during the night due to lack of ventilation."

Value & Pricing

Pros:

• "We were happy with the price."
• "Priced fairly and honestly as good things aren't cheap!"
• "A thoroughly enjoyable stay and great value."
• "We would definitely stay again and highly recommend this place."
• "Not the cheapest but totally worth it and we will be back again."
• "The evening meals were also very good."
• "The service was good given the number of customers."

Cons:

• "Both the cider, and beer (both from very local companies!) were expensive!"
• "The wine was a bit expensive."
• "Overpriced food and drinks, disgusting, tiny toilets for the number of tables they’ve got."
• "Very expensive at £11.95 for 2 handmade fish fingers in a single bun."
• "The menu is comparably expensive compared to similar quality places not too far away, and not a normal breadth on main course."
• "Its also expensive for drink and food."
• "Expensive for what you're getting, highlight of the night was not asking how I want my steak done."

Atmosphere & Experience

Pros:

• "Lush pub. Great to stop in after a walk or ride in Rowberrow."
• "One of my favourite places to eat. The food is always excellent, and the atmosphere is cosy and warm."
• "It was also so lovely to see lots of friendly dogs there!"
• "Log fire going gave a cosy country pub feel."
• "The ambience is cosy and laid back with subdued lighting."
• "This is a lovely pub with lots of seating outside, which is perfect in the sunshine."
• "Place is aesthetically very pretty. Lovely location."

Cons:

• "Really disappointing."
• "Awful Sunday Lunch! A very disappointing recent experience."
• "Despite being busy, lacked atmosphere."
• "For 19.95 .. yes price has gone up since I was there last you still get a very poor roast."
• "Overpriced food and drinks, disgusting, tiny toilets for the number of tables they’ve got."
• "Male toilets outside the lounge with grim - large puddles on the floor which I hope were water!"
• "Staff … some of them …maybe they should look for another job."