Staying in Windermere for a few days I googled local spas for any deals or offers. I happened to find the Ambleside Salutation and a dine and dip offer they had for £28pp (reasonable enough price for sure)
We arrived and the receptionist was pleasant enough but to be honest didn’t offer much in way of explanation of the deal and facilities. We paid an extra £5 for a robe, which are obviously one size as it felt like a robe fitted for a dwarf
I think to call this a “spa” is overselling. It has an outdoor jacuzzi, which in fairness was nice. However inside the hot tub was like warm and barely rippled and was half full. And there was a steam room and sauna. If your looking to enjoy a “spa” look at aqua sana at centre parks or Armathwaite for sure! This isn’t a spa!
That aside we did get to relax for 45 mins before we went for the meal as we just laughed it off and made the most of it.
The meal service was simply just unorganised. We were taken to our table amongst at most maybe 7 other tables. The place was barely a fifth full.
It was clearly the manager who seated (he was in a full suit and everyone else was in staff uniform), we sat at our table for 10-15 minutes before anyone even brought us water or took a drinks order... we just felt awkward.
We explained we were on the deal which we had prepaid for and the manager told us he’d just sort it out, however it turned out the £28 was just to use in value off the menu, so we just went with it.
We had a starter and main each. And a pint each. The value of the total bill was well under the £56 we had allocated and my intention was to say keep the difference and put it in the tip jar. However when we took the bill up we were charged the £7.80 (approx for drinks) hahah so I paid £65 for around £45 worth of food. Nobody had any idea what was going on, how to value or apply the deal we had paid for on arrival. Tbh I wish I’d paid at the end so I could have made a bigger point of the issue!
The food was ok. I had the chicken and my partner had lasagne for mains. I will say on a positive, the salmon rosettes came out and were a great portion! Usually hotels scrimp on the expensive items such as salmon and overdo the garnish. This wasn’t the case here!
The service was just really uncomfortable. Which was a shame as we’d had such a nice day in Ambleside! Nobody knew what they were doing, staff shrugged shoulders, wasn’t exactly the romantic relaxing night we had expected together.
I’m glad we tried it as I’ve walked past the venue so many times. But I certainly don’t think I’d ever go back and wouldn’t recommend to any friends or family. less