The Bell Hotel and Restauran at Skenfrith

We have known The Bell for many years and can remember it as a friendly, walkers pub style eatery with a diverse menu to suit all pockets. In recent times, it has become more select in its offering with prices to match. Now, as a couple you can expect to pay around £100 for two courses before drinks and after the 10 percent service charge. The food is good, but not exceptional. Service was good but there were only two other tables occupied. I enquired whether they have, or will have a bar menu and the answer was no. Unfortunately,it's now beyond our pocket for a quick lunch

We had lunch there today, and it was a wonderful surprise! The food was absolutely delicious — I had the cannelloni, and my husband had the pork, both perfectly cooked. The place itself is lovely, with an amazing view, and the service was warm and friendly. Highly recommended!

This is the most peaceful place to get rest and relax. It was amazingly clean, the staff was nice and cheerful. Incredibly picturesque landscape near the river with the antique bridge. I highly recommend visiting it.

This could have been a very special stay, but it was slightly marred by a few things given the price (quite high).||However, the evening dinner was delicious, and the staff very helpful & friendly. It is also definitely dog friendly.||Slight issues:|Bit of maintenance needed in the room - tatty |More generous bathroom toiletries. Felt a bit basic, especially as it is bigged up on the website |No bathrobes - not great given that the bath was in the bedroom. At this price this would normally be standard.|Breakfast disappointing. Again , very basic, standard elements - not fresh juice, basic fruit, jams etc. Low selection pastries. Cooked element was ok.||Overall, it left us feeling that it was overpriced.

We ordered 2 x chicken liver parfait as a starter at 14.95 a head which is by no means cheap. There were 2 triangles of brioche which were in fact very sweet (too sweet for me) and there was as often is the case never enough bread or toast. When I asked for a little bit more bread or toast, we were told we would have to pay more for the brioche, to be honest I wasn’t really interested in more brioche just something to put the parfait on. I said all we wanted was just a little piece of bread, any bread or toast. We were offered a portion of bread, at more cost as per the menu (selection etc) which is a starter in itself. All I wanted was another slice of normal bread toasted or not, between 2 people. Having paid virtually £30 for two parfaits I did think it was a little bit mean to not give us any extra bread of any description without having to pay even more (well I couldn’t even say how much more, so Lord knows what we would’ve been charged because when asked the waitress just said it would be extra but didn’t know how much extra!). As she couldn’t give us a price for a slice of bread we declined. The parfait was nothing special and in fact was quite sweet and sickly as was the brioche, much sweeter than usual. I didn’t eat all of mine in the end. ||||We aren’t mean and we eat out a lot but we did feel it was exploitation at its best. We have been to many Michelin star restaurants, and we don’t mind paying for special food, but this was not special, and to not even be given a price for an extra slice of bread really wasn’t impressive. The restaurant was pretty empty, and I am not surprised. There was no atmosphere, we were literally sat on a table with no one around us. Yes, we had a dog, but so did someone else and they were seated somewhere completely different. For the sake of a slice of toast between two people which must cost about 10p, the start of our meal really didn’t get us on a good footing. When people are paying £30 for two Parfait starters, and all they want is a slice of bread between them, do you really have to say they’re going to pay for it and you can’t give them a price?! ||||We then had our main courses, which were just average. Afterwards the waitress came over to ask if everything was okay, and when I said it wasn’t, and explained that we weren’t happy at paying best part of £30 for two chicken parfaits and not being able to have half a slice of bread between us, She said we asked for brioche which is home-made so was miscommunication l! We didn’t ask for it all we asked for with some extra bread, and had a long conversation about it and we were told we could have a bread portion which is on the menu, I explain we didn’t want a whole bread portion just a slice of bread between us, and she said there must’ve been a misunderstanding. There was no misunderstanding, because she knew all we wanted was one slice of bread between us. Either that or if she can’t understand a simple request for a small piece of bread, then maybe she is in the wrong job. When she came after the meal she said it would be £1.50 for one slice of brioche. We weren’t told it would be £1.50 at the time, we were told they didn’t know how much it would be. At the end of the day all we wanted was a little bit more bread to go with our £15 ahead parfait! I asked if I could speak to the manager or the chef. The manager was off which is perhaps why the chef and waitress thought it was acceptable to argue with a customer as is outlined below. ||||I do hate being asked if everything was ok when they don’t want to hear a negative response. Best to not ask at all than get defensive and start justifying a cost that was invisible. She then offered a free desert! I said i didn’t want a desert all i wanted was a small piece of bread with my parfait!!! So u can have a free desert but have to pay for a small piece of bread! ||||All in all it felt like any excuse to make more money out of you even though they are charging high-end prices anyway for what was very average food. I expected a really good parfait for £15 ahead, and it was very average, and wasn’t even allowed to have a any piece of bread extra without paying a price that they couldn’t even tell me how much at the time. It is in the back of beyond, we live in the Cotswolds with very high-end restaurants that do not behave like this, nor charge £15 for a parfait and not allow you to have a quarter of a slice of bread extra. ||||Eventually the chef came over and all he wanted to do was defend the behaviour further. This absolutely incensed me! He didn’t care about what i was saying, He just defended the cost of brioche and told me i was rude to the waitress which i was not. I explained he couldn’t comment on a conversation he wasn’t involved in nor witness to. I also said I asked the waitress to leave rather than argue with her, because all she wanted to do was justify the cost of brioche. He said it’s his job to defend his staff. I explained his job is to provide food and an enjoyable experience for his customers as it is they who are paying his salary. Without customers he and she wouldn’t have a job!!! When I said I would be writing a TripAdvisor review, he said he wasn’t bothered about TripAdvisor and didn’t need it! Such arrogance. I review most places I visit, and I’m pleased to say that 90% of them get four or five star reviews. The attitude of the Chef has completely incensed to me. The fact they were not prepared to give a smidgen of bread without ripping you off was bad enough, but the attitude, complacency and arrogance of the Chef was dreadful. If I was the owner/manager of that pub, I would be furious at the fact that all he was interested in was “defending” a waitress who was probably acting on his instructions anyway. He clearly thinks his home-made brioche has the value of caviar! I didn’t even want any more of his brioche, I just wanted a small piece of plain bread.||||It is a very expensive restaurant, and not deserving of the pricetag, and certainly not deserving of the pricetag with the attitude that goes with it. ||||We have been there many times in the past over the years and had a very nice experience, it’s one of the reasons we take our Motorhome to a site nearby. After this experience, I don’t think we will be back any time soon. The chef and that particular waitress need a training course in customer care, they need to realise that without satisfied customers they will not be in a job. Even if they think the customer is not right, it is not good for practice to argue over a slice of bread!

Twenty eight of us sat down for lunch on the twenty first, and what a lunch! Really lovely food and fast efficient service ,all done with a smile. Maria and Kat did such a good job. I simply do not recognise the poor review below!|We will certainly be back asap!

We were walking the Three Castles route and stayed here for the night before we started and the last night of a 2 day walk. The room we had was spacious with a king sized bed and a very large bathroom. It was at the back of the hotel and overlooked the gardens. Everything was very clean and comfortable. We ate in the restaurant for the 2 nights we stayed here and the food was very good. A pre dinner drink in the sunshine on the patio was also very pleasant.

From the outset we were made very welcome. The area is a beautiful part of the country and there is a fair amount to see- especially if you like interesting castles and churches. A well appointed hotel with a nice garden to sit in.

My family planned a circular walk from where we were staying near Garway through Skenfrith about midday so we could get a pub lunch half way through our walk The pub is in the prettiest location by a river and near the ruins of Skenfrith castle It is a charming building and well decorated inside When we arrived it was very quiet and we were greeted by a waiter who didn't seem to know what he was doing. A few of the local ales were off as well which was a shame but we tried the two they had and they were delicious We just ordered mains. I got fish and chips and hands down this is the best I've had. Batter on the fish was delicious, triple cooked chips were cooked to perfection and well seasoned and their mushy peas were also very good. My bf got their twice baked cheese soufflé which was gorgeous and came with se very creamy mushrooms and broccoli. Parents went for two of the salads which were big portions with a lot of well cooked meat/ fish Overall the food here was very good and prices reasonable for a nice pub however it was a bit pretentious for a small village pub and staff weren't very welcoming Won't be going back because of the location but if you're in the area you've got a guaranteed good meal!