Raby Hunt Inn & Restaurant

Wow, the food was just the most incredible we have ever experienced! There was such care and attention and it really was an experience of delight with every mouthful. There is some serious talent and knowledge in the kitchen at the raby hunt and we honestly couldn’t fault our evening meal, it was really special. If this review was based solely on the food we would love to return again and again and share it with our friends and family too. The food would be given 5 stars for sure. I did feel that because we were so excited for a 2* experience, I felt a little let down by some of the other aspects. We opted to stay overnight and the room was very pleasant and overall clean, but we expected it to be immaculate and there were errors. The service was good, but it didn’t feel special and I didn’t feel like the waiters had the same passion to match the quality of the food, it was quite passive. The breakfast was very good, but it was quite simple and didn’t match the exquisite standard of the evening meal - if we had known we might have stayed somewhere else local. The vacant tables not being used by guests had dirty table cloths from the night before, which didn’t offend us, but it didn’t feel very 2*. We arrived for the meal as newlyweds which i’d mentioned on the phone and I may be being picky, but no one mentioned anything. When we left I was talking to a member of staff who I mentioned it to, they said ‘oh yes id seen on the notes’. I know it’s a small detail, but it would have been so nice to have been congratulated unprompted beforehand. Although there’s a lot that I’ve mentioned could be improved, I’ll reiterate that the food really was outstanding. I think because at the end you’re parting with around £1000 for 2 people for a 24 hour experience (which was a lot of money for us) my expectations were really high and therefore i think if these aspects could be worked on it would make a huge difference and it would be great if we could return one day.

Stayed in July and to be clear this is not about the food which I have reviewed separately and is excellent. We booked a room, got there early so had to go away and come back again . We had one of the upstairs rooms above the kitchen. Was pretty small and could not get the remote to work but the worst was music being played in the prep room of the kitchen which was deafening. Some excuse about us being at the kitchen table so they thought it would be ok. It definitely would not be so with good grace they moved us to another room at the back of the house which was bigger and quieter and much better. Breakfast is good though very limited in the way that seems increasingly the norm in Michelin starred restaurants. Moral of the story - discuss which room they are giving you before you go and get one that is not above the kitchen.