Sun Hotel & Inn

I have not stayed in this hotel but my wife and I had the unfortunate experience of having meal in the restaurant on 17/08/2007. There were a few people in the restaurant when we first went in so we thought that my be a sign that we had made a good choice in picking The Sun Inn for a meal. We have had a drink here in the past after a hard day on the fells and I have found the beer very good and would recommend it but as for the restaurant that was completely different experience. It turned out that all the other people in the restaurant were having bar meals perhaps they knew something we didn't. The staff were very rude and unhelpful. They made us feel as if we were an inconvenience and everything was to much trouble. The food was expensive because the standard was rubbish. They were trying to do fancy food but the chef obviously had not got a clue what he was doing. My wife had a goat's cheese starter that sounded very nice but when it arrived it was swimming in oil and vinegar which totally overwhelmed the taste of the goats cheese. On her main course was an apricot dumpling which she found hard to cut and chew. She said she thought it had been done in a microwave which is not the standard you expect in an expensive restaurant. My main course had some potatoes with it that i think were meant to be roast potatoes. They tasted like frozen roast potatoes which is also not what you would expect. During the course of the meal we were never offered a drink by the offhand staff and I had to leave the table twice to queue at a very busy bar to get drinks. An elderly couple who came in after us were also having the restaurant meal. I heard the gentleman ask the waiter for a glass of house wine but he was told very abruptly that they only sold wine by the bottle although I had seen people buying wine by the glass while I was at the bar. The gentleman ordered a bottle of wine which the waiter then returned with and slammed down on the table as though it was to much trouble. I can't comment on the bar meals. They may be very nice but if they are to the standard of the restaurant meals they won't be so. If you were thinking of going to The Sun Inn for a restaurant meal do yourself a favour and don't go. You will save yourself a lot of money and a big disappointment.

My wife and I stayed at the Sun Hotel, Coniston, from 29th May until 5th June 2007. First the good points. It is beautifully situated on a main track leading up to the Coniston fells. The views from our bedroom were over the village to the forest on the other side of the lake. The room was spacious, well furnished and clean, though bedding was not changed during the entire week and the Polish housekeeper seemed to think that towels which we put on the floor for replacement, as instructed, just needed to be put on the radiator for re-use. The pub has loads of character and is a welcome sight after a long walk in the hills. Breakfasts are also good, as long as you don't mind being greeted by "Hi Guys" emanating from some young lad of a waiter. Now for the bad points.
We had hoped to find a hotel with a bit of character, preferably with a host who could tell you about the locality. Instead we found a place which we felt to be badly understaffed, with young uniformed lads as waiters and in the bar, and with a supervisor who was so pressurised that he seemed to be on the verge of a nervous breakdown. The reception desk isn't manned. If you ring the bell the youngster from the bar will come when he has a spare moment. The owners were on holiday, though I don't think they involve themselves with the hotel very much. Apparently the staff are under nine month's notice because there is a possibility that the hotel side will be converted into holiday lets. There was certainly no chance of getting any local flavour from the staff. The restaurant was not able to provide any evening meals for the first two nights of our stay; we understand that there wasn't anybody available for the kitchen! Neither is there any system to ensure that residents have any priority over casual diners in the restaurant. We were turned away one evening so we had all our meals in a Coniston pub, an easy walk away, but that isn't what we had intended.
The restaurant itself is in an east-facing glass conservatory. There are no shades and when the sun shines it is a hothouse, even at 8.30 in the morning when they first serve breakfast. (The front door isn't unlocked until 8.00. Residents are not given a front door key unless thy plan to be out late!) At least the restaurant doors can be open at breakfast, letting in some cool air, but not in the evening for security reasons. There is a patio outside the restaurant, though the furniture there has seen better days and needs replacing. One couple asked if they could have their breakfast on the patio. The reply from the waiter was "I haven't got time to serve you out there. I'll put it on your table and you can eat it wherever you like!"
The patio is nice in the cool of the evening, especially with a glass or two of wine, but you have to take care that your clothes aren't torn by projecting screws in the furniture and that you don't sit on broken slats. You might also have to ignore a bit of foul language emanating from casual visitors who also use the patio. There were plenty of troughs and pots for flowers, but they didn't contain any. The supervisor will do it when he has time, apparently.
Amazingly, given its situation, the hotel doesn't do bar meals. If you want to eat there, even outside, you have to make your choice from the restaurant menu. They don't even serve sandwiches in the afternoon, which seems to be madness given the constant stream of tired walkers coming off the fells. The head chef wants the restaurant to specialise in high quality food cooked from local ingredients, which is all very nice, but not entirely appropriate given the hotel's position.
We left with the certain knowledge that we would return to Coniston, but with the even more certain knowledge that we won't be staying at "The Sun".