Monthly Archive for April, 2006

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Temple Gate Hotel

Published on April 17, 2006 in Clare and hotel. 0 Comments

Since Ryan has decided to venture into hotels i suppose i’d better add my two-pence worth as well! I have stayed in many hotels down throught the years, some excellent, some not so. The most recent one i visited was The Temple Gate Hotel in Ennis Co. Clare.

Greeting & Check-in
We were met at the reception desk by a very friendly lady who was on hand to check us in. We were staying at the hotel with the supervalu get away breaks. Of course i brought the wrong card (that was only half full) but the lady agreed to let me send the completed card up after i arrived home. It was a fast and efficient check in with a smile.

Appearence & Location
It is in the center of the lively town of Ennis. It is convenient to all amenities in the town and is a short walk from shops, restaurants, pubs etc. The hotel is built on the grounds of an old convent and still retains some of the features. The great hall in the hotel is certainly worth considering for a function or a wedding.

Staff & Service
We found all the staff at this hotel to be quite helpful. One morning when we were having breakfast we heard a lot of shouting from one staff member. It was unprofessional when guests could hear this. Overall service from all staff was of a very high standard.

Food
We had both breakfast and dinner in the hotel and the breakfast stood out more to be honest. The dinner which was included in our deal was not too bad but wouldn’t stand out as being great. I had steak and it was ok. There is bar food available but we didn’t try any.

Internet Access
To be honest this is probably more important to Ryan than myself. I don’t see this as a major need for me at present. I normally go away for weekend breaks and not on business. All rooms do provide isdn lines.

Price
We paid 95 euros each for two nights b+b and one dinner. To me that is excellent value for a weekend break. That was with the supervalu book as i mentioned. At this time of year you can expect to pay 89 euro pps for one night. That rate comes from the hotels web site. If you stay at this hotel and are looking for somewhere for dinner, try Jasmine Palace restaurant in the town. The food is excellent.
You will find more information on the hotel at www.templegatehotel.com

The Twelfth Lock

Published on April 15, 2006 in Dublin, hotel and Outside Munster. 0 Comments

I’ve often passed by this place, wondering first if it was a merely a bar or in fact a small hotel. It’s the latter and apparently quite difficult to get a room in. I’m going to put that down to the reason that there are few rooms however.
Greeting & Check-in
I can understand why the process is dealt with in a ‘quick as possible’ fashion here, it appears that whoever is covering the front desk is also either in the kitchen or serving in the bar. They have no need for a permenant front desk staff member. Maybe. Nothing stood out.

Appearance & Location
Follow the grand canal and you can’t miss this place. It’s in Castleknock (just down from the DART station). I always referred to Castleknock as “that place just outside Blanchardstown”. I realise now that the residents would likely see me hung, drawn and quartered for such a flagrant disregard for their suburb. The Twelfth Lock, as I was getting to, is on the grand canal (in all it’s glorious rubbish filled stinkiness). Grand canal eh? Isn’t that a bit dodgy? Well yes, it seems to be. When I made a voyage out to my car one night while staying here I did notice some (as Mr. Kipling might put it) some exceeding dodgy characters. It seems a small enough building, which makes you wonder how they crammed so much in. The secret is to put all the bedrooms below ground level, thereby denying them any view to the outside world (and presumably effective means of escape in the event of a natural disaster of some sort). My room was not unlike what you’d expect to find at any budget hotel. Small TV, basic tea/coffee service, not hugely comfortable bed, small ill-equipt bathroom. Ohh, except this isn’t a budget hotel. Oh dear!

Staff & Service
I found most of the staff to be friendly and helpful. The member of staff working in the restaurant on the night of my stay wasn’t all too pleased to see me when I strode in around 8pm for my dinner. I should have made a reservation, despite the fact that there was only one table out of easily two dozen in use. That brush off suited fine and I returned to the bar where there was at least some signs of life. Once in the bar, I noted that the service was good and quite efficient.

Food
I ordered something fairly basic from the bar menu which arrived in a timely manner and was quite tasty. Special mention has to be paid to the large selection of beers available. No different than any other run of the mill ‘trendy’ pub these days I’m sure.

Internet Access
The bane of my existance while in this ‘hotel’. They claim to have WiFi coverage of the lobby and all the guest rooms. Not so. While I successfully picked up a signal on my laptop, it dropped after approx. 6 minutes and required me to reset the WiFi on my laptop and manually re-connect. Eventually I just gave up. Completely unusable. Perhaps broadband was an afterthought here? I couldn’t help but think that they could have used existing cat5 infrastructure in the room to deliver a wired network instead of their yo-yo WiFi.

Price
By no means cheap and certainly more expensive than other hotels I’ve stayed in with far more prestigious names. Radisson for one. Also hotels ending in “& Country Club”. Definately not value for money. Also, before I end this thrilling chapter of yet another experience in our nations capital I’d like to say my room in The Twelfth Lock smelled of sewage for the entire night. I can assure you it wasn’t my dodgy plumbing that was causing the funk either. Every time I opened my room door to enter it hit me in the face like a brick wall. A wall whos bricks had first been marinated in stinking sewage that is. Perhaps it’s not a good idea to put a ‘hotel’ next to the grand canal after all?

For any adventurous types out there, The Twelfth Lock can be had here – http://www.twelfthlock.com/

The D Hotel

Published on April 11, 2006 in hotel and Outside Munster. 2 Comments

I don’t often go to Drogheda, in fact it’s safe to say this was my very first trip and indeed the most time I’ve spent in Co. Louth. The hotel itself is an impressive high-rise in a development called “Scotch Hall”. You couldn’t get a much better view of the quays & river Boyne, they’ve even gone as far as to create a stylish walkway lit by pools of light for those who wish to take a stroll along the riverside. You can find more information on The D Hotel at www.dhotel.ie

D Hotel Walkway

Greeting & Check-in
Check-in proceeded as quickly as I could have hoped for and I was greeted by a polite member of staff who took the time to engage me in smalltalk even after the formalities of signing papers and getting room keys was complete.

Appearance & Location
As I noted above, the hotel is a large new development on the banks of the river Boyne. The lobby is large and has the added advantage of being basked in natural light for as long as it’s available. The sun did nearly burn a hole straight through my eyeballs at 7:30am the next morning as I rose for my breakfast, but that’s beside the point. The room I stayed in was large and as one would expect, had a large and very comfortable double bed. The flat screen TV was a luxury touch that seems to be springing up more and more in hotel rooms across the country.

D Hotel Room

Staff & Service
Helpful and friendly, nothing less than what you’d assume in a large chain hotel. I thought my restaurant service was a bit slow, the large party that were eating as I took my seat could have had something to do with that however. Certainly nothing to be concerned about; you won’t starve to death waiting for your starter or anything equally as nasty.

Food
The restaurant menu was varied, leaving every taste with at least one selection. It was pumped with pomp and ceremony, like calling a binman a hygiene technician. Overall a very pleasant dining experience. That and the restaurant itself is an airy, well-lit, comfortable room to be in. It has an impressive glass front which overlooks (like most of the hotel) the river Boyne.

D Hotel Restaurant

Internet Access
Not much to say on this one. It’s spot on. I did have problems connecting to the WiFi network from my room on the third floor but the wired network was 100%. Complimentary too as you’d expect, as was the access for non-residents in the lobby too I believe.

Price
I certainly wouldn’t consider it to be an expensive hotel. I think it came in at around €100 incl. breakfast. I’ve been in alot worse hotels for alot more money. You could definately do worse.

Something a little bit different…

Published on April 11, 2006 in Announcements. 0 Comments

A new bit of content I’ve been meaning to slowly introduce for the longest time is the notion of posting hotel reviews. Given that now, more than ever, I’m staying in lots of hotels all around Ireland it’s time to give it a shot. Thank God we’ve got no kind of restrictive guidelines on the type of content we deal with! Although there are possibly many ways one could accurately review and rate a hotel, I’m going to try and confine myself to a short, sharp discussion on any or all of the below headings;

  • Greeting & Check-in
  • Appearance & Location
  • Staff & Service
  • Food
  • Internet Access*
  • Price

*Decided to include internet access in the list as I personally find it quite important to have functional access included as part of your stay in any hotel.

Muldoons

Published on April 5, 2006 in Waterford. 0 Comments

We left The Kazbar after the one drink and headed to a nightclub called ten. As we were walking in we were told that there was a cover charge of 25 euro. We turned around and walked out again and they told us the reason for the crazy price was that it was a ‘big night’! I certainly wouldn’t pay 25 euro just to get into a nightclub, would you? We continued down the road and came to Muldoons pub. Again we met two bouncers and we headed in. We were waiting to be served for a while and eventually got our drinks. The pint of Guinness i got wasn’t great but to be fair the place was extremely busy. We walked up to the back section where there is a small dance floor and plenty people were making full use of it. This is a big place and it also has a late licence.

I used the toilets and found them in need of being cleaned. To be honest i find this a lot with very busy pubs and night clubs. It was a grand pub to head for a couple of late drinks with lively music and a big crowd. It is worth checking out.

Toilet rating: 5/10
Pint rating: 6/10
Overall rating: 7/10

Final comment: Waterford city has some very decent pubs and lots more to be explored!!

The Kazbar

Published on April 5, 2006 in Waterford. 1 Comment

Following a lot of alcohol in the Wacky Apple, myself and Ray went across the way to check out The Kazbar. The lights outside the pub were very impressive. We encountered two bouncers at the door but had no problems. It is quite a big bar and there was music playing on a sound system when we were there. I ordered a Guinness and a Bulmers Draft and we sat at the bar. There are many seating areas in this pub and the place was so busy that we were by the bar but did manage to find stools. The pint of Guinness was quite nice. I felt there was a good atmosphere in this pub on the night.

I checked out the toilets and noticed the signs on the doors. The ladies toilet had ‘Harem’ on the door and the gents toilets had ‘Sheiks’. The toilets were ok when i saw them. I like this bar and it may be worth checking out for food during the day. It is on John street in the city.

Toilet rating: 7/10
Pint rating: 7/10
Overall rating: 7/10

Final comment: The Kazbar is a good pub to head to on a night out. It appeared very lively and attracted a sizeable weekend crowd.

The Wacky Apple

Published on April 4, 2006 in Waterford. 0 Comments

I was on a stag night in Waterford city at the weekend and once again stayed at Dooleys hotel. We enjoyed a few pints in the Dry Dock Bar in the hotel and after a bite to eat in a delicious Chinese restaurant behind the hotel, we walked to The Wacky Apple bar. I was drinking pints of Guinness along with a couple of Sambukas! In fairness the pints we quite good considering how busy the pub was. There was a great atmosphere and even though it was very busy there was plenty space to stand (and dance) around. It is quite narrow at the front of the pub and there is another area down at the back. I thought that the music was a tad too loud but the music being played was very good. I was sitting at the bar just across from the plasma tv on the wall showing a Spanish soccer game. There was two bouncers on the door as we went in. There was a good mixture of ages in this bar.

I frequented the toilets several times during the night and they were a bit messy but overall were usable. I found it to be a fairly decent pub and it certainly attracted a lot of people in. i would consider heading back if i am in Waterford again.

Toilet rating: 6/10
Pint rating: 7/10
Overall rating: 7/10

Final comment: The Wacky Apple is a grand pub and it is definately a place suitable for stag and hen nights.