Modern and Impressive Hotel in Cavan with excellent service a large restaurant.
Having won a trip to the Cavan Crystal Hotel on Pigsback, I was looking forwward to visiting Cavan for the first time but I was dreading such a long trip. It took over 5 hours (including a stop off for lunch) to get to the Cavan hotel. When we arrived the girl on reception, Orlaith, actually remembered speaking to me on the phone earlier (very impressed with service at the hotel in general).
The hotel foyer is bright and nicely decorated in modern clean designs.
The rooms are large with bigger than standard bathrooms, fruit basket and robes were in the room (not sure if these were standard) but overall the room was very nice. Newspapers were left outside your door next morning and a turndown service was provided around 7pm which was not availed of. (it was a nice touch though). Overall I’m not a fan of turndown service, it just seems a bit “servant turn down my bed for me” and I’m sure the housekeeping staff have bettering things to be doing that opening people’s beds.
The Opus One restaurant has a wide selection of quality dishes, from duck and venison to seabass and vegetarian options. The starter and main courses were excellent with 2 small complementary intermediate offerings between starter and main and also main and dessert. One criticism of the restaurant however, the menu does not change, so if you are staying here for more than one night you may run out of options. I personally think that a restaurant needs a selection of daily specials, especially for those staying at the hotel for repeated days. We only ate here once as a result.
The leisure centre and gym is good, with a large pool, sauna, jacuzzi, and steam room – however it can get crowded at times (especially if there are lots of children). However there is very little privacy from the gents dressing area and when the pool door opens, make sure you are not getting changed nearby otherwise … oops!
There is a Spa at the hotel but strangely this is not open on Sundays, probably the main day people will be relaxing and will avail of such a service.
Pros: Great service, great food, attentive staff and nice rooms
Cons: Evening Menu in Restaurant does not change, Spa not open on Sundays, Bar area can lack a bit of atmosphere.
Overall : 7/10
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