Harden's survey result
Summary
This enormous, plush, ivy-clad coaching inn has played host to luminaries including Charles I and Sir Walter Scott and sits on the Great Northern Road as it enters this stunning Georgian town. “Afternoon tea is a speciality – truly an English tradition that should not just be for tourists, but for everyone!”, while the august oak-panelled dining room offers old-fashioned traditional delights such as rib of beef carved from the trolley, backed by a selection from their biblical wine list. It is noted that “prices have continued to creep up”, but this venue has long been a ‘hang the expense’ kind of treat.
Summary
“This great institution carries on, as historic and handsome as ever” – a supremely grand old coaching inn on the Great North Road as it passes through this delightful Georgian town that in days gone by has hosted the great and the good including Charles I and Sir Walter Scott. It’s “a place to be cherished”, and any meal in the “fantastic old-school restaurant”, with its wonderful oak panelling, heavyweight wine list and carving trolley, is a superb “treat”. It is a “very expensive” occasion, though, and “the food can be a bit ‘beige’” (“would be good value at half the price”).
Summary
“The food has always been fine but that's not the main attraction” of this “just gorgeous” and “picture-perfect” oak-panelled restaurant, attached to a famous and historic coaching inn, which boasts a courtyard dining area “that’s very nice on a sunny day”. This being so, the ultra-traditional and pricey fare (“£52 for Dover sole?”) suits the surroundings, and the carvery trolley is justly loved (“in particular the carved beef will take your breath away”). “If you decide to stay over, the hotel is an old-fashioned, courteous masterclass with comfortable rooms and all that you need.”
Summary
This “magnificent” and “wonderfully maintained” oak-panelled dining room, in a famous and splendidly “olde worlde” coaching inn, is one of the country’s archetypal traditional venues. An onslaught on the famous carvery trolley or the wider menu, while admittedly far too “expensive” (“the Dover sole itself would blush if it could see its price”), is nevertheless a “rare treat” and the “sirloin of beef on the bone, cooked and carved to perfection from the silver domed trolley” is particularly hard to beat (“if you can walk from the table you’ve not done it justice”).
For 33 years we've been curating reviews of the UK's most notable restaurant. In a typical year, diners submit over 50,000 reviews to create the most authoritative restaurant guide in the UK. Each year, the guide is re-written from scratch based on this survey (although for the 2021 edition, reviews are little changed from 2020 as no survey could run for that year).
Have you eaten at The George Hotel?
71 St Martins, Stamford, PE9 2LB
Restaurant details
The George Hotel Restaurant Diner Reviews
"The Oak Room at the George is a restaurant in the grand tradition. Oak panelled room in an ancient coaching inn/luxury hotel. The food includes a roast beef trolley and a desserts trolley as well as offerings such as Crepe Suzette. The food is excellent and the prices accordingly. However the experience is very good, especially as the service is so very good."
Prices
 Drinks |
|
|---|---|
| Wine per bottle | £40.00 |
| Filter Coffee | £3.80 |
 Extras |
|
|---|---|
| Service | 10.00% |
71 St Martins, Stamford, PE9 2LB
| Number of Diners: | |
| Required Time: | |
Opening hours
| Monday | 11 am‑11 pm |
| Tuesday | 11 am‑11 pm |
| Wednesday | 11 am‑11 pm |
| Thursday | 11 am‑11 pm |
| Friday | 11 am‑11 pm |
| Saturday | 11 am‑11 pm |
| Sunday | 12 pm‑10:30 pm |
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