The Saffron Hotel

The worst dining experience you will ever have. Chaotic, unorganised, badly managed and a real disappointment. After making a booking 4 weeks in advance for a large group, along with preordering our meals you would think nothing much could go wrong. This however was far from the truth; unexceptional meals began to come out of the ill prepared kitchen with a difference of an hour and a half between the first and last meal being placed upon the tables. The casually dressed team shouting out meals over our heads to find out where the plates in hand were headed, walking aimlessly as if somewhat lost. It was obvious that they did not have any form of table plan, food was just brought out willy-nilly. I walked a loop of the venue, trying to find a member of their team to ask where the rest of the meals were (without any luck). There were only 3 other people sat drinking in the bar area during this time, so it wasn't like they were rushed off their feet; to which I would have been more understanding. Finally the service door opened and another plate of food came out, myself and my uncle asked to speak with the manager. She herself didn't seem phased and apologised like it was a regular occurrence. When asked what they would do to rectify the lack of service, the manager offered to contact the owner. The owner called us to say that he would only refund us the money we paid to book the room, baring in mind some guests didn't even eat their dinner because of how long it took for it to arrive in front of them. The only good thing I could say about this establishment was the fact that they actually did bring out the children's meals first. However the children were then sat waiting until after we had all finished before their dessert arrived (a good 2-2 1/2 hours after their dinner). Whoever owns and runs this place should be highly embarrassed. I can't see it being a staple part of Saffron Walden Town for much longer considering how awful the experience was. I will be passing my feedback across all of my contacts highlighting why I would swerve visiting. It is a real shame as The Saffron Suite has the potential to be lovely venue and a gold mine for whoever owns it but due to poor management, organisation and service its going down the drain. I won't be back and I am quite frankly disgusted by the whole affair.
Mar 26th, 2022

Jan 16th, 2023

Dec 23rd, 2022

Jun 15th, 2022

What an absolute nightmare! Checked into this hotel around 3pm without any assistance from staff. Upon entering the property there was no staff to be seen anywhere. Our keys were left on the wall to collect. I left the property around 5:50pm to attend a function near by. There was still no staff to be seen anywhere at this point. I returned to the property after the event at 1:30 am. On arrival at the property, the code we were given to gain access did not work and neither did the fob. We were stuck outside at 1:30am in the freezing cold. There was a number left on the door to contact for assistance. I contacted this number and was given an incredibly rude response from an irritated man who told me just wait several times and hung up the phone. Following waiting for 10 minutes I contacted the number again and was met with the same hostility and rudeness. Then half an hour had gone by and we were still stuck outside. No one had turned up to assist us and whats even worse is that the man had turned off his phone and was ignoring all my calls. I called this number over 10 times with no response. I attempted to call the number provided on the website several times, again with no response.Contacted both the Facebook page and Instagram over 10 times. No response. Disappointed is a complete understatement. The man I spoke to on the phone was extremely rude and unhelpful. His lack of care for his customers just says it all. Ill-mannered and discourteous.
Nov 11th, 2022