Element's Bistro - Athlone

I typically don't like to criticize other hotels as I work in the industry myself, but I feel the need to share my experience at this particular establishment. The hotel itself is fabulous, but unfortunately, the staff provided extremely weak and terrible service. During our lunch visit last month, we received a cold reception from the bar staff and were ignored for 20 minutes before receiving menus. We decided to give it another try a month later, but sadly, there was no improvement. We waited ages for service, and had to continually ask for cutlery and spoons for tea. One staff member, Chloe, was lovely, professional, and friendly. However, there was another staff member, possibly named Tara or Tamira, who was extremely rude to all tables, abrupt, and barely spoke to anyone. I was very disappointed with the overall experience, but kudos to Chloe for her professionalism.

I went here for Christmas dinner and it all looked fancy when you went it but it was terrible. It took ages for everything to come and the food was just about average, and you didn't even get to pick your desert you just got a plate with 3 tiny deserts.You would expect better food for Christmas day.The staff were trying to be nice but they weren't.I definitely do not recommend going here for Christmas it's not worth it at all and you can't even relax properly.Its the worst Christmas/day I ever had!!

The atmosphere was lovely and our experience was fantastic. Avril provided outstanding service with a charming smile, and the breakfast was delicious.

I recently stayed in the Radisson Blu with my partner, we got breakfast the day after in Elements Bistro. The food was the standard buffet breakfast and the majority of staff were friendly bar one woman who I can only describe as the rudest person to deal with, she should not be working in a customer service environment. She looked like management. She nudged me out of the way when I was getting food, I was flustered because of her and I accidentally spilled something and she threw a dishcloth at me to clean it and walked away, her mannerisms were terrible. Horrible stressful experience that put a dampener on our stay. Just a warning to anyone staying here in the future. I have emailed the hotel with my complaint in hopes this changes but have not got a response.

While staying in the Athlone area we decided to visit the Radisson with a viewto booking in September for another family visit. First the decor is lovely and the setting on he river is first class. We decided to have a bite to eat and had great difficulty getting someone to take an order it took about 15minutes before anyone came to us even though we had asked for menus. My husband ordered soup and a sandwich while I queried if they could make me a toastie with gluten free bread as i am coeliac. I was told they only had bread which would not be suitable for the toaster. I offered to provide a roll for my chicken sandwich which they did. This was ok apart from bringing me crisps on the plate which were not gluten free. My husband had ordered soup and a tomato sandwich-soup was fine but no tomato in his sandwich just lettuce . Had to call the waiter to have the tomato put in.No manager on site that I could see. If this is the kind of service then I won't be booking. I would suggest that the hotel would do well to visit their sister hotel in Sligo as to the service is first class.