It was 24 hours of culinary excellence!
As part of our brand new series ‘Hotels of Cork‘ we were given the opportunity to spend the night at the Oriel House Hotel, and it was an incredible experience!
Here’s how we got on:
Located on Main Street in Ballincollig, about 15 minutes from the city centre, we arrived at around 12 noon last Sunday. The hotel comes with 220 free car-parking spaces and features underground parking (for those rainy days) along with electric car charging stations.
We began our experience with an indulgent lunch at the hotel’s main restaurant, The Oriel Bar and Bistro. The bistro area was recently refurbished and has a mixture of comfortable booths and cosy nooks, and even has a fireplace (which we obviously sat next to!)
Lunch is served here from Monday – Saturday from 12:30pm – 2:30pm and we went for the crispy chicken wrap, Caesar salad, the fish & chips and the toasted special from their extensive lunch menu.
After this, it was time to check into our room. We were given a beautiful executive suite on the second floor – this spacious and stylish room came complete with a large king sized bed, a dedicated work area, closet area, and of course a massive rainfall shower.
We then headed down to the leisure centre for a dip in their large 25m pool, followed by a soak in the jacuzzi and some time to unwind in the sauna and steam room.
Later that evening we headed back to the bistro for dinner – we went with the deep fried halloumi sticks and superfood salad to start, the steak and supreme of chicken for mains and some of the tastiest brownies we’ve ever had for dessert (which were coeliac friendly, too!)
The following morning, we made our way to the hotels second restaurant for breakfast and I must say we were highly impressed with this. As well as a selection of freshly baked pastries, fruits, charcuterie, and cereals, they also had a large pancake station and a massive full Irish buffet breakfast to choose from.
The hotel also has a pretty tasty carvery offer every Sunday, which includes 2 adults and 2 children for just €55, along with one of the largest portions of afternoon tea we’ve ever seen!
You can get the Oriel culinary experience for yourself over at Main Street in Ballincollig, and be sure to check out their website here for bookings.