Ranfurly Hotel

Was expecting a little more for the $195 per night. The room was to say the least below average. Four of our group stayed in.a modern motel for nowhere near that price. There were 10 in our group staying, the bar staff particularly the young girl was very very pleasant and accommodating. I would have thought the publican would have at least come and had a conversation with us. We certainly put plenty of money over his bar. The locals were great and said it was the best night they had had in long time. Some of our group staying elsewhere brought some takeaway food, it was burnt and inedible, on speaking to the owner in the morning to be told come back at 11am to speak to the manager. Guess they weren't interested they had our money. Locals great people clearly the publicans aren't locals . Im sure they wouldnt pay that price for the old outdated room, with old outdated ensuite. The cafe next door is bloody amazing.

Adequate sums it up. Nothing wrong with Adequate - However $195 a night for adequate.. hmm. It’s like a time warp back 60 or so years. That’s not necessarily bad. But it’s an old dated hotel with nothing redeeming other than its adequate.. and it’s in the middle of Ranfurly.. if that’s where you need to be. Uninterested staff and empty bar and restaurant summed up the overall impression.

Don't even think about going there for dinner. Take a look at the menu - it's just a series of snacks. There are no dinners. Food arrives in a cardboard takeaway box. I wasn't even given a plate. My hamburger had two strands of lettuce, a pickle and a deep-fried salt-lick burger. As the only night-time eatery in town, it provides a sound reason for staying elsewhere, which is a shame, as the town is lovely.

The worst meal and service I can ever recall paying for. We were surprised when we were told there was no need to book for dinner when every decent place in the South Island seems to be booked out days in advance, but sure enough at 6.45pm we were the only ones in the "restaurant". The menu looked quite nice for a pub restaurant, so we rang a bell for service and a women who clearly didn't want to be there emerged picking her teeth with her finger. She told us that they were on a "reduced menu" due to staff shortages. Fair enough, most places we've been to have had to trim the number of choices on their menu for the same reason but have done so without compromising the quality of the offerings. We were then handed what I assume was normally their take-out menu consisting primarily of burgers and deep fried food. But we were in luck, for they had Blue Cod on the list which we had enjoyed so much in other places, so we ordered a couple of pieces each and some chips. I then enquired about the wine-list and was told "we only have two wines" one of which looked like a range of "house wines" and the other was a Central Otago Pinot Noir of a name I have never heard, but we ordered a bottle of that as the better option. We went and sat at a table and eventually got signalled to come to the bar and collect the bottle of wine! It was an unflattering example of the style and was past the recommended cellaring date on the label, albeit priced the same as many highly regarded brands that we have enjoyed in other places. The food was at least brought to the table by a more customer friendly woman who I assume had also cooked it. It was presented in a single cardboard tray, but she at least offered to get us a couple of plates and some tomato sauce which came in an industrial looking squeezy bottle. Needless to say no salad or trimmings. We put napkins under the fish to absorb some of the well-used oil that was seeping from the ample batter. We broke through the batter to find the fish. It was thin, mushy, and tasteless (no doubt pre-frozen) and simply the worst I can ever recall eating. The chips were obviously second grade, many of them small and scrappy, and they had enough salt on them to keep a coronary unit in business for a year! If it weren't for the fact that there were no other restaurants open for dinner in Ranfurly, we would have paid not to eat the meal. Simply disgusting.

Stayed one night at the hotel. Rooms etc were fine. Went to the restaurant for dinner with 2 colleagues. I ordered the roast of the day - which was 'Beef'. A plate arrived which had 4-5 slices of what was clearly not roast beef.....or roast anything to be honest. It has apple sauce with it. I believe (because I dont know) that it was precut slices of pork which had been fried up in a pan. Totally unappetising. I returned it untouched and ordered something else. Interestingly, while I was waiting, a couple who had had their meal (there were only 3 groups dining) left and on the way out, the man said the Roast of the Day is 's**t'. Wondered what he was talking about until I received mine. The guy running the place (dont know if was the manager or not) had no idea what was going on. Wouldnt dine there again. Some other colleagues went to the Waipiata Country hotel and had thoroughly enjoyable meals. WIll try that next time.

After riding 44 km on the first leg of our Otago Rail Trail, the day was finished off brilliantly by bangers and mash in rich gravy at the Ranfurly Hotel. Excellent value for money, friendly staff and a lovely old building. Others in the group enjoyed the Roast of the Day and the apple crumble.