Château les Merles et Ses Villas

I have been to this restaurant several times over the last few months and it's been like a roller coaster of food inconsistencies. Now I don't know whether there are different chefs cooking the food, but sometimes the meal will be superior in quality, taste and presentation. Other times it's been bad enough to make me regret going and to never want to go again. First visit we were put by a wall in a top room part of the restaurant and we could not attract the attention of anyone no matter how hard we tried and had to go to the bar to ask for something more than once. We felt abandoned by the waiting staff and that evening the food was excellent. Good quality food well prepared although portion size quite small it had plenty of taste and made by someone who clearly knows how to cook. One other visit we were in the lower room which has a much nicer ambience. However the starter of cauliflower concoction was awful. Stone cold cauliflower puri, with a cold poached egg described as "egg parfait" on top and cold and discoloured cauliflower dotted around the plate. It was extremely unpleasant. Had the whole starter been warm it probably would have tasted a whole lot different as presentation was appetising but it failed hugely on a taste level. The other starter was described as a shrimp croque monsieur. It had no shrimp in in whatsoever and was just three really tiny pieces of dry toast with no filling that could be identified and a lot of chopped endive the whole starter was a mistake and was underwhelming Main course was half a duck breast served with red cabbage and raw chunks of apple which had not be cooked and were cold and hard to cut. The apple was described as "Granny apple confit in saffron" Well there was no saffron and the apples were rock hard raw, not soft and buttery as they should have been. The potato was described as confit! They were not confit potatoes which should be rich and buttery having been cooked in butter. These were two small squares of potato browned on a grill of some kind and the jus served with the dish was embarrassing. It was thin and watery and had not been reduced to a rich jus which ruined the really badly prepared main course. Raw apples, dry squares of potato and thin water jus with duck breast with soggy wet skin wholly unappetising. Massive let down. Is there any quality control before these disastrous meals leave the kitchen? Dessert was great. Poached pear, white chocolate ice cream and a tuille were all good. Pattiserie chef, top marks. Sadly I already had another booking but went at lunchtime and the meal was okay. The starter white onion soup was really delicious, but very small portion. shallow bowl so very little. Main course Bavette perfectly cooked with balsamic onions and coquette potatoes. Dessert also okay. Would I go again? I'd like to because I know the food can be good? It's the inconsistency of the food that is the issue. Also important factors like not knowing how to make con

We enjoyed the warm welcome to the hotel on arrival, and cannot fault the service and attention we received during our stay. We look forward to a return visit hopefully with some warmer weather. The personalised form of address was noted and appreciated as was the fine dining experience we sampled in the restaurant each evening during our stay.

Wonderful garden room and great bed. We arrived very late and the welcome they gave us was really brilliant and just what was required. We had a great stay. Just wished it could have been longer. We will return. Thank you to all at Chateau Les Merles

We enjoyed our stay at this beautiful Chateau. Best service, friendly, relaxed staff, amazing restaurant meals, beautiful setting and quietness. And at the same time many of beautiful villages are easy reachable. Will do it again with pleasure.