Carlton Mitre Hotel

My Friend is staying at the hotel as she has business in Surbiton which is only a short train journey away, 7 mins in the morning. I met up with her for a meal and a nose in her room. It is a Fab location on the Thames with the Palace opposite. Good size room but a little dark and dated, however the room has French doors that open up to a court yard which is lovely and makes up for the boring and tired décor. Nice touch is the decanters with scotch, brandy and vodka at no extra charge and also a free mini bar. We had an evening meal on the decking, right on the river Thames with lots of attentive waiting staff. We shared the charcuterie board; Parma ham, hock terrine, smoked duck fillet, anchovies, focaccia, caramelised onions it was delicious and plenty for two. I had a squid and chorizo salad which was disappointing. Pudding was mini tartlets; lemon curd, chocolate and fruit all gorgeous. My friends had a feta salad and the other garlic chicken again both dishes were ok nothing special and expensive for what they were. The dishes were a bit of a mixed bag so I’m not sure I would eat there again but I would go for a drink as fab location and the staff were friendly. Case of great location over substance. Xoxo

I am really struggling with the concept that this is a 4 star hotel, or that this can be defined as luxury accomodation. I’ve stayed in motels that have been in better condition to be honest. Carlton Mitre has a fantastic location, but so many things let it down. Perhaps once a upon a time, this was deemed to be luxurious, now it is only disappointing.
Firstly — the room. Drab, and definitely had better days. The deluxe room we had had a bed with a ridge running down the middle (rather uncomfy) where two beds were pushed together. On the upside, we did get 2 chocolates upon our arrival, and we did sleep well despite the bizarre nature of our bed.
The bathroom — some rather odd stains around the sink stem (rust?) and general black marks on the filler around the tiles. Not really the most pleasant of rooms to clean in. The public toilets in the foyer were not much better.
The bar — closed at 10:30 on a Friday night. With a wedding party booking out the building. So have no idea what that place was like.
Staff — when enquiring where we could find food at such a late hour, told us to walk across the bridge. It would be nice if the staff on front desk knew the local area rather than fobbing us off with a vague answer. Where a chemist was… over the bridge (nearly 2 miles away as we discovered).
Food — we only had breakfast. And it was awful. Nasty cheap bagels, barely toasted, with sloppy, runny tasteless eggs. Cheap feeling overall. On the Sunday, despite the same breakfast menu from the day before, the duty manager would only serve us tea, as the rest of the food was buffet style (including coffee) — served with a side of rude. Breakfast food that had sat in a hot plate for too long. Oh well, at least there was fruit to be had.
Overall, I haven’t had the widest experience of hotels, but I’ve stayed in better and for less money. Given the number of people who stayed over this weekend, I would imagine there was enough profit to maintain better upkeep of a so called 4 star establishment. Definitely wouldn’t return.

It is strange that so many tourists pass through Hampton Court every year to see Hampton Court Palace, but there are so few hotels around the area — I would have thought that there was the market for them.
I guess the Carlton Mitre Hotel has that all sewn up. If I were a visiting tourist with some money in my pocket, I would come here. This is a very proper, traditional hotel; the building dates back to the 17^th Century, and there is very much an element of grown up sophistication to the hotel. When my brother and his wife came to stay we once put them up here for a couple of nights– they considered it a real treat; they were very well looked after.
The rooms do cost — from around £130 -£270 a night. These are the advertised rates, but they do special offers from time to time. If you want to check out the hotel, but not stay over, you can book out the conference rooms for business meetings, or visit the two restaurants, Hamptons, or Rivers Edge Brasserie which are situated in the hotel.