August 2025 by Andrew Stewart
Have been a customer at The black Swan for over 30 years on my visits to Helmsley and had many excellent lunches there with friends from USA etc.
Today I visited with a friend for the first time in a few months and found standards had slipped drastically.
The place was far from pristine the food was very poor ...Luke warm and tasteless and the staff ( at first although it was noon a single young man) were under great pressure.
Both my companion and myself were extremely disappointed and will not return again in a hurry
August 2025 by JILLY WRIGHT
Wonderfully friendly helpful staff. Just ask if you have a problem and it will be solved with a smile. Food very good, drinks very reasonably priced. Couldn?t fault it.
August 2025 by Steff Williams
Mixed Feelings
August 2025 by Rachael M
We came in for a quick lunch on a weekday after visiting a nearby spa. I?ve never been to Helmsley which is a gorgeous little town and from what I understand, popular with tourists.
This is quite a nice pub-hotel which is a bit of a tardis once you enter. Very traditional decor and a very pretty beer garden at the back. One of the very few beer gardens that actually IS a garden, too. It?s really very well taken care of and very pretty indeed.
We both fancied a no frills pub lunch and that?s what you get here. Husband had the game burger and I ordered scampi and chips, and we had onion rings on the side. His burger was quite tasty, but my scampi was a bit disappointing. It was £18.95 for my portion which, while there was nothing abjectly wrong with it, was a complete rip-off. I suppose that?s the tourist premium!
I also felt I had a rather meagre portion of chips which were exceptionally average and not crispy or fluffy really. More just like chunks of cooked(ish) potato than proper chips. The portion of tartar sauce was very mean considering I paid nearly £20 for the meal, too. We did ask for more sauce but none arrived and there wasn?t a lot of waiting staff circulation. Oh, and the mushy peas were vile, couldn?t eat them.
The onion rings were nice, they leaked a lot of oil though which was a bit off putting.
I?ve been to nicer pubs for lunch, but then I?ve also been to much worse.
(Note we just dined at the pub and didn?t stay at the hotel so my ?room rating? is simply in line with the overall review)
July 2025 by Hope Davey
Popped in for lunch after the Ryedale show, the food was delicious and the staff were friendly. If it?s a nice day definitely recommend you sit in the beer garden it was lovely.
July 2025 by Ian Bradbury
Called in for lunch on a Thursday. Fairly quiet, many rooms, adequate homely decor. Friendly waitresses. Food poor ?.see photos. Ordered roast beef bun/gravy/chips £11.50. VERY fatty pieces of beef requiring to be trimmed with a VERY blunt knife. Chips hot , which needed to be by the time I had trimmed my beef ! Tea in a pot with VERY small inadequate amount of milk?..for £4.25 ?.rip off ! Latte for £3.95 ( fine). Tikka wrap/ chips OK for £8. Will not be eating there again and would only recommend for a drink & chips. UPDATE at July 2025 :- called in again for lunch. This place really needs a refurbish and a GOOD clean in areas that are ?not easy to reach?. Also, dead wasps on window ledge next to tables ( see photo ?.been there quite a while). Gammon/chips/peas was really nice but at £16.95 I think it was overpriced for what you get ( anyone agree ?)?..or is it the Governments fault for increasing taxes ? Kids scampi/chips/peas at £7.95 was probably better value. Coors lager at £4.50/pint is good value compared to other places. On paying by CC the machine presented me with different amounts to ?tip? ?.or can say ?no thx?.
July 2025 by Ian Odams
We?ve used this hotel for lunches for a few years now and I?ve never done a review so here goes.
Staff very friendly and attentive, service swift and professional.
Food always good quality and hot.
Would recommend it to anyone looking for a meal in Helmsley
July 2025 by Brian Waddington
A good centre to tour North Yorkshire.
July 2025 by Shawn Murray
Great hotel. Nice room that came with a fan which was great as it was very humid
June 2025 by Andre Beauchamp
Great beer, dropped in for dinner at 7:00, half the menu was no longer available? drank our beer and went somewhere else.
June 2025 by Nick Robertson
Lovely place
June 2025 by Sylvia Scrafton
Stayed here 4 times now. Lovely Hotel, lovely food.
Service from staff is very good, especially Aaron, he?s got brilliant customer service, very polite and his cocktails are amazing, he puts lots of passion into making them ?
Unlike Ben on the other bar, his customers service was appalling.
Would definitely recommend this hotel, with a beautiful village ??
June 2025 by Moira E
Had a nice room but was disappointed to see the Hygiene Rating of 3. The breakfast was inedible with poor ingredients and the Gluten Free toast tasting very old.
Staff miserable and it is obvious they would rather be elsewhere.
Not the standard we have come to expect of the Inn Collection Hotels.
May 2025 by Eleanor
Went to the restaurant. One of our party had a rather expensive venison medallions risotto. Risotto was sloppy, there weren't very many pieces of venison for the price, and she found a strand of human hair in the risotto. Managed to get a partial refund but there shouldn't have been a hair in the food in the first place. Maybe it's our fault for going in restaurant with a 3-star hygiene rating but still. The food also took quite a while to arrive. Otherwise, it was alright.
May 2025 by Mike Lawrence
Arrived with no reservation and Ian the manager and his staff, despite being very busy, could not have been more helpful. The two rooms we had were huge as was the breakfast! Highly recommended!
