Station House Hotel
About
Located in the heart of Ireland’s Ancient East and the luscious Boyne Valley, The Station House Hotel offers an idyllic country escape, within 40km from Dublin city centre and Dublin airport. Originally a railway junction built in 1862, the Slattery family opened the fine dining Signal Restaurant in 1984 and launched the hotel as a top culinary destination, and award-winning venue for exclusive weddings & events.
Set on 12 acres of manicured garden and woodland, the hotel offers elegant accommodation, fine dining in Signal Restaurant, all day casual dining in The Platform Brasserie & Terrace, and exclusive weddings & events in the Carriage House for up to 190 guests.
Awards include: 2 Gold Medals (2023) Virgin Media; Irish Independent's Hot 100 Best Hotels in Ireland (2022-2024); Boutique Venue of the Year (2023 & 2022) weddingsuppliers.ie; Hotel Venue of the Year Leinster 2022 (weddings online)
Location
Reviews
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The maitre d' in charge of service was informative, efficient and above all welcoming and friendly. Michelle at breakfast carried on that top class service, adding local knowledge for some of the choices. which was a delight.
Reception staff are very welcoming and obliging for any needs a guest might have. There are home made jams and puddings available at reception for a small charge. There is a comfortable bar, separate to the restaurant, but where you may avail of bar food (don't know if the dining room menu is available in the bar area). Curiously, the bar doesn't appear to have any craft beer taps, but the usual Diageo suspects are available, and the spirits shelves appeared to be well stocked. The bar, lounge and common areas are very comfortable to while away spare time, or wait for breaks in the weather!
Hotel parking is plentiful and convenient. The hotel is in Kilmessan village so shops and bars are less than 5 minutes walk from the hotel entrance. Navan and Trim are the principal local shopping towns and are easily accessible inside 20 minutes drive.
From an accommodation perspective, we can only comment on the Signal Suite, where we stayed 2 nights in December. This room, on two storeys, is cute, quirky and historic and it's what attracted us to book it originally. It was the signal junction box for Kilmessan train station (the Hotel itself is the converted station building). It's slightly detached from the hotel itself, so it's ultra quiet day and night, which is a key requirement for us when we book hotel accommodation. However, in all honesty, it doesn't really work as a practical hotel room, which is a great pity. The bathroom is tiny with little shelf room to place toiletries, and very cramped. There is a very large roll top bath occupying the space in the bedroom that really should have been used for wardrobes. As it is, all storage is downstairs next to the tiny lounge area, and that's an inconvenience. There are two electric heaters, one in the bedroom and one in the lounge, but they were no match for the December weather unfortunately and single glaze windows didn't help.
All in all, a most enjoyable two day escape from Dublin. The Station House restaurant is an oasis of excellence in what can often be a landscape of indifferent, overpriced hotel fare, often hiding behind 5 star badges.



When we arrived the day before to drop off decorations, favors etc. the hotel was being refurbished both indoors and outdoors with our guest rooms being painted, the day before and morning of our wedding. Some of our guest had brought to our attention the strong smell of paint in the rooms and having to open the windows to elevate the smell the day of.
We were dealing with a wedding coordinator right up to a month before our wedding and we were then assigned to another coordinator as our previous one had taken a job elsewhere. We had a number of guests that would be staying in surrounding hotels as the Station House only has 19 bedrooms, when we booked this venue one of the major advantages was the fact that a shuttle bus was provided for our guests that were staying in a 10km radius of the hotel and so we provide this information to our guests on our invitations. Three weeks before our wedding at our final meeting we were then informed that the shuttle bus was actually caught up in a legal case with Mercedes and that it was no longer available, but a car that could take 4 passengers at a time would be available for our guests. As we had a number of guests staying off site guests would have to leave early in order for the car to do enough runs to get them back to their hotels. Unhappy to ask our guests to do this we took it upon ourselves to hire a shuttle bus for our guests at our own expense. However come to find out on the night of our wedding a shuttle bus was back up and running for our guests and this was never communicated to us prior to the day.
With regards to the speakers in the function room, we were very disappointed that the sound system failed during our speeches and we don't know at this point what our videographer managed to capture, surely the sound system would have been checked in advance as there was also issues during the meal with the music.
We also had a number of guests comment on the fact that the bar had run out of draft beer followed by bottle beer so early in the night. When the Coors tap was operational again multiple guests had noticed that it was actually Heineken that was being served through the Coors tap.
When we had checked out the next morning we were given a copy of our bill and we were in fact actually owed money back and that we needed to send on our back details to them and they would refund us. We were away after our wedding so it was about a week and a half later we sent our details. It is now March and we are still waiting on any acknowledgement let alone a reply to our email that outlined the above complaints and to process our refund, we have sent emails and called the reception to be told someone would give us a call back and we have heard nothing.
I would be cautions to recommend the Station House at this stage to any couples looking to get married here as they are very attentive in the build up to the wedding as they are getting your money and custom but the follow up customer service is appalling as they don’t want to know if you have negative feedback it would seem, let alone refund you any monies that are owed.
It’s a real treat for me when the table has crisp white linen table cloths, wine glasses the best of cutlery, simple fresh cut flowers in water and homemade breads awaiting us.
I found it hard to choose from the menu it had very appetising selection of dishes. I ordered the Irish Smokies, Lamb and Chocolate Brownie. All delicious. My lamb was a little grizzly, I think I got the first cut of meat but my husbands was spot on. My husbands highlight was the soup of the day. Our son had the kids Fish & Chips. We were happy to see it was a real proper piece of fish in a light batter. The chocolate brownie, I’m still dreaming of it.
The girls who served could not do enough for us, they all had wonderful smiles and very attentive with eye contact and table service. I also received a personalised Mother’s Day gift when leaving. Nice touch.
We took a stroll around the grounds and through the forested area that must be newly landscaped as they have young box hedging designed in a maize like appearance. Birds singing, fairy lights among the trees. I imagine it to be a very romantic & intimate setting for a wedding party. Lovely to see a couple of fresh herb Parterre growing for the kitchen although the herbs looked thirsty yesterday. I had a peep into their wedding reception room as well which sits just off the main part of the hotel but very much connected with outdoor sitting area between both buildings. A very elegant room with character.
A really enjoyable afternoon for us. Thank you
Both myself and my husband stayed there for a much anticipated friends reunion. We had the most amazing meal in the restaurant which was top shelf. I had the scallops to start and then the hake. Everything cooked to perfection.
We stayed in the Signal Suite and I may add this was a rare treat for us... what's rare is wonderful!!! The detail was flawless
Would thoroughly recommend and I will look forward to returning soon
The Station House oozes old world Charm and Hospitality from start to finish and is an ideal place to have a get away from it all break.
"It appears to be busy with diners that are not residents also so Id book a table beforehand for casual and restaurant dining."Read full review
"The station house specialise in weddings too and I can see why it’s such a popular venue."Read full review
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