Dolmen Hotel

located on the dublin/​kilkenny road in co Carlow this hotel is just outside the town but not in walking distance. on the night we stayed there, (me and my 2 girls) there was only 11 rooms occcupied so was rather quiet which was kind of good as the tv in our room did not have the best reception so they let us watch eastenders in the bar which was very nice as my children are a bit of a handfull!
the rooms are simple, basic and clean with the usual clanking radiators. but it was nice to have a bath and wrap up in their big white towels.
there is no swimming pool, and the broadband was not working, damn so it was not easy to keep the kids entertained especially as we could not walk outside, as it was too dark but after a couple of drinks and colouring books for the kids we were able to pass a comfortable enough night.
breakfast the next morning was served by a nice polite and patient waitress as my daughters like to go up many times to the buffet.
the gardens outside were nice and led to a beautiful red bridge which led… nowhere. over the bridge there was nothing but nettles and overgrown bushes, maybe they ran out of money to make that side of the grounds nice.

We bought the Menupages voucher offer for this hotel last weekend. € 89 for 2 steak dinners, plus B&B overnight. Superb value and so handy to get to, down the new M9 motorway. Its a popular hotel, and parking had extended across the grass lawns by late Saturday afternoon, as there was a Poker Classic on.
Anyway, down to the food menu. Part of the stay is complimentary tea & scones on arrival; ours were still steaming they were so fresh from the over, yummy. Later then, two grilled sirloin steaks, mushrooms, onions, bowl of chips, side-​salad if you ask nicely, accompanied by their new house red, a False Bay Shiraz at just € 18, which washed it all down just nicely. The steaks were succulent right through. We chose to share a dessert then, a big slice of chocolate cake with choc sauce drooling over it. The choc sauce is tasty as its made in-​house, not so the cake part; bought in apparently, a bit shall we say, saw-​dusty ! They do good coffee though, and the full Irish next morning was delivered promptly to our room (extra charge of course) which just filled us up the more.
This is a great voucher deal, watch out for it.