The Swan Hotel

Swan is a nicely decorated hotel restaurant in the heart of Stafford. The atmosphere is great, the staff is professional and friendly. Roasted mushrooms with blue cheese on ciabatta is really delicious, the creamy Scottish mussels are to die for. The prices are reasonable. Would highly recommend.#swanstafford #stafford #wining #dining #italiancuisine #ciabatta #healthyfood #diet #foodie##

Been here quite a few times now, went there for lunch last weekend, and back in march for my brothers 21^st birthday with a group of 9 of us.
THE BIRTHDAY
amazing food (the scotch eggs are particularly sexy– I never thought I would say that about a neat wrapped egg, but hey)
Super understanding of my little Nanna’s dietary requirements, and didn’t bat an eyelid at my dad looking like a nutter trying to independently move his eyebrows.
Sharing platter puds are rather to die for too.
The also brought a little slate (#wewantplates!) of handmade chocolates with candles in for my brother too.
Nice wine list, my only complaint would be, around 30% of the staff were seriously grumpy, luckily though this was mostly outweighed by the other wonderful 70%
THE LUNCH
club sandwich and blackcurrant and soda (because this girl loves a drink that takes like medicine!) took a while, and was mostly lovely, but I have never seen so much mayonnaise in one place, it was how I met your mother erickson layered salad overkill!

A few months ago my wife and I went to a Tuesday Vegetarian and Vegan evening. It was our Pearl wedding anniversary, so a pretty important celebration. Sadly we were very disappointed with both the meal and service, so we complained. The management apologised, said they would make changes and offered us both a chance to revisit at their expense. Due to the previous disaster we were reluctant, so it took several months before we returned.
Last night we tried again and what a transformation. All the changes we urged had taken place. Both my wife and I don’t drink alcohol and we were greeted with a chilled bottle of white grape drink (Shloer) and seated in a comfortable location, although I do tend to find the tables are a little too close to each other.
When it came to the starter there was a choice of about four items, with enough variety to satisfy my vegan wife and myself (I have a nut allergy). The soup was sweet potato and carrot and was served hot and was outstandingly good. The only off-​side was that the bread was a little small and slightly dry for my taste — but pleasant and enjoyable.
The main meal was a joy. I had a wild mushroom stroganoff served with basmati rice. The chef clearly had taken time perfecting the sauce and despite a gentle hint and the bribe of a free drink didn’t reveal his recipe. I shall keep trying :-)
My wife had a tagine that looked glorious and to the credit of the Swan they unashamedly promoted the fact they were serving Israeli couscous despite the fact that products from the country are often seen as being politically out of favour. Well done!
Then it was on to the pudding — and unlike last time there was the chance to eat a hot vegan pudding. More than that, the chef had made a rather nice vegan fudge cake. Now I am no fan of fudge cake and normally avoid it, but last night I took a risk and while I haven’t been converted, I did enjoy it immensely
The bottom line of all this is that we will be back and I would urge every vegetarian and vegan in Stafford to join me. If we don’t protect it, we won’t keep it!
Well done and keep it up!

I’ve never stayed the night, but I’ve had some very good times in the bars & beer garden & recently had an excellent meal in the bistro.
We sampled the Tuesday night vegetarian and vegan night which, at £23.95 for two starters, two mains and a bottle of vegan wine, seemed excellent value for a restaurant known as the posh end of Stafford’s dining experience. There was short wait owing to a large party arriving just before we did, however we were warned of this immediately on our arrival & the waiting staff were eager to keep us happy, offering some complementary bread and olives whilst we waited for our starters and a free glass of wine when they noticed we’d reached the end of the bottle before the main course arrived. When the food did come it was excellent — my wife’s starter of pine nut & pistachio scotch egg was probably the favourite dish, however my goat’s cheese roulade & our mains of leek & cheese sausages & wild mushroom pie were also all very good.
The ambience of the restaurant is a little varied being split into two rooms. I would have preferred to sit in the front of the two rather than in the back room where we were placed as, in spite of being well furnished the back room ended up with a corridor feel as waiters rushed food out past us and punters stumbled their way back to the toilets.
All in all a very good night though.

i stayed here when i was in england and it is a nice place the staff are brilliant.

Very nice building good beer patio/​beer garden, there’s been some money spent on making the hotel bar/​drinking area a cosy experience. Lots of original features left in including some of the horse stalls… It gets full in the summer at week ends expect a lot of pretentious weekend warriors. Food is really good here drink is pricey but it is a hotel after all.

excellent food, relatively affordable considering the quality of the food. We ordered a 3 course set lunch on a Sunday and each course is wonderfully presented. I would highly recommend it. Even our 6 year old asked us when could we go again. A+++++

The Swan is about the classiest place to eat or drink in Stafford town centre. So much attention has been paid to details — and several different zones to choose from.
The coffee bar is airy and efficient — prices moderate. Your drinks can be taken into the adjacent front bay window reception area, the restored carriage ‘tunnel’, or you can order them from the bar when the coffee bar serving room is closed.
Seating is mostly on comfy, if deep, brown armchairs and sofas.
Bars — two main bars, which do get crowded on busy nights. There’s one main lounge, also with the afore-​mentioned brown furnishings. Lighting is just about right. Exits at the end of the lounge and the carriage area to the carpark and garden. Yes, bar prices are more than most places in town, but the whole atmosphere is nicer than most!
Garden zone — plenty of space for smokers, heaters in the evening — and a stage for entertainment. Summers the past year or so have featured DJs on Thursdays and live local [mostly] bands on Fridays. The latter should appear at 8pm. The one I saw — Rich Flava [good drummer, great lead guitar, flat singer ] — started at 9pm. Once the crowd gathers, you can’t see much at all. Sound is more than adequate, but the bars still had canned music playing inside!
Food — various snacks during the day in the coffee bar areas, deli platters and similar most of the day — 9 freshly made/​baked pizzas @ average £7 each, with a selection of mixed toppings [including duck — which is rather nice and different] or 12 for a £1 extra. Mon-​Thurs, order two pizzas and have a free bottle of very palatable wine!
Menu Fixe for lunch and dinner — interesting choices, beautifully presented and cooked. A la carte in the evening to splash out on. I’ve not tried the latter.
Staff are very helpful and the establishment attracts mums with youngsters having coffee and cakes, business clientele, ‘ladies who lunch’, general shoppers, and gourmands alike. If you’re solo, you don’t feel conspicuous with a pot of tea and something to read.
Toilet facilities — the Ladies has 4 cubicles — inadequate for evenings when busy — women were complaining whilst waiting — kept clean though and the girl on Reception acted upon my report of lack of toilet paper!

The Swan Hotel is a very classy hotel and restaurant. The rooms are very nice, the food is first class — but don’t expect a cheap visit. The staff are extremely obliging and helpful and will cater to all reasonable requests. The car park is quite spacious, but it still gets full at times, so make sure you arrive fairly early if you want to guarantee a space. There is a nice outdoor area where you can sit and have a drink in warm weather, but the inside is also very nicely decorated and caters to a quite posh clientele. If you can afford to have a meal here, you will certainly enjoy it, but if not, it is worth coming just for a drink and to enjoy the atmosphere.

The Swan is a really nice bar, restaurant and hotel. I’ve never eaten or stayed there personally, but I’ve been into the bar a few times.
It’s quite posh — I felt a bit out of place in ripped jeans and trainers (surprisingly!). The drinks are quite expensive, worth it if you wanna go somewhere a bit nicer.
There is a really nice beer garden out the back, with lots of seats and a bit of a water feature. Gets busy at the weekends.
They also sometimes have live music here, not sure if it is a specific night but I have heard they have jam nights.

Visiting Nelson’s and Apres for some cheap drinks we head to the Swan for a touch of class. Not cheap, and does get busy but its a nust for a night out.

This place is lovely. Its not the cheapest place in Stafford but its still affordable and well worth a bit of extra money because its lovely!
Ive only usually come here for hot drinks. The seating area is so comftorble, and theres a nice private area to the back with chairs & tables.
The few times Ive come here for breakfast I had a bacon roll it was everything a bacon roll needed to be, but it was made special by being able to choose if I wanted white or brown bread, red or brown sauce?
I came once in the evening when some live music was on (at the back in the outdoors part) it was really busy. A bit too busy to enjoy it properly — couldnt see the band and had to que forever for a drink. The only real complaint I have is that either they didnt have enough glass collectors working, or it was too busy for the staff to come around and collect the empty glasses — so people started leaving empty glasses everywhere and the place ended up with alot of smashed glass on the floor (and in the water feature!)
But that complaint is minor, this place is one of the nicest places in Stafford.