Holiday Inn, Belfast, Northern Ireland, UK / 10/2014 : Our Dinner at the Junction Restaurant [5] UPDATE: As of September 2015, this hotel is now known as the Clayton Hotel, Belfast, part of the Dalata Group, the restaurant is now simply called "The Restaurant".

1. through 10, we looked actually forward to eating our dinner at the Junction Restaurant located on the lobby level of the Holiday Inn, Belfast, Northern Ireland. We made even a booking. So we arrived while staying at the hotel, but the restaurant was nearly empty and we couldn't make out what belongs to the "proper" restaurant and what belongs to the bar of the hotel. The setting was airy and open, but it wasn't comfortable and felt "added on" instead of being a "destination within the hotel experience". Service was only "so so" and the choice of meals on offer was old-fashioned and not particularly healthy either. So with this in mind we had both the salmon which was pretty good, but again, could be better in terms of how it is served and where it is served, plus the rose wine was good too, the desserts were old-fashioned too, we felt this restaurant isn't a restaurant it's an extension of the bar area. The hotel should change this and improve the heating and overall setting and feel/light of this restaurant, improve the service standards and bring the food into a healthier and modern 21st century. Overall, we wouldn't recommend this restaurant, why? Belfast has evolved over the years and the restaurants in this beautiful city have arrived in modern times, so here you have it, when staying at this hotel, enjoy your Executive Room, plenty of space and it's a wonderful room, enjoy the location of the hotel in the heart of Belfast and explore the city, but service has to be improved in this hotel, a renovation is needed to bring the hotel up to modern, lighter and airier standards, and yes, the food concepts should be rethought with a certain urgency too. Overall, stay here, but going out and enjoy the city should be your priority. Enjoy.