Château de Mercuès

Best ever stopover in France. We travel many time to and from UK to Italy and Spain. We will definitely revisit this property and hope to spend a longer time enjoying it.

Stayed here a number of times over the years; we remember it with affection. It's become "trés cher" and the restaurant is dominated by the chef's experiments with strange variations on classic cuisine. Not to our liking and dramatically different than our enjoyment of the multi-course menu at Chat. de Riell earlier in the trip. Also, the sommelier brought us a downscale white wine insufficiently chilled and seemed curiously reluctant to ice it. It was early in the season, but the grounds seemed neglected. And a very nice woman who helped us with our bags needs to bathe more often, sorry to say.

As fairly regular visitors to the chateau, we booked a St Valentine's stay at the Chateau. As usual, we enjoyed our stay enormously. The rooms are superb and the welcome 1st class. However, the experience was marred by a wailing child in the restaurant, and a lengthy delay between 2 courses. The main womplaint was the persistant crying and wailing of a small child in the restaurant, for almost an entire hour. In a restaurant where you are paying in excess of 500 € for your meal, (with drinks), I would expect that the staff would ensure that a certain ambiance is maintained, and if someone (in this case a baby), is making excessive noise, then they are asked to leave the restaurant so that the other diners may continue in the sort of environment that they had expected. The second point was the excessive delay between our Sea Bass course and the Pigeon - it was certainly over 45 minutes probably in excess of 50 minutes. I am guessing that the kitchen staff were allowing those diners who arrived at 21.00 to catch up with those who commenced at 19.30 (which included ourselves). Once again, when you are paying in excess of 500 € for your meal, I would expect that the service to be steady and not subject to such lengthy delays. What should have been a superb visit spoiled by these 2 points.

Beautiful room with stunning views. The extremely small room/closet which housed the toilet was interesting, one almost felt one had to reverse into it. The bathroom itself was small but nicely equipped, the walk in shower was great. We did not eat dinner at the chateau as we were put off by the price and other reviews. The breakfast was good apart from the coffee which was lukewarm both days. We would stay again as the building is beautiful, but hope that the restaurant considers more choices or a lower priced set menu.

The location is stunning and the front desk staff is adequate. The housekeeping staff is the best and deserves the biggest shout-out. The food is pricey even for France and none of it was so extraordinary that we took a cell phone picture. The restaurants in Cahors are a winding drive away.... The continental breakfast was disappointing every day. Not enough variety and most days the eggs were gone, or the croissants were gone, or there was no fruit yogurt. The absolutely worse thing about this property was the "invasion" of stink bugs. At least 8 were in our room every day. Yes, okay so they don't bite, but still who wants one on your pillow or flying around your room. Not us.

You could just stay at this hotel for several days and be happy, enjoying the views in the hospitality. But there are several places very close that are worth seeing as well. Room is very comfortable and well appointed. Breakfast served to the room is highly recommended!

We stayed at the Chateau Mercues for one night. The chateau is wonderful, beautifully restored with luxury rooms sited at the top of the hills surrounding Cahors. Ours overlooked the river Lot giving us panoramic views across the river to the hills and the city below. We also got a tour of the wonderful wine producing operation which is underneath the Chateau. The dining room, bar and lounge are all stylishly equipped and it was a shame that the weather didn't allow us to eat alfresco in the lovely courtyard or terrace, but the dining room was of a very high standard. BUT-the food was disappointing. There seemed to be no a la carte menu-if there was, we were never offered it, so we had a choice of the 150 eu 4 course meal, or the 200 eu 6 course meal. Now at that price, I would expect to be treated to a memorable meal, but unfortunately, none of the courses will linger in the memory. The vegetable terrine was nicely presented, but nothing special, while the monkfish was again unmemorable. I enjoyed the lamb in vervaine, but my companion said hers was a little tough. The poached pear dessert was beautifully presented , albeit with only a ring of pear on a chocolate base, probably not what we expected to see. Overall, the meal was slightly underwhelming. At the price, it struck me as being a meal for people who liked to be seen to be spending money, rather than a meal for people who enjoyed fine dining. It felt a bit like the 'emperor's clothes'-a meal that people could convince themselves was great rather than admit it was only slightly above average. Overall, I would stay at the Chateau again, as it is lovely but I would go into Cahors, to eat and get a better meal at a better price. 10/10-Hotel, 6-10 food

Good hotel in a well restored castle. Comfortable room. A fine restaurant worthy of a Michelin star - this is not our first star restaurant. This one is really good. Very professional wine selection. We were very pleased with the tour and wine tasting, which is produced here. Good professional staff. Very beautiful view from the window and the park around the castle.