Du Parc Hotel

The Positives The hotel is well placed in a quiet spot outside the centre of Sirmione. It is about 30 minutes to walk right into the centre with plenty of shade, and hotels/ bars/ restaurants on route. There is also what is described as a shuttle bus but do not be fooled: this is a public bus and you have to walk to a stop to get it. We were part of a Titan tour group and therefore we had no choice on room allocation. Our 'classic room' overlooked a roof and green area which was OK. The room was an adequate size with a good shower and plenty of storage. The balconies provide very limited privacy from other guests given the geography of the hotel. We would have loved a better view to be honest and more privacy for sitting out. The hotel was immaculately clean and the housekeeping and serving staff were really lovely, especially the evening servers and the chap who ran the bar. All efficient and friendly, working very hard to do a great job. We were generous with our tips to our Tour Leader for them, and directly to one particular chap who went above and beyond. The Less Positives The food. Firstly, we did not know in advance that there would be a very limited set menu to choose from. Furthermore, having to order food at breakfast for the evening was also very strange to us. We do not eat meat and this fact was known at the point of booking, on the pre-discussion WhatsApp group for the tour, and on check in at reception. The first evening, there were no vegetarian dishes on the menu apart from a soup. The manager taking the order seemed a little confused by the request, and offered an omelette which we declined. (We had eaten an omelette on the aircraft on the way in!) The language barrier was such that his basic English and my Italian could not communicate that we understood there would be a separate veggie menu to read from, just as the meat/fish eaters were given, which was on the table. He told our tour group leader that we expected a la carte which was incorrect. She approached us about this, we explained the requirement and this was sorted for the following days - a printed menu was provided on the table. Thank you. However the choices were limited and pedestrian: the veggie pasta was usually OK but the other main dishes were not. For example, dry lentil balls with no sauce; dry veggie burger (actually it was a soft patty), a veggie strudel thing which was stodgy and the risotto on the final evening had Speck ham in it. All of these appeared to have been microwaved given the consistency. The puddings were standard fare and OK and the soups were passable. The vegetables appeared to be tinned or poor quality. We therefore ate out in Sirmione and other locations more so than we had budgeted for, which was disappointing to be honest and added to the cost. For a four star hotel, and with Italian food being so good for vegetarians (risottos, innumerable pasta dishes, parmigiana etc) we expected better. Our advice t