Domaine de Clairefontaine

My wife and I booked this for my big birthday treat and a weekend at Vienne Jazz Festival. The location for visiting Vienne is close with an easy short drive to the town. In fact you can see the motorway clearly and close up from the terrace and the main hotel. Our Best comments are reserved for the food, dishes at the excellent Michelin starred gourmet dinner. Philippe Girardon and his kitchen team must be congratulated for outstanding plates of food. We also would like to single out the customer focused, smiling, attentive, positive Amelie Girardon who single handedly focuses on guests. The chef Philippe, unusually for Michelin stars, did not make an appearance at any time during dinner, where the restaurant was full. Unfortunately, with the exception of the above points, our stay was neither up to hoped-for 4 star hotel expectations nor unfortunately for us was it enjoyable. On arriving at the agreed time of 4pm, we were shown to a room in the garden Annexe (#105) which is looking tired, in need of redecoration (window frames and walls) and dark … this was not a beautiful room in the old hotel of which photos abound on the website. My wife expressed disappointment with the room (200 euros per night) but there was no offer to change due to hotel being full. We asked if we could sit under the parasols on the lawn terrace and order a tea/coffee. After being seated we waited 20 minutes for a member of staff to appear before going back to reception to order …. Temperature outside was 36C under the parasol so we asked also for a carafe of water, but were told firmly by the Patronne, Laurence Girardon, that if we wanted water we should consume the 2 small plastic bottles provided in our bedroom ! So we did as she had ordered us !! The driveway is very dusty, so there are frequent clouds of dust down to the terrace as guests arrive at the hotel. Very very thirsty and wanting to start birthday celebrations, we tried to order a Gin Tonic but were told by another member of staff that we could only order this from 7pm just before our dinner booking time of 19h15 There was no other available shaded place to sit outside the hotel and there is no swimming pool at this 4 star hotel … just a small pond with ornamental fish The dining room is clean, hygienic, brightly and somewhat starkly lit by lines of ceiling spots. It is not atmospheric nor warm and the robotic restaurant staff don’t improve the ambiance (with the absolute exception of the superb Mme Ameli Girardon) We each ordered accord Mets et Vins for optimized pairing with the Michelin Starred dinner. Our sommelier was not as knowledgable as we would expect for this standard of restaurant: first wine selection Chablis was overly chilled 9C and he told us to leave it 5 minutes to warm up, he didn’t know the exact origins of a Corbieres white wine which we didn’t like and tried unsuccessfully to switch (resulting in us repurchasing Chablis which had come to the correct temperature). With such an incredi