Mountain Retreat Ooty by Hill Country

I must appreciate the Resturant Manager Mr. Ashok for the efforts taken by him. We got late in market and we came at 9 pm and he has served the food within time and as per our expectations. Food Quality was superbly good and the Resturant is trying their level best to serve the fresh vegetables grown in the local area which gives an authentic local taste in the food. Mr. Ashok was very humble as well as courteous also. I will recommend this hotel to everyone who is planning to visit Ooty. From Hotel location views to mountain tea gardens and the valley were picture perfect. I will give 5 stars to this hotel in terms of cleaning and maintainence.

We had booked The Hill Country resort for our family vacation to Ooty for 3 nights (8th to 11th November) expecting to stay at a nice 4 star resort and have a fun trip but what followed is nothing short of a nightmare. We checked in late evening on 8th and post check in we headed to the restaurant for dinner. At the restaurant we came to know we were the only guests eating dinner. The restaurant manager informed that other than us there were only 2 more guests. Still we ordered our a-la-carte meal of Tomato soup, Chicken Chettinad, Hakka noodles and steam rice. The soup was bland and tasteless and the bread gave a smell of kerosine. We had a few sips and kept it aside. Being extremely tired we did not bother to call the chef. We just finished our meal and headed back to the room to get a good nights rest. Little did I know that forget a good night rest my entire trip will get spoiled coz what followed post sleep was waking up at 1:15 am to severe stomach pain and then vomiting all the food. This was just the beginning of 6 more rounds of vomiting for the next 6 hours. So what was supposed to be a vacation with family ended spending in recovery and that was the last we ever saw the restaurant. Even though we had breakfast as part of our package we didn’t bother to go back. Btw we paid 10k per night for the premium suite room a price way too much for what the resort deserves. At the same price we paid we could have booked Fern Hills palace a thousand times better property. If you have seen pictures of the property online you would realise that while the resort is located at a good location it hardly caters to many guests. Coz it only has 2 cottages and few deluxe and premium suites. We had booked a premium suite. The only difference between a deluxe room and premium suite is the view, rest all amenities in the room are same. Online photos will only show pics of the bed. Not one pic is seen of the bathroom coz that is non existent. The room in itself is quite old, still using key system to enter. Furnitures are old. Lights inside are still CFL and if you close the window blinds and switch on the lights it gives a persona of a dull and depressing room. The mats are unclean. I don’t know how this has been classified as a 4 star hotel. Does it even qualify to be 2 star place. Do not go by reviews you see online. Looks like paid reviews. Just give this resort a miss. II - Resort has responded back saying my wife mentioned me catching food poisoning elsewhere. They are requested to check call records if they have one. Not once my wife mentioned about me eating elsewhere. w.r.t to quality of food I guess the owners should look at other reviews posted on the same forum where multiple people have mentioned about bad quality of food. Btw I had food at Hotel Hanumanthu and Original Vinayaka Mylari at Mysuru. Both restaurants cater to clientele which the restaurant at Hill Country can't even imagine. All throughout my stay for 3 nights not once was I visited by Resort Manager asking about my wellbeing, esp considering the resort accepts getting informed by my wife.During the rest of my stay in Ooty we had food at A2B and Zuka restaurant at Preethi Classic Towers. The chef of Mountain retreat can do himself and guests who eat at his restaurant a favour by visiting places where good food is served.