Toftaholm Herrgård

Charming hotel in the countryside. Eccellente restaurant.

For more than 35 years, we have regularly celebrated family events with a gourmet stay at Toftaholm Herregård – just my husband and I – and it has generally always been a pleasure. That is why we also booked the best room last summer for a special birthday and were looking forward to the stay. However, our disappointment was great when we discovered how much Toftaholm has changed recently, and today in no way offers the same fine service and pampering as before, but instead seems to value quantity over quality. The stay was one big disappointment. We had booked a luxury package with coffee/tea and cakes on arrival and later a 5-course menu incl. a welcome drink – all pre-ordered several months in advance with indication of desired location in the restaurant, etc. Due to bad weather, the arrival coffee could not be consumed outdoors, and the table was set in the small room close to the conference entrance. It was OK – but even though there were several small cakes on the plate, they were no longer elegant creations from the kitchen, but rather cut-out pieces of simple pan cakes, like the ones you serve as cheap side dishes in a cafeteria. When we checked in, we were told that we couldn’t choose our own dining time, as the restaurant was expected to be full, so we were assigned a strange time earlier than planned. As the time approached, we went to the small desk at the restaurant entrance and expected to be shown into the “red room” to enjoy our welcome drink there, as usual. But no, that’s not how it works anymore. The “red room” had been cleared of all the nice old sofas and coffee tables and instead had many closely spaced modern dining tables – and was also fully occupied by an American bus company. The main restaurant was also fully set, and soon after it was swarming with guests from the conference room… We were told that we could sit in the reception and have our drink if we didn’t want it at the restaurant table. Dressed in a tuxedo and a long dress, it’s not exactly festive to sit out in the reception, which has now also been converted into a partial bar and coffee shop, and where people wade through endlessly, as if it were Stockholm’s train station. Nothing elegant or festive about sitting there. For dinner, we were shown into the back of the small salons – even though we had requested months in advance to sit in the “gold-colored” one. There were only two tables in the back salon, where the couple at the other table were finishing their coffee and soon after left the room, so we sat all alone back there. The dinner itself was OK and tasty. Since the place was full, they had hired outside waiters, so the food was often served by a young girl who didn't quite know what was on the plates and therefore couldn't present the dishes professionally in the usual way. That was OK, but no more. And then we got to the coffee with avec, which we usually had served in the "red room" afterwards. But that room was now empty with uncleared china, as t