Gatwick Airport hotels – best option for dinner the night before a flight?

[ExpatInBerlin]

Flying into Gatwick on a Friday in early Jan and staying overnight at the Bloc hotel before an eyewatering ski flight early Saturday AM – does anyone have suggestions on the best airport hotel for a dinner on the Friday night? Four of us flying into Gatwick on Friday from different places and keen for an enjoyable meal to start our holiday. One person flying in late Friday afternoon so not keen to head into London as we want reasonable early nights. No restaurant in the Bloc hotel and struggling to find much online on the topic of best Gatwick hotel food! Thanks in advance.

[John]

That’s because they’re all awful, if you want convenience then it has to be the Hilton, otherwise there’s a nandos in crawley which is where I ate when I stayed at the CP due to being denied lounge access (as Spire) and it being the only thing in walking distance

[Peter K]

There are a few eateries landside at the South Terminal. I’ve eaten at Giraffe before and it was alright.

[SamG]

Yes Giraffe is still there. Or the Sofitel restaurants aren’t bad (pricey though). The Premier Inn at North is another easy option

Horley has a few options, there is a Turkish or the Ye Old Six Bells is a very old building. Train or bus to get there

[ExpatInBerlin]

Thanks all, very much appreciated and apologies for the belated acknowledgement – new to the forum and presumed I would receive notifications (perhaps I just haven’t figured out how to switch them on yet!) Going to try Giraffe with Hilton and Premier Inn as back ups.

[Peter K]

ExpatInBerlin wrote:

Thanks all, very much appreciated and apologies for the belated acknowledgement – new to the forum and presumed I would receive notifications (perhaps I just haven’t figured out how to switch them on yet!) Going to try Giraffe with Hilton and Premier Inn as back ups.

No notifications on this forum sadly.

[BA Flyer IHG Stayer]

You could try Brighton, only 30 minutes by train. Plenty of good places to eat there.

[The Savage Squirrel]

Yes, when I stayed at Bloc (which I think is very good – although this is based on the often very reasonable pre-Covid pricing) I generally ended up in Giraffe as the best of a poor selection. At least it’s conveniently close. Pay an extra £10 for a window at Bloc – even as someone completely not interested in planes, it has a cool runway view; and is the difference between feeling you are in a pleasant compact hotel room vs a posh holding cell.

[masaccio]

Sofitel at the airport is pretty bad for the brand; certainly not a patch on La Belle Époque at T5. Depending upon how deep your pockets are and if you don’t mind sharing a taxi in the morning (it’s 10 minutes) then Langshott Manor is excellent. It’s also a lovely hotel with nice cocktails.

If food is what you’re looking for and you wand cheap-and-cheerful for the hotel, stay at the airport and share a taxi to and from dinner to a local restaurant.

[HughM]

Thank you immikhan for your local knowledge. I’ve paid £20 for a midnight Gatwick taxi.

Original questioner was looking for dinner on hotel premises. I have always been satisfied with the Holiday Inn Express, Haslett’s Road, which has a Harvester Inn (the Hawth) in the car park. So you aren’t actually dining inside the hotel, and benefit from non-flier menu prices. TripAdvisor reviews are divided: locals would avoid it; next-day fliers are very grateful!

Negative evidence in support of this deal: HIX Crawley does not feature in the current IHG sale. Well, it wouldn’t need to.