An hotel in a quiet...

Liked: The hotel is away from Lille centre in La Madeleine. However, it is a 15 minute walk from the two rail stations or a five minute walk to a tram stop that takes you to the Eurostar station and the Lille Gare station. It is also served by the L5 bus from outside Lille Gare station.The location means that it is relatively quiet. Our room on the 5th floor overlooked the main road but we didn’t find it noisy. Our travelling companions room was opposite ours and looked out over a small park. Both rooms were comfortable with super king beds, a chair and desk, bathroom with shower over bath. Two bath towels but no hand towel.The only problem we did find with it being in a quiet area is that, at weekends, most of the restaurants within a short walking distance are closed. Those that are open don’t seem to do so until around 7p.m. This wouldn’t be so bad if you could eat at the hotel, and this is where we felt the hotel could/should improve.We arrived on a Wednesday evening and had our dinner in the hotel restaurant. This is a buffet style with a choice of hot food, salads, starters and desserts. Depending on how many courses and what you choose depends on how much you pay. We had just a hot meal that cost €17 each. Our reason for not having anything else, or having breakfast there, was that nothing was under cover except for the hot items. At breakfast even the sausages were uncovered. As said, most local restaurants are closed at the weekends, and so is the hotel restaurant. We realised this too late on the Saturday night so chose to get a takeaway salad each from the local Carrefour, a 10 minute walk away. On asking if we could eat it in the restaurant area we were told, no. Could we eat in the lounge area…. No. If you want to eat you have to go to your room.That leads to our only other criticism of the hotel. By and large all the staff we dealt with were pleasant and helpful, even if their English wasn’t great. But hey, we’re in France and our French was...