Willoughvale Inn

The WilloughVale Inn and Cottages were incredible. Our family stayed in three cottages, The Robert Frost, The Songadeewin and The Twilight Cottage. Having traveled from NJ, we took full advantage of the cabins having all plates, silverware, pots and pans and appliances necessary. Our family used the kayaks, canoes, fire pit, and grounds throughout our stay. The staff was so friendly and accommodating. We have NO suggestions to improve our stay and highly recommend Willoughvale to anyone looking for a beautiful scenic place to relax and have fun. Thank you Willoughvale - we WILL be back!

When we first started staying at the Willoughvale decades ago, guests were welcomed to the inn in the afternoon by the enticing aroma of fresh-baked cookies, which were served with tea in the sitting room. Such niceties and amenities have certainly waned over the years. The cookies are gone, along with hot offerings at breakfast. The restaurant and bar have both closed, with no sign that they will reopen; the front desk is staffed only for about 8 hours a day; and the suites are no longer available for guest accommodation. But the rooms are clean and comfortable, as always. Looking on the bright side, protein has returned to the continental breakfast offerings this year (in the form of yogurt and hard-boiled eggs), the view of Lake Willoughby from the upstairs rooms is better than it was from the first-floor suite we used to stay in, and we have discovered many terrific places to eat within half an hour's drive of the inn. If your vision of a Vermont inn is shaped by Bob Newhart's Stratford Inn, this is not the place for you. If you're looking for accommodation convenient to beautiful Lake Willoughby and come with a willingness to explore this interesting area of the state, you could do worse than the Willoughvale (we have :-)

The Inn is quite nice and the person at the front desk friendly and helpful. I have no complaints about the place itself. But our stay was disappointing nonetheless for two reasons. First, though we were warned that the Inn had decided to close it’s restaurant for the season (we chose WilloughVale in part because it had a restaurant on site), we weren’t able to make other lodging arrangements at that point. Unfortunately, we assumed that it would be easy to find alternatives places to eat close by. It wasn’t. When we arrived Tuesday afternoon we were given a list of restaurants in the area, some 20-30 minutes drive each way, with a note that many were closed on Tuesday - our day at the Inn. To complicate matters, there is no cell phone reception (something else were weren’t made aware of), that made it impossible to contact restaurants to confirm if they were open. And since the front desk closed at 5PM, we had no one to consult with. This turned out to matter. After having driven to a market we found that closed to. We ended up having lunch and dinner at a pizza place 20 minutes away, which while quite pleasant was not what we had imagined. We suggest the proprietor do a better job of communicating with guests. We would have made different choices if he/she had.

This was our second visit to the Inn. This time, we got the Lupine room, and we could not ask for more. The other one last time was fine, but much smaller. The service was great, and even though the restaurant was closed (again, as it was 2 years ago), the continental breakfast was very good, and very much appreciated (great coffee). And there were several dining options open this time around: The Gap (Lake Willoughby), the Carriage House Cafe and Grill (Orleans) and the Busy Bee diner (Glover) were all excellent. We went back to the Carriage House for dinner on Friday. Love this area.

HORRIBLE. My party of 4 arrived and were seated, only after we ordered drinks and appetizers were we told that they were missing over half the items on the menu. I ordered a mocktail, my SIL ordered an aperol spritz, my husband an old fashioned, and my BIL a Manhattan. The mocktail and spritz were fine however, the old fashioned was watered down and possibly the worst old fashioned we’ve experienced. The Manhattan…well, first it was delivered with a lime. When my BIL inquired about the lime, the bartender rudely said “well that’s how we make them here, what do you want a cherry? Fine here’s a cherry” and dropped it in then asking how the drink was. My BIL had not even taken a sip yet which he told her, and she walked away before he could. Surprise, surprise, it too was awful. The proportions of bourbon, bitters, and vermouth were wrong and it was watered down. My BIL didn’t drink his drink due to how bad it was, and the bartender never returned to check on the “amended” beverage. When the appetizers arrived, the tomatoes in the caprese salad were mealy and bad, and the 6 coconut shrimp were over fried, had no pineapple as listed on the menu, and were hard to chew. We each had one and could not work our way through them, leaving the two remaining on the plate. At this time, we informed them that we would not be staying and asked for the check….the bill was $100!!! We argued about paying, but did and left. In the time it took us to get home, we decided we had to go back and say something. I went back on behalf of my group, provided the feedback to the manager, and asked for a refund of the Manhattan, old fashioned and coconut shrimp. The manager agreed that it was the fault of the restaurant and said he would ask about how to comp those items. After talking to the bartender and waitress, he called the owner and came back to me saying that no refund was possible, due to the bartender saying my BIL threw a fit over a cherry in his Manhattan, that he and my husband said their drinks were fine (they did not) and that we had eaten ALL of our food and left….OH, and mocked the fact that I asked for a mocktail (nice touch). In all my years working in the service industry (bartending and waiting) I have never come across a situation such as this. My family has been going to the WilloughVale since the 60s when they first came to the NEK and have only ever had great things to say, but this new ownership/management/staff has run this place into the ground. We will NEVER come back, I will ensure no one from my family will go back and will ensure our neighbors know what the service is like as well (with a strong recommendation that they do not go). We.are.appalled

This is a charming, old-fashioned inn with a good free breakfast (homemade muffins, etc., ) and a good bar and restaurant that's open in the summer. A relaxing, rural getaway. We stayed in the huge Aiken suite. The Internet is a little iffy ine cabins, but you can sit on the pretty porch, if it's important. Better just to take a break from the modern worl.