Afton House Inn

06/21/09

An Unhappy Father's Day Dining Experience

by kdexheimer

I am just writing to say how incredibly disappointed my wife and I were with the Father's Day Sunday brunch this morning. We had heard good things from friends who have dined at the Afton House Inn previously, but they've obviously been lucky enough to have missed out on brunch.

This was our first time at this restaurant, and from the moment we set foot inside we were unimpressed. Three servers standing immediately in front of us did not acknowledge our presence, despite the fact that we stood there for 3-4 minutes. We finally wandered over to the hostess desk, where we stood for another 3-4 minutes waiting for someone to just say hello. When we finally were seated, it took another 10 minutes before anyone came by our table and offered us something to drink.

The first thing my wife noticed when we sat down was a half-empty wine bottle covered in cobwebs sitting in the window display next to our table. Now there were several bottles "artfully" arranged in the window, but this bottle in particular was obviously a leftover remnant of someone's previous dining experience - it still had the towel wrapped around it.

Our plates from the buffet were dirty - mine actually had a clump of skin-on mashed potatoes clinging to the bottom of it, which I had the misfortune of sticking my fingers into.

Keep in mind, we started dining at 10:15 AM. Now if I'm not mistaken, the buffet service doesn't begin until 10:00 AM. Could someone please explain to me why it was that the eggs Benedict were cold, the hollandaise congealed, and the yolks cooked so hard that the undersides were green? The sausages were terrible, the "apple stuffed pancakes" nothing more than commercial pancake batter wrapped around canned pie filling, and the champagne chicken was so dry and unrecognizable that in the first couple of bites I thought for sure I must have taken some sort of ham by mistake. Three pasta dishes, all with the same penne noodles, and not one of them was good. A cold pasta salad simply needs more than chicken, red onion, and a bottle of ranch dressing.

We thought for sure maybe there was a chance of redemption with the dessert table, but that was frankly pathetic. A chocolate fountain with overripe pineapple and melon, and some previously frozen dessert cakes? For the amount of money we paid, we truly expected more. At one point I actually vocalized that we would have been better off (with price and food quality) going to the Old Country Buffet. Sadly, the older couple seated behind us said the exact same thing not 5 minutes later.

We can only say that we are thankful we didn't actually take our own fathers to dine with us. They should be ashamed for giving people this sort of experience on such a special day.

• Pros: nice location?
• Cons: poor food, mediocre service, dusty and uninspired decor

07/07/07

Best of the Best

by marietta1

Wow! We stayed here and I was totaly suprised by my husband for our anniversary. I've heard great things about the Afton House but was seriously blown away. We stayed in one of the most romantic rooms I've ever been in (Huge Jacuzzi, Fireplace, Quiet, 4-poster bed, tranquille decor). I felt more relaxed than in Maui. We were given a tour and were guided to our room from the very nice and professional welcome/check-in staff and every encouter with the staff was impressive. The biggest suprise though was dinner............WOW! The dining room is romantic and the decor creates a relaxing setting. The food was with out saying nothing less than amazing. Gorgeous plate presentation and unbelievable flavor combinations. Like I said.......blown away. The service also was outstanding and she was extremely well versed with the menu and describing everything from first course to dessert. I was impressed equally with her knowledge of their 150 some bottle wine list and very pleased with her wine recommendations. I was really delighted...............wonderful attention to detail..........perfect service and very friendly. So........ I give this place a 5 star rating and would without question tell you to go there and experience the Afton House for yourself. Oh, one last thing, it's about 30 minutes from our house in Up Town, but I seriously felt like I was 1000 miles away. Can't say enough. First Class, 5 star experience that we will do again!

• Pros: Relaxing, Date Spot, Food, Rooms, Service, Romantic

06/23/07

Great food, historic lodging

by psyberspacer

We had a wonderful anniversary dinner in the restaurant, with very attentive service. The first course of scallops qualifies as THE best appetizer I have ever had, anywhere. The inn lodgings were as depicted on the website, with two caveats: the "St.Croix view" from the balconies of rooms 28-31 is across two parking lots and a marina; and the rooms were unexpectedly noisy--TV, conversations, and jacuzzi jets were all quite audible in the next room, rather detracting from the "just us" ambience we might have expected.

5 Stars for the food, 3 for the lodging.