Tara Vineyard & Winery — Attraction in Athens

Yes the property is beautiful but the staff is chaotic and awkward. Highly recommend more training with the staff. TIP TO OWNER: We were served a plate of bleu cheese chunks with no crackers TWICE. Once when we first got there and the other plate for breakfast which was accompanied with boiled eggs. I mean who is going to eat that?!||||Ok...now on to the details...||||My husband booked the "cottage" for a romantic weekend getaway. I was so excited! It's a rare thing. We get to the vinyard at 2.30pm on Friday 5/3. It was a ghost town. One lady was there running around answering phones and totally seemed like things were not running smoothly. We quickly find out the "cottage" wasnt ready because they didn't book our reservation (even though we had the confirmation thru Expedia) and wouldn't be ready for hours. We were a little put off but didn't let it show. We had a glass of wine, enjoyed the views and then decided to go into town for dinner. We returned around 7ish. Surprisingly, We are taken off of the Vineyard property and into the woods next door. THIS IS WHERE IT GETS SKETCH. We drive up to someone's house and see behind it, a shed. The grass all around is knee high, there are some window screens and what looked like a lumber pile in the front yard, its just not tidy or inviting in the least. TIP TO OWNER: Someone who can afford a weekend getaway at a Vineyard expects more than this. At that point my heart started to sink. We walk in the shed, and it smells of old mold, the furnishings look like it came from Goodwill, the shower had a clump of hair, stale coffee in the pot, trash on the floor. The place legit looked like a 20 year old guy lived there, complete with electric guitar and amp. That's when I start crying. Our credit card was already charged $385 at this point. We were told the owner or someone related to the owner lived in the house. How deceiving to pay for a secluded cabin in the woods and it end up being a shed in someone's back yard. ||||I call up to the cafe and a gentleman (the chef/manager) was quick to get us into the main house which was great. He had some choice words about the shed saying he is sick of this happening and its just not worth it, etc. Anyway, we go back up to the vineyard thinking we will take the opportunity to first, thank the man that upgraded us and in return get an apology for our inconvenience, then have a glass of wine and dessert before going back to another room. Disappointingly the man wasn't there within the 5 minutes of us calling and driving up, we had to go inside and ask the 3 staff that were chatting to eachother every time we wanted a glass refill, were never asked if we wanted a menu, or even a glass or water, and waited another hour for the room to be made ready. TIP TO OWNER: The staff really need training on how to serve a guest and make them feel special. ||||9.30pm, and we are finally shown to our room by a very nice young lady who apologized and said this happens a lot. Everyone always gets "upgraded" to the main house. So, the room was nice, overpriced considering there's not even bottled water in the room, but waaay better than the shed. We specifically wanted privacy (hints why we searched for a cabin) but ended up sharing the house with another couple (awkward). ||||Saturday morning comes (5/4/19), and we are both refreshed from a great nights sleep. The bed was super comfy. Online it says breakfast is included but we were told if we wanted something, we'd have to wait til noon when the restaurant opens. um no we are not going to wait that long for breakfast... Anyway she left us a plate of 2 slices of bread, 2 huge chunks of bleu cheese (yikes), and two hard boiled eggs in the fridge. Sweet thought but seriously who is going to eat that? We are gone pretty much all day (9am-7pm) Saturday and get back to the room expecting turnover service considering we paid almost 400 bucks. Nothing was touched. No fresh towels, no bed made, nothing. So we packed our stuff to leave cause we are just over it. We absolutely didn't get value from this experience. If anything, we feel like we were lied to and stolen from. ||5/5/19 UPDATE: Owners refused to refund any $ even though multiple staff admitted the cottage was not what is being advertised. Not surprising because they already have our money. what do they care. Ill be posting...

My husband booked the "cottage" for a romantic weekend getaway. I was so excited! It's a rare thing. We get to the vinyard at 2.30pm on Friday 5/3. It was a ghost town. One lady was there running around answering phones and totally seemed like things were out of control. We quickly find out the "cottage" wasnt ready because they didn't book our reservation (even though we had the confirmation thru Expedia) and wouldn't be ready for hours. We were a little put off but didn't let it show. We had a glass of wine, enjoyed the views and then decided to go into town for dinner. We returned around 7ish. Surprisingly, We are taken off of the Vineyard property and into the woods next door. THIS IS WHERE IT GETS SKETCH. We drive up to someone's house and see behind it, a shed. The grass all around is knee high, there are some window screens and what looked like a lumber pile in the front yard of the house and another pile on the side of the shed/cottage. Was not inviting to say the least. TIP TO OWNER: Someone who can afford a weekend getaway at a Vineyard expects more than this. Anyway at that point my heart started to sink. We walk in the shed, and it smells of old mold, the furnishings look like it came from Goodwill, the shower had a clump of hair, stale coffee in the pot, trash on the floor. The place legit looked like a 20 year old guy lived there, complete with electric guitar and amp. That's when I start crying. Our credit card was already charged $385 at this point. We were told the owner or someone related to the owner lived in the house. How deceiving to pay for a secluded cabin in the woods and it end up being a shed in someone's back yard. I call up to the cafe and a gentleman (the chef/manager) was quick to get us into the main house which was great. He had some choice words about the shed saying he is sick of this happening and its just not worth it, etc. Anyway, we go back up to the vineyard thinking we will take the opportunity to first, thank the man that upgraded us and in return get an apology for our inconvenience, then have a glass of wine and dessert before going back to another room. Disappointingly the man must not have seen the importance to greet us because he was long time during the 5 minutes it took us to drive back to the vineyard. During the HOUR we waited for the room to ge ready, We had to go inside and ask the 3 staff that were chatting to eachother every time we wanted a glass refill, were never asked if we wanted a menu, or even water, which is ridiculous since there was literally 2 other people there and they were already done with their dinner. TIP TO OWNER: The staff really need training on how to serve a guest, explain the wine menu (do you have a wine menu cause I didn't see it), and make a patron feel special. 9.30pm, and we are finally shown to our room by a very nice young lady who apologized and said this happens a lot. Everyone always gets "upgraded" to the main house. So, the room was nice, but hot and overpriced, but waaay better than the shed. We specifically wanted privacy (hints why we searched for a cabin) but ended up sharing the house with another couple (awkward). Saturday morning comes (5/4/19), and we are both refreshed from a great nights sleep. The bed was super comfy. Online it says breakfast is included but we were told if we wanted something, we'd have to wait til noon when the restaurant opens. um no we are not going to wait that long for breakfast... Anyway she left us a plate of 2 slices of bread, 2 huge chunks of bleu cheese (yikes), and two hard boiled eggs in the fridge. Sweet thought but seriously who is going to eat that? We are gone pretty much all day (9am-7pm) Saturday and get back to the room expecting turnover service considering we paid almost 400 bucks. Nothing was touched. No fresh towels, no bed made, nothing. So we packed our stuff to leave cause we are just over it. We absolutely didn't get value from this experience. If anything, we feel like we were lied to and...

I generally don’t post reviews; positive or negative. I tend never to be swayed in either direction. But after reading a few of the negative reviews about this place, I felt it was my obligation to chime in.

We stayed in the Inn for the weekend and we could not have been more pleasantly surprised.

First of all, the location is amazing. Just over an hour away from Dallas, you would think that you just flew into NapaValley. The views from the upstairs wrap-around balconies were breathtaking. The bedrooms and accommodations were world class.

Now to the winery… It is located a few hundred yards from the Inn. It has a cozy fully air conditioned inside bar and restaurant (for dem city folk). Then there is the large outdoor seating area overlooking the vineyards. There are lots of fans and a small music performance stage. It is perfect.

Now to the staff and customer service….

Being an avid traveler, I have experienced none better. We were checked in by the owner, Suzanne. She was super friendly and worked alongside the staff. We were also greeted by the hostess/ server Caryssa and the chef Brandon. We informed Brandon that we were vegetarian and asked if he could accommodate us. BOY DID HE!! While we were enjoying the wine and cheese board, he came out and sat down with us to customize our dinner. He went out of his way to whip up an amazing fresh pasta dish with the pepper cream sauce that he made from scratch. He also made an awesome grilled cheese for our son. By the way, none of these items were on the menu. Everyone took the extra effort to even remember our names. A nice touch.

And finally, who doesn’t like dogs? The dogs did approach us at our table but they were nothing but sweethearts. They did not beg for food and we did not hear one peep out of them. They simply sat. But, we did give them some of our food. Don’t tell anybody…

This place deserves nothing but a five star review. We felt like we were at a...