Oleander Farms Luxury Resort in Karjat — Hotel in Maharashtra

I have been hearing rave reviews about Oleander Farms and Saltt and their other restaurants ever since they came into existence some time in the pandemic. Somehow I never got around to going and experiencing either a stay or a meal till the last weekend July 6th. I had a cousin who had come down from the US and his parents, my mom and I (5 adults) booked ourselves a stay over a Saturday night at Oleander Farms. Being the organised person that I am and also because we had 3 senior citizens with us, I had the Common House blocked for lunch and Saltt booked for dinner as well.||The drive to Karjat was fantastic with good roads and not too much traffic. The drive into the main gate at Oleander Farms was good too and then the chaos hit our weekend vacation. Soon as we were within 150 metres of the reception is when we hit a jam. Imagine that! 150 metres from the reception, we can see the reception but we are in a bumper to bumper traffic because car boots are being loaded and unloaded. The outside of the lobby was teeming with people as if we were all waiting for a local train at Dadar station. That was the beginning of my nightmare, One heads away from the city into a place like Karjat for peace and quiet and not to land up in an over prized resort only to be greeted with a traffic snarls and a herd of people all wanting different things simultaneously. WE handed over our car to a valet 15 mins later and had them pull out our bags from the boot and headed to the reception at 1240 only to be told very curtly by the lady at the reception desk that our rooms were not ready (check-in time is 1300 hours) I requested that she look once again to see if she could spare us something since I has specifically requested for an early check-in since we had three sr. citizens but after a cursory glance at the register, she just parroted the same words that no rooms were currently available. I requested then that we be provided transport to head to Common House (once in the premises, you cannot use your own transport and are dependent on their cars and buggies to get arund the wide acreage)||They said they would arrange a car shortly but there seemed to be no car in sight. In the interim, we had someone from Common House call me to check what time we would be expected and in my complete frazzled state because the whole situation was so chaotic, I responded helplessly that it would totally depend on when her colleagues at the reception desk managed to find us a car. I think some of my frustration finally got across to the man at the front desk and before I completely blew my top, he quickly put my mother and me in a car and asked for us to be dropped off to the Common House. That was another railway station chaos and high noise levels situation at the restaurant. For someone who values peace and quiet on their holiday, this is a complete assault on the senses. I quickly ordered a beer off their microbrewery. While they have a wide selection listed on their menu, most of it wasn't available that day. I settled for a German wit which was quite nice and tried to quickly dull my senses to the madness around me. The food was not memorable at all but filled the stomach - was more expensive that it was worth for sure. We quickly headed back to the reception and by this time, they informed us that our rooms were now ready. we were packed off into buggies and taken to the C wing which houses the Lake view rooms - apparently the most expensive category of rooms. The area is thankfully peaceful and not chaotic but the area around the C wing is under construction so while you have a water body visible from your balcony, the other side is a complete construction site and a complete eye sore. It is amazingly bold for the owners to charge that kind of tariff for rooms that overlook a construction site. But if people continue to cram here, why blame the owners for making a quick hay in the sun. I guess people will continue to fork out huge sums till the next shiny toy is launched in the neighbourhood. I found that the proximity of the rooms to each other on every single block is as if it were barracks or hostel accommodation. The pictures are evident to how close the balconies are to each other and do also notice the ugly bubble wrap taped to the railings of the balcony. I do not expect that in a place that charges luxury resort rates as their tariff. The bathroom did not even have basic amenities like glasses for oral care and they stingily place only one face/ hand towel for 2-3 people on a room!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Very paltry and sub standard bathroom amenities. For anything that you need like water bottles/ mugs/ problem solving with safety deposit lockers, the staff takes eons to reach your room.||||We generally stuck to our rooms all day as the chaos outside was not our style and was scary. We had a dinner reservation at the Saltt and headed there early evening; this time the restaurant was not as loud as the day guests must have left. the food was even more pathetic than at lunch but service was fabulous thanks to Raksha who was patient with all that the family requested and required. We retired into our rooms only to be woken up by a party going on in the room interconnecting ours ( 2 of us were in 259) and I had to wake up and loudly bang on the interconnecting door to have the party of what sounded like 20-25 people raving like lunatics late into the night. So a loud banger at night and loud banger at check-in.||The next morning, we walked to the restaurant at breakfast and had the most pleasant service thanks to Arjun and Kirti/ Kriti , breakfast was much nicer than lunch or dinner had been. We headed back to our rooms and checked out soon after. At the reception, at check out, we met Michael Balan, the FO head who urged me to give Oleander another chance but perhaps on a weekday. Never again. I did not drive 2 hours from my peaceful home to be startled and tormented by crowds and loud raving lunatics after paying through my nose. This is not a place for people like me who like their peace and quiet when...

Luxurious stay in lap of bountiful nature with food to kill for!

My Son, Shashank and I visited Oleander farms along with our dog for a quite stay over the weekend. The smooth drive from Mumbai to the farm property at Karjat took just one and half hour. There is more than ample parking place with roof being used for solar panels. As soon as you get down, you get the feeling that this place has been well designed keeping the nature to the fullest and maintained with utmost care. You get a good feeing the moment you enter. The check-In was swift and efficient. We were whisked away to our lake view rooms in a jeep. These lake view rooms are a few minutes’ drive from the reception and offers privacy and quiet. Along the wooded drive, you pass a lake and smell the fresh air. We reached our rooms that were bang opposite the lake. The rooms were not very luxurious but was very good. It would really help if the rooms got upgraded to modern outlook with may be a bathtub. The rooms have a sit-out with chairs where I sat and my morning chai and evening beer, gazing lazily at the misty mountains with the music of birds chirping and the soft beat of rains. Just within few hours, we feel relaxed and at peace. It was now time for lunch. We visited the popular Saltt restaurant by entering a long canopy of leaves. Saltt is set in wonderful landscaping with some outdoor seating too. The menu is quite exhaustive and we ordered couple of dishes. The dishes costs round Rs. 800-900 each. Expensive, we thought. They have 4 types of brewed beer. We ordered their house brew Mango Goose beer. It was refreshing and perfect for a rainy day. Then the food arrived and we devoured it. The taste was so good that it beats many of the 5-Star restaurants in Mumbai. Believe me, I have visited all. So, the price was now not expensive at all! We lazed round in the afternoon. My dog, Scotch, had a gala time romping around in the lush green landscaped outdoors. For him this was party time coming from Mumbai where he could go out only cement roads. Since it was the weekend there was large crowds, with dogs and some with other pet like turtles. In the evening, it was very busy around their coffee shop with people walking their dogs, having coffee or just lazing around. We visited Saltt again for dinner wanting to try other dishes. Was fantastic again. We retired to our rooms for the night. The breakfast in morning was quite good. Was amazed by the softness of the idlis, crispiness of the wadas and the tanginess of the sambar. As a south Indian, I do know my idlis and wadas :-) In the afternoon, we ventured outside to eat at the Thakare, a humble roadside restaurant. The missal Pav, Wada pav and Mixed bhajiya were mouthwatering. We returned to Oleander Farms and relaxed in the afternoon. Scotch was roaming outside and enjoying to the fullest. In the night, we visited their coffee shop and ordered Falafel roll and Burrito rice bowl. This too was amazing! These guys are good at picking out the best chefs! We reached back to the room thinking of when to come back here and with which friends. Right then, we received a complimentary bottle of good quality wine. The only little negative that I can say is they had not yet started room service. I understand from them that it will start shortly. Overall, a very satisfying trip that exceeded our expectations that we had from the various reviews.

We will be back with our various set of friends in monsoon and winter. This...

I recently visited Oleander "Luxury" Farms along with my friends, here is our honest review, the price as shown is quite steep and at par with its other luxury properties in the vicinity. However, everything didn't quite add up for an all-round luxury-oriented experience.

Let's start with the good- it's a very well-maintained, vast, green beautiful property. Well connected with the buggies and cars ready at your service to transport you anywhere around the property and there is a beautiful lake where you can watch the sunset or stroll around in the morning. The gentleman who was at the car parking area was very professional and kind, the valet staff and the pool attendant stood out for their work.

Not-so-good- The front desk staff do not give handovers, lack etiquette, & training. We had lunch at one of their restaurants where they had a buffet set up, and the staff were inattentive and seemed lost, I had to go up to the bar staff and request them to take our order, the drinks are priced at around 800/--900/- each which is fairly high for a drink to then be served with no presentation and garnishes, and no offer of bar snacks that generally go with a luxury bar with those prices. We asked if we could be served some snacks along with our drinks, and we were informed that we had to avail of the buffet ( priced at about 2500 with drinks) to be able to have any food. Later, and after we were done with most of our drinks, we were told that we could order either pizza or fries.

The room was decent however, there is no in-room dining as yet, so you are forced to dine at their outlets, a lot of power cuts and given that we were on triple occupancy, the amenities were placed for just 2, no turndown or evening services given as expected at a Luxury resort.

We made dinner reservations at Salt, and we got a msg that if we aren't there on time they would let go of the table within 15min, however on arrival at 9.20 pm we were made to wait for our table till 10 pm. The menu was disappointing it lacked choice and was quite boring, we settled for the Chinese which again lacked presentation, and quality and the taste was below average and very basic.

What was most disappointing was breakfast as everyone looks forward to having that amazing breakfast spread at a hotel, there is no coffee shop yet, and we were seated in a bar that had banquet tables set up and a buffet spread worthy of a 3-star, no great options, a dull atmosphere and service staff were not groomed and overall quite lost.

The hotel is still under construction there is a lot that is yet to come, and it feels incomplete. It felt like they have oversold themselves and under-delivered, a lot of which was shown on the site was not present.

Definitely not worth the hype or the price for the room and the basic food & amenities that go with a Luxury labelled property, there are far better properties in the area offering much more for a...