Jacaranda Hotel — Hotel in Avon Park

STAY AWAY FROM THIS PLACE! This place is awful. There were so many things... Where to begin? When we checked in we were already mostly done when the only person there answered the phone and took a reservation while we were literally standing right there in front of her face, and only needed the room key to get inside, for at least 20 mins minimum she kept us waiting, even though we were the present customer, and we had an important engagement to get to, that we were already late for, and then had to gather all our luggage and either carry them up flights of stairs or wait for the only person to run the elevator. The temperature got down to the low 40s and 30s while there, and we tried turning on the heat on the wall system, and it just got colder and colder no matter what we did, and no one is there over night. We froze even under the covers, and I was sick, so it was downright miserable, and we were paying to stay there. We called down after 2 nights of turning the temperature higher and higher, and were informed that they control the heat for the whole building from the bottom floor, and the controller in the room is just an illusion, we have no control, and they'd chosen not to turn on the heat for the building until noon of the second day and make us miserable. The bathroom had no trash can whatsoever. The shower dripped constantly, and a lot, so the floor was never not wet. The only reason the inn stays open is because half of it is literally a dorm for the college in town. When the students came back, they were running and screaming through the halls, and wreaking all kinds of havoc. There were little children and babies who were constantly screaming and you could hear that from everywhere. We were on the third floor, and you couldn't use the elevator without staff running the lever system, so always had to walk up flights of stairs with people screaming from rooms. The list continues. The hotel has no Wi-Fi. When the students came back there was no parking. The bathroom had no sink, and the sink and mirror weren't even off to the side of the bathroom, they were stuffed in the middle of the room, so if one person needed to use it while the other person slept, the light had to be on in their face. The sink had one hot water spout and one cold water spout, so you either had to burn your hands or freeze them when washing, because they didn't come out the same spout so you couldn't adjust the water temp. The lamps didn't work. There were stains all over the carpet and bed spread. Disgusting. There weren't enough outlets. The staff after the first day was were rude and obnoxious without provocation, as we hadn't complained at all at this point. They had no fresh breakfast. To top it all off, they were incredibly unfriendly and downright hostile towards our service animals, even though it is literally illegal to do that, and the staff accosted us to the point that we had to leave. The service dogs had tags, were registered, were legit and legal, and were always in our control and on leash at all times, and are incredibly well behaved, but the staff accosted us and made us so miserable, that we had to and find somewhere else. It was especially malicious of the hotel because one of us had to work that whole week and was literally on the clock on the phone on service calls and because of them, lost hours of work pay because of having to clock out to move, without any compensation. I remained polite and calm the entire time, and the staff woman the last day was extremely vicious and spiteful, regardless of the fact that I'd never seen her before in my life and had never done a thing to her, she was bitter and obviously had her own mental issues, and was completely rude and not even able to maintain a conversation, being unable to answer questions or carry on a topic. What they did was totally illegal, and we could've fought it and won, but since the hotel itself and the staff were so horrific and rude and obnoxious, to the point they didn't even bother to turn on the heat for actual...

This is a review for the Jackaronda Hotel restaurant that has culinary students work in the kitchen. My husband and myself along with my father-in-law and mother-in-law went out for my husband's dad's birthday Wednesday for supper.

We had a bill of 4x$18.88+tax and we left a small tip (and honestly I told my husband to not leave a tip as the experience was not a good one.).

I've eaten in hotels and had culinary student prepared food and this one fell very short. Writing this review I thought... eek people complain about Cuban food. Well... Cuban food both at resorts and by the locals surpassed the food in this hotel restaurant. I'd like to start up with the POSITIVES mashed potatoes were very tasty with the chicken gravey -dinner rolls were in a warmer and were soft salad

THE DISAPPOINTMENT -when we entered the hotel the server didn't seem happy. No smile / no how are you. She merely says how many for dinner? I immediately turned to my husband and said " she doesn't seem to happy."

The server asked what we would like to drink... I asked for OJ and my husband for a diet Coke/ Pepsi. They had neither of the three. So it was water for both of us and a coffee for him

OFF TO THE BUFFET ... OH BOY. I checked out the desserts... Very small portions that included pecan pie, carrot cake, chocolate mousse in a glass, Boston cream pie, and a couple others. Looked ok. My husband has the pecan pie that he said wasn't good. I give it that it had many pecans.

THE HOT FOOD AND SALAD My husband and I were less than impressed. I tried some beef stew something or other. I had one spoonful and was like nope. It has a peculiar flavor. With the selection that there was I thought you cannot go wrong with salad and pasta salad. I hate to admit it but yikes even the macaroni and other pasta salad needed intervention. Both lacked flavour. I ended up putting pepper and a tiny bit of salt on both. More pepper then I usually do. And we'll salad can't really go wrong.

The Onion soup. Not good.

My husband ended up with fried chicken and mashed potatoes. Not what he was looking to just eat. And you can't really screw up fried chicken.

We didn't want to say anything in front of the parents but the food was horrible. We'd rather have gone to Olive Garden / had pizza / burger King/ a mom and pops restaurant. I told my husband not to leave a tip as the server only came by twice. Once to take our order and if we needed anything. She didn't do anything to earn a trip or go above and beyond Again we didn't want to make a scene in front of the parents. We both work hard for our money and this experience it was wasted. And that isn't how I like to spend my money.

I truly wish I could say it was a wonderful experience. Rather I am left saying .. we'd like a full refund please. And I would like management to really issue a refund and...

I hate to write this. because I like the hotel very much. The historic atmosphere, and particularly the decorations for the holidays. I have been here during Christmas in years past. This time, we were here at the end of September, in the middle of the week.|Three of us came to eat lunch. We did have a reservation. We arrived to find the dining room, virtually empty. There was one couple seated at a table and then us. 30 minutes later, another couple came and a different waitress, waited on them.||Our waitress did not give good service. Particularly, for the fact that there was almost no one else in there. I would’ve understood, if she’d had several others to wait on. She took our order, and as the meal progressed, she did not come to check on us. She finally came back and I said, could I get some dessert? She said, what do you want ? I told her. And she walked off immediately. She did not ask the other two ladies if they wanted dessert, coffee or any drinks. And drinks were not refilled at all. She has long, dark hair in a ponytail and glasses. Our food was good. And no issues with the taste or presentation. I know the hotel has a reputation to uphold. I would love to come back, and I’m sure we will, but we were very disappointed in...