Talbott Inn — Hotel in Bardstown

This hotel is on the National Historic Register so that may explain a little but not most. I understand this hotel was built in the 1700’s and I understand old. I’ve stayed in old castles in Ireland and visited the oldest pub in Ireland constructed in 929AD. What I don’t understand is lack of maintenance. This hotel suffered a devastating fire in the 90’s and was rebuilt. I think that was probably the last major maintenance too. Sinks didn’t drain, rotten wood, something with claws in the space above our room enjoyed scampering around. I doubt it was the ghosts the place is purported to host. Check in at 4 but they closed early at 4 for Father’s Day and the only notification we received was a phone call at 4:02 telling us this while we were still 90 minutes out because the email and website said 8. They offered to leave the keys in the mailbox and gave us a personal cell # if we couldn’t find them so that was very nice. Bourbon bar was supposed to be open to 8 but that was closed and so was the restaurant. Outside walls 2 feet thick, windows…paper thin so you hear people talking in conversational tones outside your second story room, not to mention the vast multitude of muffler challenged vehicles that cruised the town and the semis going by. Evidently to get from one side of town to the other you go through the center of town. There was a hotel sitting area outside our room where loud drunks congregated. They DID abide by the 11 pm quiet hours thankfully. So nice to be sitting, reading a book and hearing f@$& used as an adverb, verb, and adjective about their gay daughter’s jealous girlfriend. I could tell you a lot more about her, her school etc. but that’s just mean. People in the Jesse James room were appreciative of the entertainment as well. Shower curtain was a short liner that didn’t go all the way down. WiFi password was listed in several places but no WiFi Network Name, nor did one pop up that had Guest on it. We tried the password in all that showed up and even tried it on a hidden one to no avail. No hotel staff on duty for check out. It rained…inside the hotel! As we went out the front door we noticed rain coming down the curtain falling into the windowsill and draining through a fist sized hole in the rotten wood, yes it had obviously been like that for quite awhile. It was also coming in the wall where a security camera was and dropping onto the top of a beautiful antique. Bright lights outside and no blackout curtains kept another occupant on the street side awake all night. Bring ear pods and eye shades. Door to our room didn’t latch closed. The door handle didn’t work. We were encouraged to have reservations for dinner and still waited in line because they lost them. Dinner was interesting. Our table was balanced with stacks of napkins. Service was friendly albeit understaffed. Fried green tomatoes were awesome, I’d recommend them. Sides were cold, salmon was tasty and the pot roast was good for the price. We sat sandwiched by dirty dishes on a table next to us as well as a tray. Bar closed at 8…no drinks in the restaurant were allowed after that either and several patrons were upset. Yes, we stayed at the oldest bourbon bar and never had a drink in it. But we had dinner 20 feet from the oldest bar top... It’s just sad that they aren’t showing this beautiful...

My experience starting off very good at this place. The prices seem reasonable the hostess was nice and the waitress was great too. Overall I thought this is really going to be a very good dining experience and I continue to think that until I got the check. I had ordered one of their premium Bourbons, Old Rip Van Winkle. A $15 drink. I made this clear as day when I ordered it that I wanted the Old Rip Van Winkle considering there are several drinks with Van Winkle in the title. When I place the order the waitress said I think we are out of that I will have to go check. She came back and said but they do have it. I thought it was my lucky day. When I got my check I found out I was charged for the Van Winkle Special Reserve, a $30 drink. Before I even talked to the waitress I made sure I had ordered the right thing by double-checking the menu. I confronted the waitress about it and she went and got the manger. I explained to manager what I ordered and what i got charged for. She explained she can not discount alcohol. I understand that, which me and my wife said to her. My wife asked her to discount the food for the 15 and the answer we got was "Did you eat the food" We yet again explained that we did not want the $30 drink and we did not order the $30 drink. Finally after going back and forth for a while the manager finally offered a 10% discount this equated to about 7 dollars. Knowing that they would not help us we paid the check and left.

If you go to this place be very careful and double check your check they will try to charge you more. I will never go back because of how the manager refused to help us out when they clearly made a mistake.

We were also planning to spend another $20 and the gift shop and we're planning a trip to come stay at hotel attached to the tavern.

After this horrible experience I will...

A mixed bag. Beautiful property in a great location. We had three rooms, one in the annex and two in the main building. The annex room was well appointed and the main building rooms were full of character. Unfortunately the staff was not up to snuff. The young lady who checked us in was not particularly welcoming and did not seem to know much about hotel hospitality. We got there at 10 minutes after seven and asked if we could be seated for dinner. We had to speak with multiple people to get seated, and no one bothered to tell us that the restaurant would close at eight. Service in the restaurant was rushed because the staff wanted to go home and we didn't know that until we googled to find out why they were rushing. Restaurant Owners, listen up, this is why you don't post a closing time-- you post a last seating time. You should know how long it takes to turn over a table and when your staff needs to be off the clock. Subtract one from the other, and there you have it, your last seating time. Saves your staff from having to stay past their shift, and it saves restaurantgoers from awkward experiences and rushed dinners. By the time we got done with our dinner, the entire hotel was shut down and all the staff was gone. The next morning there was no hot water in the main hotel, so our party all had to go to the annex to shower. There was no staff on site to deal with the issue at 8:00 a.m. There was still no staff on site at 9:00 a.m by the time we left, and no one had told us what to do about the room keys. This was our first night in Kentucky, and unfortunately a disappointing welcome to the bourbon trail. A lot of potential, but the management needs to take a step back and focus on the details of...