J. Patrick House & Inn — Hotel in Cambria

I decided to do something nice for my wife to punctuate our 30th wedding anniversary celebration. We spent 11 days in Okinawa last month to this end, but I wanted to do more. After traveling for 13 hours from the east coast last Friday, I sped home, turned in my rental, packed a bag, and we both jumped in the car to head north to Cambria.

I did a bit of research for the area, and one B&B seemed to stand out above all others–the J Patrick House. So, I made a call to inquire about the price (a somewhat steep $241 plus tax per night) and availability. Despite the price tag, I thought it would be worth it for a nice room and gourmet breakfast.

After driving for hours, we finally arrived at the J Patrick House around 9:45 p.m. There were instructions left to guide us to our room. Just inside the front door was a sitting room with coffee, tea, and delicious freshly-made cookies. The room itself–the Dublin–was smaller than I expected, but charming. The décor seemed to hold a personal touch that gave it a warmth. There was a gas-operated fireplace that heated up quickly. A bottle of champagne and chocolates were perched on a table. The king bed had a nice, comfortably lumpy mattress. After cleaning up with a shower, we hit the sack. The next morning, we woke up, got dressed, met some of the other guests in the sitting room, and headed to the main house for breakfast. That’s when things went downhill…

Linda and Ron introduced themselves as soon as we entered. Now, on the breakfast itself – it was advertised as “gourmet” to be served in courses. While it was decent, it wasn't gourmet, and there are only 2 courses. The 1st course was a bowl of blueberries topped with homemade granola and a thin yogurt. Simple, but tasty. The 2nd course: bfast potatoes topped with eggs and cheese, 2 slices of bacon, and toast with preserves. It was served in a cast iron dish which was not warm at all (only used as a plate), and the potatoes seemed boiled, not pan-fried. They were soft and tasteless. The eggs and bacon were, well, eggs and bacon. The toast and preserves was easily the best thing about this course. Aside from coffee and juice, that’s all there was. The breakfasts I cook every weekend for my wife are more complex, and I’d hardly deem them to be gourmet. The coffee was pretty damn good, though.

However, that’s not what gave either of us a bad impression. Rather, it was the hosts’ attitude toward us. After the initial introduction, Linda seemed to instantly go cold. Her tone was sharp when asking us how we’d like our eggs cooked. It was as if serving us breakfast was a bother. There was a nice couple sitting across from us. These two were the ONLY two in the breakfast room that Ron and Linda would actively engage conversation. There were 6 other couples who were also ignored, which made the room feel uncomfortable. I tried to converse with both of them to no avail.

Finally, we finished breakfast. I decided to engage Ron one last time at breakfast (it seemed that being cordial and friendly was our job, not theirs). I asked him if the bottle of champagne was something found in all rooms or something more special. He said, “You must be celebrating something.” I proudly stated that we were celebrating our 30th anniversary, to which he said, “Well, there you go” before walking away. No “Congratulations!” or “That’s Awesome!” or anything. That’s when I knew he had nothing to do with the gifts. He didn’t seemed even care that this trip was a big deal to us.

On the way out, I stopped by the front office to return my key and was greeted by one of the staff behind the counter. She was extremely nice. Ron and Linda were sitting at a table behind me eating spaghetti. Neither could be bothered. As a last-ditch effort to change my experience with them, I bought a jar of the preserves (I forgot the name o the brand – maybe I’ll update this review later). Again, replies were short and to the point. No matter. We weren’t going to let that ruin our quick trip up the coast. We made the best of the day...

We picked this Inn due to its proximity to Hearst Castle and the charming photos online. The price was reasonable and the booking process easy. You can request a hot breakfast at the hotel across the street, or get a basket breakfast delivered to your door in the morning. Parking was easy, as was check in. And, yummy chocolate cookies were waiting for us when we arrived.

What we didn't fully realize when booking is that this is actually two buildings on one property. The building closest to the street is the smaller Inn. The 1st floor of the Inn has two seating areas, an eating area, and a (closed to guests) kitchen. Upstairs, the Cork room is to the right, and the Belfast room is to the left. The Cork's bathroom separates the two rooms. The common spaces are below the bedrooms. The other guest rooms are located in the second building. The bedroom was charming, had a nice bathroom, smart TV, refrigerator, and a comfy bed.

As we were about to unpack our luggage, we noticed a very loud mechanical, bass-y noise right above the bed. A latched door in the ceiling directly above the bed hid a tankless water heater. The heater would kick on randomly (not just with water use) and make a very loud noise, similar to low bass-y distortion. My partner, who is a heavy sleeper, looked at me and said "that's gonna be a problem".

We texted for assistance, since there is no manager on-site. They replied quickly and sent maintenance staff to investigate. We were told this was "normal" and that no one else had complained about it. (FWIW, our home's tankless makes very little, if any, noise so this is not normal in our experience).

We asked to be switched to a different room, but they had no vacancy. We were offered a room at a hotel across the street instead. We asked if we could view the room before agreeing to switch, and were told no. We asked if it had hardwood floors like our original room (due to allergies, since the hotel allows pets) and we were told it did (but, as we later discovered, it did not).

We asked if we could have some time to discuss it over a much needed meal (we had been in the car for 5 hrs and hadn't eaten all day). We were told the Inn's online service agent would be off work soon and unable to further assist us. We then got a text message saying the door code to our current room would expire in 90 minutes, and that we had been booked at the hotel across the street. We didn't agree to this and felt like we were being forced out of our room. We were tired, hungry and frustrated. So, we reluctantly agreed to give up our room for the hotel across the street so we could get food before everything in town closed.

While we appreciate the effort to re-room us, the second hotel was nothing like the Inn we had booked at. The other hotel was incredibly outdated, had worn casino style carpet, zero charm, very uncomfortable bed and sofa, small non-smart TV, stale air, etc. When we saw the room, our hearts sank. This was supposed to be a romantic get away for my partner's 50th birthday and this was just not what we wanted. We discussed it, and decided to skip our plans to visit Hearst Castle and just drive the additional 4 hours home that same night - arriving home at 1am.

Obviously, we were disappointed in having to do 9 hours of driving in one day and skip Hearst Castle. But, the thing that really rubbed us the wrong way was when we brought the Inn's attention to this very loud noise, we were basically dismissed when they said "no one else had complained" and it was "normal". We also felt rushed into accepting another accommodation we didn't have the time to properly consider. At no point was there any kind of an acknowledgement that the noise in the bedroom was loud and would prevent someone from getting restful sleep, no apology for the inconvenience, nothing. While making that small gesture wouldn't have ultimately changed the outcome for us, it would have made the customer experience less frustrating. I think if we had a different room, the experience would have been...

My wife and I stayed here for two nights on a recent PCH trip. We loved our room and the breakfast was excellent. It is a slightly different experience in that there are no hotel staff on-site so all communication is through text, phone or email. Once we understood that, we were fine as the responsiveness was excellent - but I can understand this would bother some people. Breakfast is delivered outside your door in a basket which we enjoyed in our room but there was also a common area with chairs/tables on the first floor if one wanted to eat there. Coffee and drinking water tank were also on the first floor with CC cookies every evening. This is a B&B so you will hear the people in the room next to you - the interior walls have no sound insulation. Fortunately they were quiet and we tried to return the favor. We typically use a white noise app on our phones when traveling which helps but I notice they had provided one plus foam ear buds to help with neighbor noise. The weather was awesome in June so we were able to leave the back window open with the sound of a water fountain outside which was lovely. The King bed was very comfortable as was the bathroom and shower. Would recommend to others with the above expectations. You'll most likely want to drive to town as the street there is narrow/hilly with no walking path; however we did notice there is a set of stairs down the hill across the street at the back of a small community so it appeared walking to town was possible if using that path/stairs. Cambria is a cute small town with plenty of good restaurants for a short stay - we would recommend Linn's restaurant and bakery based on...