Historic Smithton Inn B&B of Lancaster County — Hotel in Ephrata

I generally don’t give a negative review unless I feel the need to do so. In this case, I feel it’s warranted. I made reservations at The Historic Smithton Inn, in Ephrata, PA. I booked my stay online for two nights. I chose to have breakfast delivered to our room. I do need to mention that breakfast is included with the price of the stay, unless you want it delivered to your room. In that case you pay an extra $15 per person per day that it’s delivered. I was willing to pay for this convenience. Which was $60 extra for my husband and I both. Furthermore, I felt it would be worth it because the website shows and raves about how nice these breakfasts are. Additionally, they show pictures that make them look delicious. When booking and adding these amenities, there is a place on the form that asks about dietary restrictions. I noted that there was a restriction and noted that specific restriction. |||To make a long story short, the owner called the day we were to check in, to inquire about our accommodations. I had my husband answer, due to me rushing about to get last minute things done before leaving (phone call was minutes before we were about to leave). However, my husband handed the phone to me after several minutes, saying that I should speak to the owner (Karen). She basically asked about the dietary restriction and another extra I paid to have while there. I reiterated what I had filled out online about the specific dietary restriction (not an uncommon restriction) She seemed annoyed about the request and mentioned what foods she made other guests. She then asked again if that is what I wanted. I replied yep! She then said goodbye and hung up abruptly. Upon speaking with my husband after the phone call ended, he said the owner had somewhat of a negative response when he mentioned the restriction (a nasty groan of some sort). || On the second day of our stay, the owner herself brought the breakfast to our room (see picture) stating to my husband that it had the ingredient in the waffles that I requested not to add. She did not apologize or offer any kind of an explanation as to why she did not honor my request. The breakfasts themselves were slim pickings. The first day it was scrambled eggs (probably had milk in them, but she didn’t state that they did). Not at all what the pictures show on the website. I feel that, at the very least she should have apologized and offered to not charge for the breakfast. Also, why have the option to request a dietary restriction if it’s going to be a problem. She should have stated from the beginning that she was unable to make our breakfast the way we wanted. That’s it! I could have had the option of making other arrangements. However, she wanted me to pay the extra fee. It seemed like, by the looks of the breakfast, she punished us for the request. Also, the picnic lunch she made us was with stale hard bread. It included two sandwiches, fruit and drinks in a wine tote. Neither the breakfast or the picnic lunch was worth what we paid extra to have. ||To add to this, there was an issue with the TV’s at the Inn. We had to use our own streaming accounts. Which was fine, we never complained or reported this to the owner. However, the website does advertise that it has cable. The owner did send out a text stating that there was an issue with the TV’s not working properly, but said the they were working fine earlier in the day. She also added that it was the entire Inn that was experiencing the issue. She also sent me another text stating that she could fix the TV, but would need to come into the room herself to do this. I decided not to contact her asking for this, as I didn’t want the hassle. ||As far as the rest of the stay..the room we booked was clean and looked nice. However, the Inn itself is not on some sprawling countryside in a remote setting. The Inn actually sits at a busy, noisy intersection right next to the road. You can hear the noise clear up until midnight (it’s extremely noisy) Additionally, it’s a small property. They tell you on the website that you are welcome to explore the grounds, which is not much bigger than most people’s back yards. ||So, needless to say, I was disappointed! I have stayed at very nice places and some very mediocre places (but knew that in advance, so no need to post a negative review). However, in this situation we didn’t get what we paid for. My goal is to share my experience. So, you can decide for yourself if you want to chance throwing your money away. Or worse yet, have a dietary restriction (hopefully not a serious one) that you can’t trust she will honor. ||I want to note that I do not complain and nitpick to management about things when we are staying places. Nor, did I complain or make any unreasonable requests in this situation. Everything I ordered extra was for an additional fee and the dietary restriction was an option when booking. I did not contact anyone and demand this. I did this because it was an option that was offered when...

1st let's start with the accommodations. The Room that we normally stay in, is the chocolate Room. The beading has sheets from comphy. If you've never heard of comphy sheets you truly are missing out. They are soft and luxurious and they have this tremendous ability to disperse the heat or the cold evenly so your always comfortable. Not only are they so luxurious they really are such a bonus to your sleep. A bonus for this is that she actually sells them. I have actually purchased 2 pairs from her. Now let's talk about the breakfast. She is a phenomenal cook. This time when we stayed the 1st breakfast that we had was roasted potatoes and scrambled eggs on naan bread with an accompaniment of fresh fruit with a home made fruit syrup. It was amazing. The 2nd morning we had again fresh fruit with homemade fruit syrup and what she calls a pancake bake, I think, which is a fluffy pancake stuffed with fresh fruit with a side of whip cream and syrup. It also came with sausage that is undoubtably the best sausage I've ever had. Everything that she serves is so well made and is so tasty it is certainly going to fill you for the entire day. There is also a wine Room, which in the evenings has live music and offers various food to eat. The wine is incredible as well as the atmosphere. There is inside and outside seating. We have stated other bed and breakfast and this one is hands down the best in the area. You can come in and feel like you having your privacy or you can sit there and talk with everybody who is around you in still feel comfortable. The owner of this bed and breakfast is hands down the best in the area. If your looking for a place to feel comfortable and relax and enjoy good food this is where you need to be. So if you are looking for the best bed and breakfast around give this a try you won't be...

This is only my second B&B that I've stayed at because frankly they can be cluttered, dated, musy and creepy. But we went for it because the pictures showed all the rooms were simply decorated with a few pieces of art and furniture and the bedding was white cotton, not flowered, laced, creepy bedding from the early 70's. We booked the hotel and showed up just as the wine bar, Weathered Vineyards Wine Room was closing, so we grabbed a bottle of very reasonably priced and tasty wine.

The part that surprised me is that the owners were not expecting us and they were not prepared because we booked for the following night! Fortunately they were able to give us the last available room and greeted us with happy surprise. The Inn was clean, free of dust and smell, simple yet thoughtful decor and yet kept to period. We stayed in the Yellow room, which had a queen four poster bed and a new shower. And the shower!!! was so modern, surround with glass on two sides and subway tile with dark gray grout set at 1/4" apart, lovely. A large pedestal sink and original floorboards throughout the room. The liquid soap was a wonderful, refreshing smell.

The next morning, we agreed to come down at 8:30 am for breakfast. Rebecca, one of the owners, prepared fresh local peach sweet bread, a bowl of fresh watermelon and blueberries with ginger syrup, crunchy french toast with strawberries, whipped cream and chicken maple sausage. It was really too pretty to disturb, but I literally had to force myself to disturb the lovely and thoughtful display.

The people in the dining room were friendly, Rebecca seemed thrilled to be serving us as we poured over her our compliments. We are so happy we found this B&B on our way to Lancaster, Pa. We...