River House at Odette's — Hotel in New Hope

We have never written a review this lengthy or negative before, but felt it was warranted, particularly after I sent this review internally with no response from management. Considering a stay at Odette's for 2yrs (hearing great things from friends, review articles, Instagram etc.), we were so excited to spend a weekend in New Hope/Odette's. However, overall our stay was lackluster & even disappointing at many points. Calling yourself as a luxury hotel (with prices to match) is a stretch. Beautiful setting, friendly staff, but much is left to be desired in between. We are ok paying for luxury lodging at times or staying in modest accommodations. We are not used to paying luxury prices for modest to poor accommodations. At check-in, I explained the app check-in had repeated error messages. I was told that "its useless.. doesn't work.. sometimes will lock you out of your room." Why do you send multiple emails to download & check-in via app if it doesn't work? The room was not clean- thick dust on the shelves, cobwebs in all ceiling corners, MASSIVE amount of cobwebs on the outdoor patio that we were so looking forward to using. I understand they build up in a non-controlled outdoor setting, but the amount of cobwebs, bird droppings, & plant material suggests that the patio hadn't been cleaned in many months. Frayed bath towels. Shampoo & body wash bottles nearly empty (not enough for 2 uses). Chromecast device & other cords unplugged from the TV & hanging down in an unsightly fashion. The mattress was comfortable... in places. Both beds were heavily slanted to the middle of the room, clearly not rotated in a while. Our 1st evening, our room was directly above the ballroom hosting a wedding. Ended up not being much of an issue as we were up late as well & didnt have to contend with trying to sleep through the music blaring from below. However, early the next morning, we heard the staff dragging chairs, tables, etc across the ballroom waking us up. Perhaps you should be putting wedding guests in the rooms above the wedding? If we had been going to bed at a reasonable time, it would have been very difficult to fall asleep. Despite the dirty patio, we still ordered room service breakfasy b/c it was so beautiful out looking over the river. When our food arrived, the server set it down and then bolted out the door. I asked if I needed to sign, she looked at me quizzically & then said "oh, yes, here" & then stepped back again as if she were to leave. No explanation that service fee AND tip were already added. I proceeded to add a customary 20% tip w/o reviewing the bill as thoroughly as I should have as she seemed to be in a hurry. After she departed, I realized that the tip had already automatically been added & I had just tipped 40% on breakfast and an already marked up bottle of prosecco. Not to worry I thought, it's a luxury to have room service on a beautiful morning. Only to realize multiple items were missing from our order & that the food that had arrived cold. After calling back twice to relay what was missing, a hostess finally brought up the remaining items. She was friendly but offered little solution other than "communication breaks down with the serving staff sometimes." The final item was borrowing bikes to go into town, an amenity we were very excited to use. Majority of the bikes were out of service or had flat tires. After finding 2 that worked, we asked for the lock code (only 1/2 of the bikes even had a lock). The valet said "I'm not sure. It should be fine to leave them unlocked." Not wanting to risk that, we called guest services from town when ready to lock up the bikes. They said "Yes, of course, the code is XXXX." Whelp, that wasn't the code... Overall, it is a beautiful hotel with nice staff but squandering an opportunity to be a truly luxury destination hotel. Leading up to this, we were so excited that we were already thinking about future visits as we are less than an hour away. However, after the quality of visit we had, we won't be back unless things change...

Only giving 1 star because our waiter Kevin was wonderful, but otherwise they deserve 0 stars. We went to Odettes on 2/24 for our 4 year wedding anniversary; I did include this information when I made my reservation online.

First, we were seated outside of the actual restaurant, in a common area. It was part of a lounge area with cow hide stools and a booth; we switched out the stools for a chair with help from the hostess but it was very uncomfortable still as the table was too far away to actually eat from, so my husband and I ended up next to each other in the booth. It was a very busy pass through area with people coming and going from some event, and it felt like we were eating in a lobby.

We ordered a bottle of wine, a wedge salad, appetizer of meatballs, and a cornbread skillet. All came out and tasted delicious; except the corn bread was cold inside? It was served in a piping hot skillet but the cornbread itself was cold enough that the butter on top didn’t melt. Strange but tasted great so we enjoyed it.

All went very far downhill when our entrees arrived. I ordered the meatloaf which Kevin said was a crowd favorite. My husband ordered the chicken parm. First, the meatloaf was not labeled as Turkey meatloaf and it was described as having gravy over mashed potatoes. It was my fault for not clarifying what they meant by gravy, as I assumed a brown gravy; unfortunately it was a ketchup-based gravy. Although disappointed when it came out this way, I decided to just eat it as it looked great. As soon as I bit into the meatloaf though, i discovered raw pink Turkey meat and I immediately gagged, and asked Kevin to take it back. As a replacement i ordered the salmon entree instead.

Meanwhile my husband was cutting into his chicken parm, which turned out to be cold on the inside, with uncooked pasta. I’m not talking Al dente; the pasta was uncooked and glued together into a hard crunchy lump. We also had ordered a side of sautéed spinach which was absolutely inedible due to the insanely high salt content. It was gritty with salt and we could not eat it. Kevin again took both items back and provided us with the menu again for my husband to choose something else. He ordered the fried shrimp and French fries. Not exactly what we were hoping to eat for our anniversary, but it seemed safe as did my choice of salmon.

Unfortunately the salmon was NOT a safe bet. Crispy on the outside but completely raw on the inside. It was not seasoned, the wild rice was uncooked and crunchy, the carrots were undercooked, unseasoned, and the dill butter sauce for the salmon was unseasoned, tasteless and congealed into a goopy mess.

Alas, I did not eat it, and instead had a few of my husbands fries and one piece of fried shrimp.

Aside from the atrocious food, what was most disappointing was the lack of manager presence during this entire situation. I was a waitress and a manager for years, and whenever there is even one problem, LET ALONE a myriad of problems with a customers meal, the manager should be at the table immediately. Unfortunately the manager did not show up until the very end to find my uneaten salmon, and a couple of upset faces. We were patient and friendly through the entire experience even though we were obviously extremely disappointed.

In the end the managers approach to handle our situation was to stick us with the bill for everything except for our entrees (total would have been $220, our final adjusted bill was $129), send over two glasses of champagne, and pay for our parking. After leaving Kevin a tip of $50, we left the restaurant still hungry, and with a BAD taste in our mouths from more than just the awful food, but from the handling of our situation, as well as the overall experience. We are extremely disappointed as this tainted our celebration of our anniversary, and left us feeling like we spent $200 on a mediocre bottle of wine and some...

It pains me to write this review because I really want to love River House. I went for dinner the first week of October with two family members for a 50th birthday celebration.

Atmosphere is top notch. The location on the river, the architecture and interior design are all outstanding. Exactly what I would expect and hope for in that area.

Food is average and not worth the price. We shared a flatbread appetizer. It was nice, not thrilling. I’ve had just as good at large chain restaurants. The scallops entrée was delicious but there were only 4 scallops which just isn’t worth the price. The 10oz flat iron steak was delicious. It was tender and cooked to a perfect temperature. For the price, again I wasn’t thrilled because it only came with fries. The 16oz NY Strip was waaaaayyy overpriced and tough. I was not happy with that at all. Finally, the dessert was delicious. I don’t remember what it was called but it came in a small iron skillet and had the texture of bread pudding. The service was mediocre at best. For the jewel of New Hope and for the prices charged, I expect OUTSTANDING service, not average. First, we had a reservation for 6:30, but we arrived at 6:15. We were told that because we were early we would have to wait in the lobby. I understand this on a busy weekend night, but there were no more than 3 occupied tables in the restaurant and the table we were eventually seated at was already made, so we waited for no reason. It wasn’t even to get us to buy drinks at the bar, as we were specifically directed to the lobby, and away from the bar. Our waitress was very sweet, but I don’t think she has worked in such high-end restaurants before. We had questions about the wine list which she was very unfamiliar with. Instead of directing the sommelier to our table we were left to figure this out on our own. We ordered a bottle of wine which was delivered by the sommelier, but he didn’t know who at the table was the host. He filled our glasses, but no one filled our wine glasses again the rest of the night. Same goes for the water glasses. They were filled when we sat, and never again. When our entrees were delivered, our waitress had the help of another waiter. He was carrying my steak and fries. As he approached the table, he dropped several fries on the empty seat at the table. He looked at them and then acted like nothing happened. He didn’t pick them up, he didn’t apologize, he didn’t offer to bring more; just completely ignored that it happened. When our waitress brought the dessert out, she dropped it on the table. The plate shattered everywhere, and the dessert splattered on the table. She promptly cleaned it up and apologized profusely. She brought out another dessert right away and took it off our bill. Accidents happen and I wasn’t upset, but I think that such a mistake, especially so soon after opening a new restaurant, deserves a visit by a manager. One last thing about service, at such an upscale place I expect the silverware to be changed between each course; it was not.

Now the topper! I parked under the restaurant at the valet. It’s really the only option unless you park in town and walk about a quarter mile. I received a ticket from the valet and was told to bring it to “the desk” before I left. I assumed it would be validated so that people don’t park here and go somewhere else in town. I was SHOCKED when I was told that parking would cost $20! I politely informed the gentleman that I was there for less than 2 hours and that I could park in Manhattan for $20. He just smiled and said, “yes sir, $20 please.”

I really wanted to love River House, and I will probably try it one more time. But if first impressions mean anything, I’m not...