The Simsbury Inn — Hotel in Simsbury

We were so excited to have been invited to a wedding here. We had heard so many wonderful things about the inn, I think we over anticipated the entire night. Upon arrival it was difficult to decide which lot to park in so we wouldn't have too far of a walk in the excessive heat. We followed signs for the banquet rooms. Bad idea. The doors to the event hall were locked from the outside and we ended up walking around the entire building to find another entrance and ended up at the front door. The decor inside was beautiful. Welcoming and inviting. Unfortunately, the bar/lounge staff was not. Again, looking for where we were supposed to go via signage was fruitless. We found our way to the bar/lounge where we simply asked where we should go. The waitress was rude, annoyed and snippy with her response. Made us feel like we shouldn't have been bothering her at all for anything. She pointed to a sign in the corner with the couple's name on it and said "seems to me that's where" and walked away. [Side note: I am a chef of 30 plus years and my family owns one of the longest running restaurants in the state of Massachusetts. If one of my servers had treated any guest in that way, he/she would no longer have a job.] When we tried the door next to the sign it too was locked. The same server snipped "looks like you're early. Might have to wait awhile". We asked if we could sit in the lounge area and her response was "not without buying drinks"! Wow! Really? We are attending a $75k wedding! We had every intention of buying drinks for our entire group of 8 adults and 2 children! When I expressed my frustration about her attitude she simply walked away. We went directly to the bar and ordered our drinks there and carried them to our table ourselves so as not to have to feel obligated to tip the server. I can't imagine she makes very good money with that attitude. You would think, in this day and age of Google and yelp, knowing people will be reviewing the venue, she would be a little more conscious of her tone and attitude especially towards overnight guests! The reception itself was lovely. The banquet servers were impeccable! I even hugged one and told her she is AMAZING! Just wish I had gotten her name to give credit where due!!! She worked that room like a pro! She saw I was anticipating the coffee service and brought me one without prompting! I certainly hope she is the lead server! If she isn't, she should be! She shadowed a new one and knows her stuff! The new guy will most definitely benefit from being trained by her! The food? Meh! It was food and I was starving lol I just expected, as I stated earlier, with all the hype we heard beforehand that the food would have been a little better. It was banquet food. The plates sat under cloche so long that the breading literally fell off the back of the chicken. The piccata sauce was more like water and capers were most definitely tossed on top afterwards never having the chance to bloom in the heat of the pan leaving them bitter and stiff. The mashed potatoes were absolutely, without a doubt, the frozen premade bagged mashed potatoes that didn't have even a dash of salt added let alone butter. The veg was outstanding!!! I even ate my husband's before he had the chance to even try them! Perfect julienne cuts and cooked to perfection without being soggy! It's as though the executive chef prepped the veg and left the rest to the line cooks. Not sure if they did the cake as well, but, that was incredible! Best chocolate cake I've had at a wedding to date! Wondering if it was vegan buttercream though. Had the taste and feel which I love as it isn't as sweet as Swiss or American buttercream. To sum up, wait until you're invited to a wedding/event to go here....

This review is of the Inn only. Ibooked our room for our 20-year wedding anniversary. At the time of making our reservation, I specifically made sure room service for both dinner & breakfast were available & was assured we'd have both. I also requested a bottle of champagne in our room upon arrival. We stayed overnight at a rate of $239 & at that, expected the "award-winning service" they tout on their site. The lobby is quite charming & quintessential New England! At check-in, my last name was joked about. I'm quite accustomed to this immature behavior at grocery & convenience stores, but definitely was not expecting it here! I asked about ordering room service & the desk clerk wasn't sure how to do it. Our room was clean & the furnishings charming! However, deferred maintenance of peeling wall paper is not congruent with what we were paying for the room. Even though it was clearly noted in the check-in paperwork, the requested champagne was not there. There was also no menu from which to order our dinner. We had to go back to the desk to request menus & our champagne. Since we were already in the lobby, we decided to find in Twigs restaurant. Bed was comfortable, but nothing above & beyond any Best Western or Hyatt. Champagne was in our room when we returned from the restaurant, but there was no ice in the bucket & it was room temperature. In the morning we called to place our room service order for breakfast & was told there was no room service. The one thing I was specifically assured we'd have. I inadvertently left my cell charger there. I called 3 days in a row regarding it. The 1st 2 days, I was told somebody would call me back. Nobody did. On the 3rd day, I was asked for my credit card info in order for them to mail it to me. Granted it was my oversight, but I have experienced far better service at "lower rated" & definitely cheaper hotels! I have stayed at Holiday Inn out of state & left a child's blanket only to have them mail it to me at no charge! At $239/night I expected far better service! At the very least, I expected the service I requested & was...

Well for starters, we called MULTIPLE times prior to our check-in to get an early check-in bc the wedding we were attending gave a shuttle time of 3:30 but the hotel would NOT let us check-in before 3:00. Ok fine, that’s your policy…fine, I can’t respect that. Meanwhile, we show up at 3pm and there’s a HUGE line in front of us. So everyone except us made it to the wedding ceremony on time. Which means they WERE letting guests in early. THEN I get to the check-in window and my room isn’t ready! So they give me an “upgrade” for a room. Ok sounds like they are trying to make good on their end. Well the room isn’t anything nicer than any old hotel room. So I’m not sure I even got an upgrade. Based on the detailed description of my room when I booked online, I got DOWNgraded based on what I actually got. Picture of the room I ordered is nothing even remotely close to what I got, yet alone an “upgrade” to the room I ordered. I dunno…you’re a hotel and you know you have a wedding party checking in, based on the block of rooms reserved. But then you don’t allow early check-in’s per every person we spoke to on the phone, and then don’t staff extra people at the check-in windows to get everyone in quickly….just doesn’t make sense to me. I was in line for 20+ mins starting at 3pm, only to be told my room “wasn’t ready”, and was given an “upgrade” which wasn’t actually an...