Rancho Valencia Resort & Spa — Hotel in Solana Beach

Having read all of the positive reviews about Rancho Valencia, my husband and I were really looking forward to our 4 night stay at this 5 star resort. We had hoped to spend a fair amount of time at the spa relaxing. For reference there are 2 pools at the resort. A family pool (only for resort guests) and an adult pool which is located at the spa. To start off, check in was smooth and we were taken to a lovely 1BR suite. Dinner that night at The Pony was very good.||The trouble started on our 2nd day. My husband and I ventured down to the spa in the afternoon hoping to relax at the pool before our massages. First warning there was something wrong was the spa parking lot was completely packed and there were flow over cars parked up and down the roadside. As a guest of the hotel, you could easily walk to the spa, so something didn’t seem quite right. ||We walked over to the adult pool in the spa and it was packed to the gills. An arrogant, young blond female employee at the entry informed us that there was a wait list for chairs at the pool and there were 3 couples ahead of us. She could provide no estimate of how long that wait might be. We told her we were hotel guests paying quite a large nightly fee and this was not really acceptable. Her surly response was “everyone here is a guest of the hotel and I don't see what the problem is”. When I asked her name, she quickly covered up her ID badge and accused me of being “aggressive”.||I came to discover the true fact is, the resort has sold large quantities of family memberships to the public and also for the purchase of a simple spa treatment, you can use the spa facilities for the entire day. You, however, as the high paying resort guest have no priority here. The other amenities: sauna, steam room and hot tubs were equally packed. The locker room was uncomfortably full and there were no attendants. It was difficult to find an empty locker with a robe. All of the showers were in use. The seats in the waiting area for the treatments were also full.||After complaining to the hotel manager, she did arrange for us to have seats at an empty cabana later in the afternoon following our treatments. Of course by then it was late afternoon, the crowds had significantly died down and my mood unfortunately had soured. ||The spa was basically a rat race. Not at all relaxing Perhaps we were super unlucky, as it was a beautiful Saturday afternoon. This place has SOLD OUT to the public hoping they won’t get much resistance from their out of town, high paying resort guests.||Our massages were excellent, but loud groups of young women in the waiting area could easily be heard during our treatments.||For a true relaxing experience, go elsewhere. If you still want to have a day at the Rancho Valencia spa, it would be more economical to stay at a cheaper local hotel, book a treatment at RV spa and then spend the day there. Get there early so you can get a locker and seat at the pool (sigh, ridiculous but true)!||It was salt in the wound, when I reviewed my final invoice...in additon to the thousands of dollars for a 4 night stay, I then discovered a $60 daily resort fee tacked on....shame on you...

Now that you're a little a shamed for singing that softly in your head or even dancing to it I have to point out the crassness of the song and the opposing class of Pony Room. The upscale and classic décor while the song evokes images of sweat and leather, not bad in their own right. Like I said all they share is the name. the resort itself is beautiful and doing amazing things with Veladora as well. I'll save the driveway and grounds for and RV review.

Big U bar of granite, perfect amount of chairs for space. The chairs are really ornate and are truly chairs and not stools. A tall back and arms, white with gold inlay. Some 2 and 4 person tables more study lounge than bar style. Tall windows and upholstered walls, semi rustic wood floors and exposed beams give an old West vibe without the cowboy grunge. A croquet lawn outside for lounging or actual croquet. I feel like I should wear white pants when I come here. Live music on weekends and Tuesdays.

Service is excellent from the bartenders, servers, valet's. Country club service without the membership. Totally worth the price and drive if you don't live here. Great craft cocktails to go along with a handful of local and craft beers and considered the area it's a healthy amount. Large TV's for watching sporting events. Wine is a bit of a standard bunch, but an ocean's worth of tequila..

HH. it's good because of they try, good food, good drinks, not necessarily cheap, but good value. The crowd is shall we say "aged". Not quite as aggressive as the Cougars who used to frequent Wine Steals in Encinitas, but it's not... a plenty if that's your thing.

Paela is great to split. Tons of seafood variety, flavor and color. Maine Lobster Salad Sliders are small and very good, but your better off going to Lobster West. Buttermilk calamari was interesting as buttermilk and seafood you wouldn't think go together, but the peppers help and the butter dip is interesting, think caper sauce without the cheese or cream. Wood roasted cauliflower is a refreshingly mild starter, but filling like most veggies.

If cocktails are your thing the Jessica Rabbit uses fresh ginger and honey, the neck shot uses house made grape soda to counter the serrano pepper infusion and tequila. Speaking of tequila they have the largest selection in North County not only carrying my favorite Corzo and the super premium award winning "diamante". Over 100 varieties including a dozen of Mezcal, Bacanora and Sotol which are agave spirits. It's great to talk agave as there are so few people who really know about it while everyone seems to be a Scotch expert. A great place to come and socialize with your group and have cocktails. Who knows you may end up...

This review is mainly about the Spa but I will start with the resort first. We stayed in an Agave Suite and it was beautiful, very clean, and amenities were great! Minor detail missed on our third night - we got truffles on our pillows the first two nights with the turn down service but not on the third night for some reason? And I missed it because the truffles were really good! Room service was also mostly prompt and staff were mostly helpful! Now about the spa... I have gone to multiple spas (not an expert but well traveled and have some experience). For the price paid for the services I got the overall impression I left with was subpar (what I would expect from an average spa). When I arrived at the spa the first day the lady that greeted me took me on a very brief tour after finding out that this was my first time at this spa. She left out a lot of important details that another guest was so gracious to help me out. When I was out by the pool that first day I was seated at my lounge chair and given a menu but nobody stopped by to ask if I wanted anything. There was a group of three ladies that were sat next to me after me that got waters, drinks, and great service immediately. Lastly, the day that I had two treatments I took a shower and it was very cold. When I exited the spa I informed the gentlemen at the front desk to the spa that the shower was very cold (not even close to warm after 10 minutes of running it) and he acted very nonchalant about it and diverted me by stating "but the treatments were great?" He completely minimized that I spent a lot of money $1500 (a lot for me anyway) that I had a cold shower in a 5 star spa and did not offer any kind of amend or rectification for the experience. Then he asked me if I was with another person (stated the person's name) because they had not checked out yet?? He acted like he was annoyed and wanted to get out of there - very rude. So that was the last impression I had as I left the spa. Lastly, the spa is beautiful but needs some restoration work - it looked a little run down and there were plumbing issues along with the cold shower. The massage I got was average. I have had better massages but the girl who did it was very sweet and otherwise did...