The Dream Away Lodge — Restaurant in Becket

For a great atmosphere, an intimate space to listen to live music, reliable mixed drinks, and a decent selection of spirits, Dream Away is a great place to spend an evening. And if you end up wandering out to the wood fire to gaze up at the stars, that's a wonderful plus as well.

However, during our visits both the kitchen and servers were a very, very long way from being even vaguely competent or dependable. Some examples of things that happened at our Dream Away dinners in 2024:

1. We were informed that entrees advertised and ordered off of the "specials" menu had "just run out" (at a 5-6 p.m. dinner).
2. Main courses intended to be hot were served either lukewarm or cold.
3. All meats were overcooked, and often very dry.
4. Although many of the menu items sounded quite interesting and even sophisticated, execution consistently ranged between pedestrian and amateur.
5. Water had to be requested several times to arrive at the table.
6. Silverware was removed, but not replaced, between courses.
7. Servers made little to no effort to check in after our food was served.
8. Members of our party had to go the bar to order and wait for their drinks (because the server didn't follow up on those requests, either).
9. The host/hostess seemed stressed, distracted, and disconnected from patrons both when we made reservations, and when they checked us in.
10. No one seemed to know much about the food on the menu (ingredients, etc.).

Now this was their first year after reopening, so perhaps in 2025 the Dream Away will get its act together on the culinary and service fronts. But I think what was most disappointing for us is that when we would raise any of our concerns with staff, no one seemed to care -- or worse, they became impatient and dismissive about what we were saying. Those interactions left a much worse taste in my mouth than the mediocre and overpriced food...

Been coming here for years but tonight was kind of a debacle. They didn’t have a cocktail I wanted that they had in the online menu. (I’m allergic to wine so drink cocktails). Then they didn’t have ingredients for the next two cocktails I ordered off the print menu. I ended up drinking water. Finally, they brought my entree out long after my dining companions (and my entree was a bit skimpy too unlike my companions but what I had was tasty ). I think we had four or five different people staffing our table which was chaotic. Sad to see the service suffer so much. It was much better last year.

Updated: 8/31- this was my second not-good experience in a row. I so badly want Dream Away to succeed but it has not been good. This time I brought my son, his wife Ana a partner- they’d never been there. For the second time, service was slow and disorganized. For the second time, they didn’t have something on the menu (this time it was the crispy salmon which two people wanted; we were there at 7 pm). And 3 out of the five of us thought our food was mediocre; two of us had fish tacos and the fish didn’t taste fresh plus the sauce was too mild (and there wasn’t much of it); my daughter said her bean bowl was just okay.

I note that none of us ordered appetizers - just one soup of the day which was deemed “okay” - because none of them seem interesting.

I’ve loved Dream Away for years. We have a place in Becket and I really want Dream Away to be our go to place. But for now I will be going to some of the many good options in Lee instead. I hope Dream Away can get...

Once was enough! I’m not going back!

The good: Cool historic lodge with folk music roots. Some food was well done (chips and corn, salmon, Bundt cake).

The bad: Very slow service. Some food was confusing - “grain bowl with grilled veggies” featured only one small piece of a grilled veggie and was basically just a plain bowl of red beans with quinoa. Even more confusing, the “hot coffee” they brought me was literally a small shot of cold whiskey, with whipped cream. When I asked whether it was a mistake as it was neither hot nor was it coffee, they shrugged and said “I didn’t name it” - umm, what?

Finally - the kicker and the whole reason we planned our day around going to the Dream Away - the August 6th night of protest songs old and new - had no protest songs. I’m pretty sure the 5 guys loosely jamming on their guitars had no clue the night was advertised as a night of protest songs. Nobody welcomed the audience. Nobody said anything to acknowledge that people were sitting there watching them or what the evening was about. After an hour of this, we finally decided to leave.

Conclusion: I think if you go with the plan to drink a whole bunch of cocktails with friends and do not care how long it takes or what they serve you, you’ll probably have a nice time, as it is still a cool,...