Adagio Lounge — Restaurant in Carmel

We had a really disappointing experience here last night. The bartender (tall man with glasses — didn’t catch his name) was clearly frustrated, likely due to a large wedding party that had just arrived, but unfortunately he took it out on other patrons — including us.

My fiancé ordered an Old Fashioned and asked for it to be made with Maker’s. We watched it being made with Woodford instead, and simply mentioned that we had asked for Maker’s. The bartender abruptly told us they were out — something he hadn’t said when the order was taken — and then snatched the drink out of my fiancé’s hand and aggressively threw it into the back of the bar. He muttered something about having to go downstairs and get more, left, and did eventually return with Maker’s to make a new drink.

The drinks themselves were fine, but the hostility continued. He handed us the bill and insisted, four times in quick succession, that we “give him the card now” so he could cash us out. When we placed the card down, he turned his back and said, “I’m not grabbing that.” He then ignored us for around ten minutes until we asked another staff member to cash us out so we could leave.

The whole interaction made us feel incredibly uncomfortable and unwelcome. We didn’t raise our voices, we didn’t demand anything — we simply asked a basic question about a drink. It’s unfortunate because the atmosphere and drinks had potential, but after this experience, we won’t be back. The bartender was agressive and yelled at us when all we did was ask a question. This is completely unacceptable for the environment we were in. We came for a calm night to wind down with a drink before heading...

I went here with some friends last night and the atmosphere and vibes are amazing. It’s well decorated and ostentatious. It wasn’t super busy and it was easy enough to get find a place to sit (but there is limited seating as this is a hotel bar).

Unfortunately, I cannot say the same thing about the service and drink I got. It took 15 minutes for a waitress to come to our table which we then thought we had to go to the bar to order but finally she came over. I glanced over the menu and didn’t see a nonalcoholic/mocktail section so asked if there was anything without alcohol in it, for personal reasons. She said there was only one drink that could be modified to not have alcohol so I said okay. My friends and I also ordered a dessert. It took our waitress 30 minutes to bring us our drinks and she checked in once while passing by to clean up another table, and since she didn’t come to check in it was hard to ask her down check or if we needed something. At the end, we didn’t receive our dessert and i was charged $16 for a drink that didn’t have alcohol in it. I stopped her and said “this was $16 even though it didn’t have alcohol?” and she dismissively said “ya” and walked away. We couldn’t believe this and finally found this drink on their online menu. While this is a “higher end place”, there should be no reason to charge someone the same price for a drink with alcohol for a drink without alcohol. This should be much clearer description on the menu you get charged the same amount where you get alcohol or not. This was an overall disappointing experience despite the atmosphere, hence why it got 2 stars...

My daughters and I visited on a whim on the evening of 2/3. The piano was playing soft tunes and the wood burning fire was a nice touch on a very cold evening. They mayor of Carmel was there with a small group and invited us to with with them in the Library adjacent to Adagio. We declined as we wanted to sit near the fireplace, but I thought that was very kind of him. Alex was our server and she was knowledgeable and delightful. We actually ordered 3 drinks that were all suggested by her. We LOVED them! Sharing from the menu: The Revolution (Wheatley Vodka | Martini and Rossi Bitter | Red Raspberry | Honey Syrup | Lemon Juice | Egg White; Raspberry Beret for the Backup Band) Feeling Good (Luxardo Sour Cherry Gin | Spiced Black Tea Syrup | Lemon Juice) and she hand crafted a mocktail for my 16 year old that was a hit. The lounge is STUNNING and seating is very comfortable. We could have stayed a couple of hours but had to get to dinner. Side note: save time to explore the lobby, the artwork and halls near the ballrooms. The decor is exquisite and the several french doors leading out to a large porch with a view of The Palladium reminded me of the main floor porch at Biltmore Estate in Asheville, NC. Lastly, the scent throughout the hotel is amazing! I hear they have a candle with the same scent in the gift shop. We...