Emerson Inn By The Sea — Restaurant in Rockport

Overall it was a disappointing stay. We arrived just a couple of days before the hurricane that was out in the Atlantic was scheduled to make land fall. I asked if they had an emergency generator and was told no. Really?? When I walked into my room (King Ocean View) I was disappointed with the size of the room. We were book into the "historic" part of the Inn. Which means it is old. Small room, very small bathroom (no way more than one person could be in the bathroom a time). It did turn chilly one night and I tried to turn on the heat in the wall ac/heat unit. It did not work. I was informed that there are more then one unit on the "circuit" and if someone had their unit on AC, you could not use the heat function. I was provided with a space heater, which worked to take the chill of the room. I did not feel safe leaving the space heater plugged in when I was out of the room. I looked on line and found what appeared to be cheaper rates for my same room. When I asked at the front desk if I was in the room that I paid for and if the rates had come down, I was told that the day after we check out, the rate is the same that I paid. I could not find that on their website. I strongly suggest that before your last day to change/cancel your reservation, that you check the current rates.||We were there from Tuesday through Monday. The Inn provided an "upgraded Continental breakfast" which did include pastries, juices, fresh fruit and a hot dish such as a quiche, or small individual soufflés. ||The restaurant was only open on Thursday through Saturday nights and only served a bistro menu, such as sandwiches, cheese plates, etc. When you spend a day out at Rockport or Gloucester being a tourist, you want to go back to your hotel, shower, grab a drink in the bar and have a good quality meal. That wasn't possible at the Emerson Inn. The other nights, you could ask someone at the front desk to grab you a beer or a glass of wine, but not mixed drinks. ||On the positive side, there is the view and veranda, sitting area outside the restaurant. There is a pool, but it's not heated and a little chilly for us. We did enjoy bringing our own alcohol and mixers to the lawn (or the area outside the closed restaurant) and enjoying the view. We also picked up sandwiches/grinders on our way back and had dinner and our own drinks outside. The cleaning staff was 100% great. The hotel offers "touch less housekeeping" which means you complete a form indicating what you need (fresh towels etc) and place your used towels etc outside your door. The items were replaced quickly and the cleaning staff was very friendly and helpful.||Overall, we decided that we have spent our last night at The Emerson Inn. We have been going there many years and the old Inn is not what she use to be. I would recommend that you visit the bar on Thursday when there is a piano player (and he really wasn't very good... would complete a song then literally spend 3-5 minutes looking for his next number on his iPad..). If you go on Thursday night you can enjoy the wonderful views, enjoy the ambience of the Inn and not have to spend an exorbitant amount of money for the pleasure of being there. Seriously, look around, there are plenty of places that you can stay and be...

Overall it was a disappointing stay. We arrived just a couple of days before the hurricane that was out in the Atlantic was scheduled to make land fall. I asked if they had an emergency generator and was told no. Really?? When I walked into my room (King Ocean View) I was disappointed with the size of the room. We were book into the "historic" part of the Inn. Which means it is old. Small room, very small bathroom (no way more than one person could be in the bathroom a time). It did turn chilly one night and I tried to turn on the heat in the wall ac/heat unit. It did not work. I was informed that there are more then one unit on the "circuit" and if someone had their unit on AC, you could not use the heat function. I was provided with a space heater, which worked to take the chill of the room. I did not feel safe leaving the space heater plugged in when I was out of the room. I looked on line and found what appeared to be cheaper rates for my same room. When I asked at the front desk if I was in the room that I paid for and if the rates had come down, I was told that the day after we check out, the rate is the same that I paid. I could not find that on their website. I strongly suggest that before your last day to change/cancel your reservation, that you check the current rates.

We were there from Tuesday through Monday. The Inn provided an "upgraded Continental breakfast" which did include pastries, juices, fresh fruit and a hot dish such as a quiche, or small individual soufflés.

The restaurant was only open on Thursday through Saturday nights and only served a bistro menu, such as sandwiches, cheese plates, etc. When you spend a day out at Rockport or Gloucester being a tourist, you want to go back to your hotel, shower, grab a drink in the bar and have a good quality meal. That wasn't possible at the Emerson Inn. The other nights, you could ask someone at the front desk to grab you a beer or a glass of wine, but not mixed drinks.

On the positive side, there is the view and veranda, sitting area outside the restaurant. There is a pool, but it's not heated and a little chilly for us. We did enjoy bringing our own alcohol and mixers to the lawn (or the area outside the closed restaurant) and enjoying the view. We also picked up sandwiches/grinders on our way back and had dinner and our own drinks outside. The cleaning staff was 100% great. The hotel offers "touch less housekeeping" which means you complete a form indicating what you need (fresh towels etc) and place your used towels etc outside your door. The items were replaced quickly and the cleaning staff was very friendly and helpful.

Overall, we decided that we have spent our last night at The Emerson Inn. We have been going there many years and the old Inn is not what she use to be. I would recommend that you visit the bar on Thursday when there is a piano player (and he really wasn't very good... would complete a song then literally spend 3-5 minutes looking for his next number on his iPad..). If you go on Thursday night you can enjoy the wonderful views, enjoy the ambience of the Inn and not have to spend an exorbitant amount of money for the pleasure of being there. Seriously, look around, there are plenty of places that you can stay and be...

We just returned from a four day/ 3 night stay and wanted to provide a realistic review of our experience and why we chose the rating we did. First, the not so good, the room and bathroom we had was TINY. I can’t speak for all the rooms but the neighborhood queen was small and there’s not really any place (Dresser) to unpack so we just sort of lived out of our suitcase at the foot of the bed. You’re also going to want to be on very comfortable terms with your partner because the (minuscule) bathroom feels like it’s pretty much in the room with you. I’ve stayed in “micro hotels” in NYC-this was smaller. There’s nowhere to plug in things in in the bathroom and the only storage was over the toilet-not ideal as when I pulled a washcloth down, a tube of body wash fell in the toilet. The bed was hard and canted to one side so it wasn’t the best nights sleep. I don’t know if it was COVID related or due to the change in ownership but there was a new chef who started on our first breakfast day so it took about 1.5 hours between when we were seated to when we got breakfast and, in all honesty, it was bad. The special was lemon blueberry pancakes and they were dense, grainy and had bits of onion in them. We chose to eat offsite for the second day of our stay. Finally, for the not so good, the front desk staff was really inconsistent. The woman who was working on the day we checked in wasn’t super hospitable-I was telling her about how this was a getaway for not only my husbands 50th but also our wedding anniversary as the dates fell between both and she gave a vague “that’s nice” and just handed us the key. At the end of the night, after we had a few drinks on the porch, we brought in our glasses to try to make things easier for her and she sighed and seemed fairly annoyed.

The good, the views are AMAZING. You cannot ask for a better view anywhere; it’s honestly breathtaking, I can’t say enough about how absolutely gorgeous it was. The pool was pretty and neat but too cool to use-not sure what type of heating they use but it couldn’t have been more than 70 degrees at most. The inn and rooms were extremely clean and well kept. Aside from the first day, the remainder of the staff was super great, friendly and helpful. Cameron (I think was his name) was great and his mom who works the desk had him prep us a little to go breakfast bag before we left to pick up our kids from camp early sat morning which was really thoughtful and I wish she had been there when we checked in. The hotel is located about a mile or so from halibut point state park and that’s a beautiful hike (I’d suggest walking if you’re able as parking there was $20). The bartender who was there thurs and Friday night was really friendly and we enjoyed talking with her. There’s always lemon water out And coffee and pastries were put out in the early am which was nice. There are some lawn games but one of the biggest highlights was just sitting in the rocking chairs on the porch overlooking the ocean.

I think with better training this place could be even better; the potential is definitely there but there are a few tweaks that need ironed out. All in all we loved the area and would...