Glenora Wine Cellars — Restaurant in Town of Starkey

It pains me to write this mediocre review, as I can tell the management and staff have been working so diligently to try to maintain a high level of guest satisfaction at this property despite pandemic-induced staffing challenges, but here I am lying wide awake again in bed after midnight because of non-existent soundproofing of the door that connects our room (224) to the adjacent room (225).

Last night we heard every noise (every noise) until 2:30 AM, and I slept horribly as a result. I am hoping these neighboring guests will not be as loud as late this evening, too. I am not sure if these adjoining room doors are required by NY state fire code or what, but when you can hear every word of every conversation through these doors it can certainly make it difficult to sleep without earplugs. Meanwhile we haven't heard a peep out of the guests in the other adjacent room (223) with no adjoining/shared door since we checked in a few days ago. Through social media research it sounds like this adjoining door is not insulated properly, which is wholly unacceptable for a place that markets itself as a luxury inn.

Some observations:

GROUNDS: Impeccably-maintained. Yesterday we even saw a man spraying herbicides on clover that was emerging around the exterior doorways to the lodge adjacent to the primary landscaping. This shows incredible attention to detail. The parking areas and driveways look to be relatively recently repaved and are very smooth.

VIEW: Breathtaking. When we first checked in I immediately put down my luggage and ran out to our balcony. The lake view is quite simply awe-inspiring. I love sunrises, and the sunrise views here have to be amongst the best in the region.

STAFF: Generally corteous and professional. The female that checked us in was incredibly friendly and informative; she seemed to genuinely enjoy her job. It seemed like it was the first day on the job for the girl who did our complimentary tastings, but she did fine. We bought six bottles.

CLEANLINESS: I can't praise the cleaning staff enough. When we arrived the room was impeccably clean. Our room was cleaned daily while we were exploring. Our bed was made, our garbages were emptied, our toilet was cleaned, our towels were refreshed, and our coffees and bottled waters were also refreshed. I was impressed! There is either some black mold or heavy mildew forming on the top of the exterior of our shower stall above the shower curtain, but it is not a large mass of it (yet).

LOCATION: Glenora is located a tad further away from any cute walkable town center (Watkins Glen, Penn Yan, Dundee, Geneva, etc.) than I would like, but you can still get to most local communities within a 15-20-minute drive. We explored all of these aforementioned communities and enjoyed them immensely. NY is such a beautiful state.

ROOM: Smallish TV (not a "smart TV", so you won't be able to access your streaming services). No microwave. Good mini-fridge. Complimentary bottle of wine. Mr. Coffee coffeemaker with great locally-sourced Seneca Sunrise Coffee (kind people at that place---check them out!). Surprisingly uncomfortable beds and pillows (too firm and flat, respectively, for me personally). Again, not sure if ALL rooms have that adjoining door or not, but if they do your ability to sleep will be at the mercy of whomever they give the adjacent room to and if they blast their TV, laugh, and make loud "o" noises late into the night or not. I expected much better door soundproofing for the price we paid per night for this room. Jacuzzi was nice but took 20 minutes to drain, which made us think we broke it at first. Shower was tiny but VERY nice (LOVE the...

Having driven the Seneca Wine Trail in search for outstanding wines my wife and I stopped at Glenora at the behest of a few locals. The disappointment was apparent once we walked in and waited 10 minutes to be greeted for a wine tasting. We opted for the $20 cellar tour but were told the educator did not show up. So off to the regular $10 tasting we went. The young girl who was attempting to serve 16 guests was dramatically uneducated about the wine she was pouring, let alone wine in general. Her interaction was clearly scripted as she gave me the identical verbiage as she did other patrons. When asked about sweetness levels in the wines she simply pointed to the tasting sheet and indicated the sugar level was "between 0% and 2.5%, somewhere in there". Her lack of education was only second to the eyedropper pours she was offering the guests. The volume poured was not enough to swirl and aerate the wine let alone get an idea of the wine's body or aromas. When asked for a bit more, she pointed to a dirty glass on the window sill behind her, which was partally filled with some sort of sand, next to an open bottle of dishwashing soap. She said that is the level she was told to pour. The point of the tasting is to discover palatable wines I'd like to add to my collection as well as potentially becoming a member of quality wineries. Regrettably, for Glenora, I have not had the opportunity to properly taste their selections nor was I educated about their vinification processes or tasting notes for their wines. What a waste of time and $20. We were also going to have lunch at Glenora's Restaurant. I called the restaurant prior to the tasting to ensure availability, but the bitter taste lingering after the tasting led me to another spot just down the road. Two misses for you Glenora....

This is my first google review ever and it will be a long one because I received the worst service in my entire life yesterday, and as a server/bartender myself i understand people having bad days but this was just unacceptable.

We came in as a group of 4 and I had forgotten my ID, i asked if i could show a picture of my ID. Instead of just a simple no, the girl doing our tasting goes “yeah no that’s not a thing.” that’s fine, she could’ve just said they couldn’t accept that and moved on. Next, someone in my group had bought cheese from the front and when he placed it on the counter she goes “do not eat food in MY wine tasting room.” direct quote. Sad to say she goes on like this our entire tasting, we tried to make conversation with her about where she was from and how long she’d be doing this and she was not having it she wanted nothing to do with us. She gave a person in our group attitude because she placed X’s next to the wines she was considering (we hadn’t even given her our papers yet) and says “if you could circle those that would be great it makes it easier for me” with the same grand attitude she’d given us from minute one. She then walked to the other end of the counter to whisper to the other worker about us. Lastly, she came back and asked us what our favorite wine was and as we opened our mouths she walked away. I thought she was coming back, maybe forgot something real quick but no. she never came back, just went back to the other boy worker to chit chat then serve someone else and begin another tasting.

The whole experience was so upsetting. I love Glenora wine so much. I hope we can try again and just have someone else serve us. Like i said, I am a service worker myself and treat everyone with respect, she was just a...