Orchard Hill Cider Mill — Restaurant in Town of Wawayanda

We attended the Mother’s Day brunch at the Orchard Hill Cider Mill and unfortunately our overall experience was a failure. Besides the friendly staff and the nice atmosphere, it was noticeable that this was the first time they ever hosted an event such as a buffet. A lot of the mistakes were common sense for anyone in the hospitality business. Upon arriving we had to wait in the parking lot while cars drove by with dust blowing everywhere. The place is small; the room on the right had maybe four tables for guests and the buffet in the same room, the room on the left was the bar and half the size, then there were seatings on the deck where we sat with 5 tiny, slotted style tables put together.

The first major mistake was the coffee bar! Imagine, ten tables with groups of families and everyone has to go into the small bar area about 10’x10’ to get their own drinks. The fresh juice station had a single juicer where you had to cut your own oranges and press them only a half at a time with a line of people waiting behind you. Out of respect to other patrons, after only four oranges and a third cup of OJ I had to move on. The coffee pots were on the same table, so now on this tiny table you had to find a spot to make your coffee. I carried two drinks back to the table before venturing back in to go wait in line again. A bar for alcoholic drinks is one thing; but everything else needs to be table service, especially when gratuity is expected on a buffet setting. Two of the drinks were spilled instantly along with the flowers on the table because again, the slotted tables. Any movement and you'd spill your drink or lose your cutlery by falling through.

Now onto the food. Buffet style is good when done properly. Nothing was labeled and many of the servers and staff didn't know what the foods were. At one point it was passed from one staff member to two others and the third had to go into the kitchen and ask what one of the three pies were. It was a fixed menu, there’s no excuse for every staff member not to know what the items were, especially the servers. The crepe I had to eat with my hands because it got so hard under the heat lamp and also because we didn't want to cut any food without losing everything but our plates. The waffles were hard and the cider donuts tasted stale and dry which really is no excuse being a staple item at an orchard. On the plus side, the made to order items were very good and the items that could hold up being made in advance for buffet setting were also good.

Lastly, the gratuity. To sum it up, we had to get all of our own drinks and most of our food besides the made to order items and the bus people cleared our plates—is that 18% gratuity worth of service? I’m only saying 18% because when the bill is presented the server shows you what the 18% gratuity would be which then makes you feel uncomfortable so you end up leaving that amount and don't have time to think. Then what really put the icing on the cake and made me want to write the review was how the gratuity was added to our bar bill as a charge, so the 18% gratuity was added onto the total. We paid 18% gratuity on our 18% gratuity charge which ended up being another $20.

In the end this place made out extremely well. We paid good money per person and the staff got tipped very well. Complete success for them, complete fail for...

We had the pleasure of working with Orchard Hill Cider Mill for both our Friday night welcome event and our Sunday brunch for our wedding weekend. The venue was absolutely perfect not only because both the indoor and outdoor spaces are beautiful, but because we felt supported from the initial call through the weekend. We are especially grateful as originally we were only doing the Friday night event with them but three days before the weekend we learned that our Sunday venue had fallen through. We were so impressed by how they were able to accommodate a last minute brunch for our wedding weekend.

Katie (the event coordinator) was very communicative, organized, and we felt that she really understood our vision. She went above and beyond both before and during the events and made sure we had all the little details that reflected us as a couple. She was also on site on Friday to make sure the event was seamless (especially as we had a portion that included speeches and live music). The entire team at Orchard Hill was professional, warm, and we and our guests felt so welcomed. We also appreciated that the chef and catering team accommodated the dietary restrictions of all of our guests (especially last minute for Sunday). The food was delicious and the presentation was beautiful!

Not only were we beyond happy with Orchard Hill Cider Mill, but our guests were raving about the venue! We also love that it is a space that we can revisit in the future. We loved our experience here - their attention to detail, clear communication, and commitment to their clients! Thank you for making our wedding weekend...

This place was so disappointing and overpriced. We wanted to make a reservation online however they were trying to charge a $40 deposit which I’ve never heard of a restaurant doing. We were sat outside where there was a water spill on half of the table. Somebody came shortly after to try to clean it up. They have QR codes on the tables where you place your orders but for some reason it didn’t combine mine with everyone else’s. I placed my order and the rest of the table placed theirs a minute later. I got my food very quickly (less than 10 min after placing the order). However they brought out wooden cutlery for our table which was laughable because those are the kinds of utensils toddlers should use. I looked around and saw that all the other tables around us had metal cutlery so I figured I’d wait until the waitress came back to ask for the right utensils. The rest of my party didn’t receive their food until another 15 min later. My food was cold by the time I got the right utensils. My sister was served very raw poached eggs and when she complained and asked for overeasy eggs, they brought her scrambled eggs. She complained again and they finally brought her the right eggs. The food was okay. Def overpriced because I could’ve gotten better quality food and service at a diner for half the price. When we got the final bill they charged us 18% gratuity for only 4 of us. So basically $13 just for them to bring us food. They didn’t check up on us or even take our order. The whole thing was a terrible experience and I will never...