We had a horrible evening here. We were generally pleased with the food (B/B-). Our waitperson was nice (B+/A-) although slow it seemed like a function of the kitchen than his service. We had the 11 course meal & although we were happy with the quality of the food it was definitely not worth $70/pp. Then at the end we went to use our restaurant.com gift certificates to find out that they would only take one & consider it more of a coupon. I explained that when I made the reservation I specifically asked the Henderson employee if I could use both of them before even purchasing them from restaurant.com & the person confirmed it. The manager defended the employee & tried to give us a lesson about reading the small print when using coupons & I explained that the small print is irrelevant if an employee gives permission. Ended up with an unhappy compromise but a general dissatisfaction with the front desk & managerial staff. At the end I pointed out an issue they made on our massage receipts (which were okay but over priced) which only underlined the incompetency of the staff. We didn't spend the night so no opinions on that aspect but if you are considering having a wedding here DON'T DO IT. I can 't imagine what they would mess up with that many details.
(1)
Michelle B.
I absolutely loved the castle! It had a great feel to it, and all of the rooms are nice. The hot tub on the roof was one of the highlights of the trip! I wish I could say that the food was just as amazing, but it was not. For the price we paid for dinner, it was not worth it at all! It was below average. I will definitely visit the castle again, but will not be having dinner. There are better places to eat downtown. I'm giving 3 stars only because of the food!
(3)
Julie C.
7 course meal was a complete joke..thought Alan Funt might pop out from the curtain any minute during service. Bland beyond belief, poor uneducated service, fake flowers on table in summer season, no salt/pepper, no water, no refill on drinks, no Gorgonzola on salad, cold soup, bland flounder, dry pork, frozen bread rolls , cheap silverware, so disappointing we wanted to leave. Huge tip added, no management present.
(1)
Amy M.
We stayed at the inn and had the 11 course dinner. Stay, but do not have dinner! The meal was awful! It truly was! Check you room for basics before the desk closes ! We had no soap, shampoo... Etc. I don't know that I would spend that much money again for such a mediocre experience .
(1)
Bryan R.
Had a magnificent dinner at the castle last night. We had the 7 course meal, our entrees were the pork loin and steak Diane. Both were perfect! Seasoned vegetables very tasty and the chocolate dessert was absolutely melt in your mouth! Service, presentation and ambiance - Classy!! Definitely going back
(5)
Kate C.
We bought a deal to the castle through Living Social. It included a one night stay, the 7 course dinner and the "continental" breakfast the following morning. Upon arrival, getting to the front door was a bit treacherous. First it is a distance from the parking lot, over uneven brickwork. Getting up the stairs to the front door was a bit of a challenge as there were no hand rails. The front desk/lobby area has no place to sit. You need to read and sign off on a waiver regarding such things as no heels for woman, and you cannot bring your own wine into the castle etc. And then there was the mandatory 18% gratuity, even before you have set foot in your room or eaten! (oh , by the way at check out they tried to charge us the gratuity again! but my husband pointed out he had paid it upon check in and they found it noted "lower on the screen". ) No one offered to help with our luggage. We were staying in the Dutch room on the second floor. Room is nice enough overall; beautiful bird's eye maple furniture and a nice inlaid floor with lights in it which could be dimmed or turned off all together. However, there was no bath soap and when we asked for some we were offered two small bottles of organic shampoo instead as they had not soap we were told. The floor was quite dusty. There was no Kleenex. The worse part of the room was the drapery situation. There were three windows in the bedroom. Two windows had very light weight sheer curtains and the third had no curtain. In the morning, the sun just streamed in, hitting the head board and us. Most unpleasant. There was also a bee hive in the wall of our bedroom. When mentioned to the staff they were unaware, but the next day when we spoke to the owner, he was aware and they were treating the problem. When we went down for dinner, we had 6 p.m. reservations, we stood around waiting for someone to seat us for about 10 minutes. The front desk person was on an extended phone call regarding a problematic reservation, and it wasn't until she was done with that conversation that we were seated. Our waiter, John, was nice enough. The amuse bouche was a slice of tomato with something like a red sauce of some kind on it. The roasted vegetable soup was the best part of the meal. The salad was very small, and had more croutons on it than anything else. The steak Diane was very good, the chicken marsala dry and the sauce somewhat curdled like. We had ordered a flight of their wines to go with our meal. We had to ask for the flight after we had finished the first three courses. Also the bread was very hard, and rather than bringing butter, they brought a flavored olive oil and balsamic vinegar which was heavily noted on the bottles were sold in their gift store. We asked for butter and were given a cinnamon flavored butter and we again asked for just plain butter and finally got it. The dessert was some type of cherry crumble with whip cream on it. Breakfast was fine. Fresh fruit, a nice oatmeal and juice. Plenty for us. The grounds need attention. Many overgrown areas. All in all, not a bad experience, but would not go back or recommend.
(2)
Sarah A.
I was looking for something special and romantic for an anniversary dinner. I thought the castle would be just that. I went to the website and saw that they had several fixed price menus. The menus sounded good so I made a reservation. When we arrived the front desk staff was rudely explaining to customers that the castle never received their reservation and that they didn't have any rooms available. Not a good first impression. We were seated in the small dining room next to a very ugly statute that blocked the window view. Our server arrived and was very nice. She was accompanied by a server in training who was also nice. We ordered our meals and also ordered flights of wine. The flights arrived and were literally less than a sip in each glass. It was really bizarre. I understand flights are more like tastes, but there was hardly anything in the glass. When the food arrived, I knew we were in for a let down. My chicken was the saddest chicken I've ever seen. The skin was on, the sauce was goopy and almost curdled looking. Neither of our meals had any seasoning and the portion was very small. For $100 in Kalamazoo I would have expected an exquisite meal and this was far from it. My tip: stay away and don't be lured by the novelty.
(1)
Beth R.
DO NOT BE DUPED BY THIS PLACE! The owner, Francois, wants you to think that all of the bad reviews are by the 1% of angry customers that are "ragingly posting every where" (see his reply to the many negative reviews on Tripadvisor). He is unwilling to admit fault for poor management and customer service by himself and his employees. I stayed here for three days in September. We experienced horrible customer service from the breakfast waitstaff and management. Their customer service card was a 2"x2" hand-torn piece of standard paper. Clearly they do not care about feedback as many reviewers are complaining about the same issues. Management could not be bothered to call us regarding our poor experience as promised. The rooms are more shabby than chic. There are burnt out lightbulbs throughout the house, our robes were dirty and the grounds unkept and overgrown. You have already taken the time to look at this establishment on Yelp. Please learn from our mistakes. Until the building changes managerial hands (the sooner the better), don't waste your money or time staying here. You will just be disappointed.
(1)
Lori V.
To be honest, we haven't stayed yet because they cancelled our reservation due to someone coming in and booking a wedding! We made our reservation months ago, looking forward to coming to Kalamazoo to see family and everyone was talking about this place so we thought we would stay there. This type of business practice is terrible and after reading the reviews about how horrible this place is to stay, I'm glad they cancelled. And to top it off, they called us at 0720, thinking it was 1020. They aren't smart enough to even do the time change. This place has serious problems. I will never attempt to stay there.
(1)
Jane B.
If I could I would give this establishment no stars. This was the absolute worst meal I have had in years. First of all we paid for a four course meal only to learn that the second course was bread - in the form of cold, hard rolls that tasted like they had freezer burn. When did bread become a course? They should just say this is three and not four courses. If you want to make bread a course then at least make it good bread and give it some attention. Two of us ordered the steak which had an additional $10 surcharge and the meat tasted like it was cooked a few days ago and reheated for our meal. I have never had such an inferiour cut of meat. We were so disgusted that we sent our steak back and asked for the chicken and pork. My friend's pork was cold and undercooked in the middle. My chicken tasted like it was a frozen breaded chicken patty served with overcooked and over-sauced pasta. All the sides were the basically the same for everyone's dish which was asparagus. Please note that this is August and asparagus is out of season. Is the owner aware that there is a lovely farmer's market in town that he could be supporting? During all of this ordeal the owner (who claims to be the executive chef) sat at the next table over and saw the food being sent back and our dissatisfaction. We kindly asked to talk to him and we were told "that he was busy." He completely ignored us (we were one of only three tables at the time) and as we left out the door, we glanced at him and he and his guests looked at us and laughed. Please know that I have never written a review before, but I was so disgusted with my food and service that I could not go without posting my thoughts. I really don't feel that a small business owner should be this negligent about serving the community. I really have to believe (and hope) that this establishment will not be in business much longer.
(1)
J L.
My lady and I wanted to give this place ZERO stars. You have allergies or fear of critters be advised!!!!! After stumbling across this place online my lady and I decided to check it out. The photos and video online made it look rather amazing. Well it was horrible, it smelled and supposedly was under "renovation" but I think it was just disgusting in general.
(1)
Cynthia P.
One of the worst B&B or hotel stays ever! Our room (Maple room) was literally a former linen closet. You walk through the bathroom to get into the miniscule bedroom. The tiny flatscreen tv is more like a computer monitor. It's mounted 8' high on the wall so you can't see the picture on the tv unless you're standing up. No bedside lights, no desk, no chair. Just an armoire and the bed. The bed and pillows were uncomfortable. Every time one of us moved the whole bed shook so we woke each other up all night long. The continental breakfast was oatmeal, raisin bran or cheerios. That's it. No muffins, no fruit. OJ, tea and cold cereal for breakfast. Anything else you pay for. Also expected better service. The young woman who checked us in was surly and brusque. The bed was not made properly. At breakfast my tea came in a cup with no saucer. Where do I put my dirty spoon and used tea bag? The milk for the cereal came in a gravy boat. Huh? It's a beautiful house. Too bad it's so poorly run.
(1)
Colleen W.
Buyer Beware is appropriate for this place. I'm a frequent traveler for business and needed a place to stay while traveling for business. Booked online (not on the hotel website) for the "last room available" and promised a suite with a kitchen, jacuzzi tub, and a private hot tub. What I got was the "suite" next door to the one promised, no kitchen, really hard bed in a mediocre at best room. It smelled really musty. AC was just a tiny little window unit. In addition, there was only 1 mirror in the room and that was in the bathroom over the sink, bathroom had 1 dim light. No jacuzzi, no private hot tub - nothing that was promised. No hair dryer, no coffee pot, no phone, no clock. It did have a TV but that was screwed down on a shelf by the couch and could not be seen from the bed. Wi-fi was so slow I finally gave up. They did offer an "upgrade" to a different room each night of my stay for an additional charge. No thanks Had to leave early after staying just 1 night and they charged me for 4 nights! RIP OFF!
(1)
Gabe S.
My wife, a couple friends and I decided to try this place for dinner since there was a Groupon for the 11 course meal for 4. I went into this meal with an open mind and hopeful thoughts even though a few of the food reviews were less than glowing. Unfortunately, you can now add my group to that list of poor reviews. For one, the 11 "courses" are a stretch. The portions are incredibly small on most dishes and one of the courses is, wait for it, COFFEE. Or tea or espresso. Most of the courses are standard so I'll focus mainly on those, however the lobster bisque was beyond pathetic. 3 out of the 4 had no lobster with one having a minuscule piece. The soup itself looked and tasted like something you would get from a Campbell's Soup can. The broth was thin and had very little flavor. So the appetizer options are escargot, frog legs, and steamed crayfish. The escargot was fine but nothing special. The frog legs had absolutely zero flavor and the crayfish, which was supposed to come with melted butter, did not and had very little substance. My wife had the chicken Marsala for an entree and she ate about half because it was mediocre at best. One of us had the rabbit, which he said was okay but was a little dry and the portion size was that of an appetizer. I had the beef tenderloin and added a lobster tail cuz, hey, who doesn't like surf n turf? Well, the lobster tail was maybe 3 ounces at best and the bearnaise sauce on top of the steak seemed to have congealed on the way out. The steak itself was cooked properly and was okay. Nothing special. The last in our party had the Cornish hen which was also incredibly small and dry. The rest of the course after that were actually pretty good. Now what I wasn't expecting, probably due to lack of reading the Groupon, was for the tip to be added on to my bill, which was 18% based on the actual total of the bill. So, even though our server was less than stellar, she automatically got a $65 tip before we could even say something. I have no problem tipping great service, but was not happy that a preset amount was basically given to her regardless of the quality of service that was provided. All in all, I'm glad to have tried it, but definitely will not be going back and will advise my friends to avoid it as well. I'd rather go to Webster's or Zazio's and have good food that is worth spending that kind of money. I feel bad for anyone that would go here and pay full price. Clearly they don't like their mouths or their wallets.
(1)
Rohan D.
So first, I think you need to separate the reviews focusing on the place as a restaurant, and the reviews from the people who stayed in the place as a bed and breakfast. We came to Kalamazoo to visit relatives. I love my brother-in-law (he took me to a World Series Game, I got to see the Tigers beat the Cardinals in 2006, Kenny Rogers pitched a gem of a game, so yeah, the best brother-in-law EVER), but I'd rather say good night and go to a hotel room than stay with kin, even the best brother-in-law in history (with three cute but highly active children). Okay, that was already too much information, but we know Kalamazoo, and the area has either reasonably good inexpensive but soul-less motels, and some pretty but typical bed and breakfast houses around Kalamazoo College. The problem I have with the typical bed and breakfast is that I don't want to have to be pleasant to B and B owners over breakfast, I'm not a pleasant person by nature, and I'm especially a curmudgeon in the morning before coffee. Besides, if I wanted to have friendly chit chat about how things are going, I'd stay with the relatives. Also, I'm not a big fan of potpourri, and I'm overweight, fat guys feel even more obese in the overstuffed, delicately overdecorated modal " cute" bed and breakfast place. Some of you know what I mean, enough antique plates on the walls,knick-knacks and vases on the shelves in a small bedroom with too many pillows, and I'm like the proverbial bull in a china shop. Maybe that should be, like the bull in the proverbial china shop, I'm not really sure with that metaphor. Or maybe it's a simile. I digress. This place is more hotel than B and B, a restored late 19th century house, it's really beautiful, with big pretty themed rooms. Most of the place is tastefully preserved or restored, though there are some odd inconsistencies (we were in the pretty Dutch room, which is all either original, or consistently restored except for the floor. The new floor is beautiful, the fiber optic lights are lovely, but it definitely doesn't fit with the rest of the room). The room was very spacious, we peeked in all the rooms, and they were all nice, interesting, spacious, and clean. You can see the rooms on their website, that's how we made the reservations. Their website has a painful but humorous number of spelling and grammatical mistakes, they may have had a non-English speaker write it. On the website, you can expand your room reservation to include all sorts of romantic extras, which I don't recommend. The book on the place for $30 is really just a long brochure, the "champagne" wasn't French (we spied), and the restaurant dinners didn't look that impressive. I'd recommend the very short drive into downtown to Food Dance for supper. Come back for the nightcap (they just got a liquor license). The service was friendly, competent, more like a hotel than a B and B, we didn't feel like we had to engage in make-nice conversation. The room was cleaned well, I liked having bath salts for the bathtub. They have a nice little bar, and the grounds are elegant. The included breakfast was continental, that was just fine by me, the coffee was good, the Chief of Staff elected for the $10 french toast which she reported to be " okay." There's a hot tub on the roof, which we didn't get to try out because of the weather, but the roof is nice. I especially recommend staying here if there's a severe frightening thunderstorm, as that created a very Scooby Doo experience for me. All in all, I think it was worth the price and we will be back.
(4)
Jason L.
Had lunch in the new restaurant on the first floor of the house. Though the setting is pleasant and attractive, the food is utterly insipid. Our table ordered three of the four entrees available for the $20 prix-fixe menu: flounder in flavorless white sauce over rice; pork tenderloin wrapped in bacon and doused with unimpressive barbecue sauce over cipher mashed potatoes; and the establishment's "signature dish," marsala chicken--which, while containing no detectable traces of marsala, did include a generous dose of powdered from-a-can "parmesan" cheese. Pasta was overcooked, though the sauteed zucchini garnish was nice--and the tastiest element by far. To the chef's credit, the protein was not overcooked on any of the three plates. Bread was heated food service dinner rolls, though the butter was tasty. Salads were simple though somewhat aged greens with balsamic vinaigrette which was a bit heavy on sesame oil for my taste. Dessert was a perfectly fine chocolate mousse. Table linens were dirty, and glassware and flatware were not quite as clean as one would expect for the setting. Service was passable; nothing exceptional. Food Dance far surpasses this in service. Would you like to take a look around the place after your meal? That'll be $10 extra.
(2)
Matthew W.
My wife and I chose the Italian Room to stay in because of the multi headed shower. We were disappointed when we arrived because the shower was out of order. To make matters worse, the toilet was running constantly. I contacted Francois regarding these issues. He got the toilet to run less, but it still made noise all night. The only other room available was on the 3rd floor with slanted ceilings that were quite cramped. We had the couples massage and that was excellent and the breakfast was tasty too. Then a month later, I find out I was billed twice for everything. Once in April when we booked and again in June when we checked out. I had to provide copies of my credit card statements to prove it to them because their books are so messed up!!
(1)
Brandy H.
Attended a wedding here recently. The grounds and house itself are gorgeous--we were treated to a tour by the former owner and person who actually redid the house, which was pretty cool (especially since you are not allowed to walk around the house itself normally). The dinner setup, for a wedding, is not ideal. The couple was seated in a corner in the next room from where we were, which isn't anyone's fault, but something to note. Things were a bit tight, especially when they wanted to set up the cake during dinner, on top of a piano that was behind our table. Lots of jostling to be done, and we ended up having to move so that the couple could access and cut the cake. The dinner itself was meh. The salad was a small plate with one half of a grape tomato, several large mushroom slices (yuck), three small carrot bits, and some VERY acidic balsamic vinaigrette (which may have actually been straight vinegar). Next came plates of butter that, we were told, were for the "oven fresh bread." These turned out to be cold, hard rolls that looked like they were from the grocery store. No plates for said rolls. Then came small custard dishes of tomato bisque--it was okay, but I'm not a fan of bisques anyway. The servers came around to check everyone's dinner choices--I had the vegetarian chosen for me, because no one prior to the wedding could tell me what any of the menu choices were beyond "beef," "chicken," "fish," and "vegetarian." She responded that "he usually does sauteed vegetables over rice or pasta," which sounded fine to me...until she brought my plate, which was tofu chunks, mushrooms, and green beans with a mound of seasoned rice. a) Tofu is NOT a vegetable (soybeans are, sure, but tofu is a protein substitute), and b) I hate both tofu and mushrooms (also not a vegetable). I tried it, because I ordered it, and it was just as awful as I knew it would be. Even the rice was bad (I'm sure some people would like it, but it was very...almost sweet and fruity to me). I tried someone's steak Diane, which ended up being amazing. Our server was lovely and brought me a steak. Dessert was some pretty amazing chocolate mousse (best part of the meal). The staff was so-so. They were mostly friendly, but ignored two empty trays on our table, despite walking past them stacked on the corner several times. Our water glasses were mostly kept full. Like I said, we were brought rolls but nothing to set them on, so we had bread and crumbs all over the table. Unfortunately, because of the set up (and it being a converted house, not something built with a place for functions in mind), I felt a little cramped and like we were always in someone's way. If you can get a look at the rooms, take advantage of that. They're beautiful, and the former owner put a lot of little details everywhere. Each guest room has a different theme (the Tibet and France rooms were my favorite). The rooftop is very cool, especially at night, overlooking downtown Kalamazoo. The tile work there is gorgeous. However. The staircase leading up is VERY steep. There is no railing for the first three feet of the staircase on your way back down from the roof, which is not a good thing when you're coming back down a 50-60 degree angle staircase in heels, especially ones that have just been in the snow. Despite being told that the stairs have "something" on them to prevent slips (which just appeared to be areas of worn-off wood stain), my father in law did slip and fall almost all the way down from the middle landing (he's fine).
(2)
Trent W.
I agree with the previous reviewer who labeled the food positively insipid. The only positive about this dining experience was the beautiful historical home itself. My husband took me here for Valentines Day and we actually got up and left because the food was THAT BAD (and I have never left a meal before in my life). To begin with, it was a fixed price, 7 course menu ($48/person with an "amuse bouche", a salad, a soup, bread, main entree and dessert. Seven course meal...sounds great. Only problem, I cannot have dairy and all of the entrees and the soup had dairy in them. Then I noticed at the bottom of the page it said there are veg., GF and dairy free options available. Wonderful! I let our server know that I am interested in the dairy free options and she says, "well, we can make the flounder with a butter sauce instead of a cream sauce." Ummm...I don't know where her butter comes from, but the kind I'm familiar with comes from a cow. Anyways, she said she could give me extra salad instead of the soup and extra green beans instead of the Parmesan mashed potatoes with my meal. I agreed that would be ok. So we wait...and our "amuse bouche" comes. It was laughable and we laughed. It was literally a toothpick skewering a piece of deli salami folded up and a huge chunk of honeydew melon and a maraschino cherry. GAG! I ate the piece of salami because at that point I was starving. Needless to say, I was not amused by their amuse bouche and was beginning to be frightened about the rest of my meal at that point. But I forced myself to give them another chance. So, then the salad came and the server did bring me twice the amount of salad as my husband, but on the same tiny plate. There was so much salad on the plate that I could hardly mix it without losing lettuce leaves (which, by the way definitely came out of a cheap bag mix) onto the table. I did finally get it mixed thoroughly and tasted my first bite. Wow! And not a good wow. Wow as in, holy sesame oil, Batman! The dressing consisted of a mix of very little vinegar (it coulda used a lot more acid to cut the thick oil), a lot of sesame oil and some sort of vegetable oil. I tried to bring a little more flavor (other than sesame oil) to it by putting salt and pepper on it, but it didn't help. And then I saw it...shredded black plastic in my salad. Eew! At that point we were done. We asked if we could forgo the rest of the meal and not have to pay the $48/person charge. The waitress came back after consulting someone and said we could pay $15/person and be done. Kinda ridiculous to have to pay $15 for a piece of salami/melon/cherry and a couple bites of my salad that had plastic in it, but we agreed because we just wanted to be done. I'm really surprised that we never spoke with a supervisor or a chef or anything. I know if it were my restaurant, I wouldn't want them to walk out displeased and definitely would try to apologize or make it better somehow. I definitely wouldn't charge them almost $40 for a bad meal that had an inedible object in it. I am so disappointed. I had high hopes for this beautiful place, but they sure let me down. And on Valentines Day. Boo :(
Elisha M.
We had a horrible evening here. We were generally pleased with the food (B/B-). Our waitperson was nice (B+/A-) although slow it seemed like a function of the kitchen than his service. We had the 11 course meal & although we were happy with the quality of the food it was definitely not worth $70/pp. Then at the end we went to use our restaurant.com gift certificates to find out that they would only take one & consider it more of a coupon. I explained that when I made the reservation I specifically asked the Henderson employee if I could use both of them before even purchasing them from restaurant.com & the person confirmed it. The manager defended the employee & tried to give us a lesson about reading the small print when using coupons & I explained that the small print is irrelevant if an employee gives permission. Ended up with an unhappy compromise but a general dissatisfaction with the front desk & managerial staff. At the end I pointed out an issue they made on our massage receipts (which were okay but over priced) which only underlined the incompetency of the staff. We didn't spend the night so no opinions on that aspect but if you are considering having a wedding here DON'T DO IT. I can 't imagine what they would mess up with that many details.
(1)Michelle B.
I absolutely loved the castle! It had a great feel to it, and all of the rooms are nice. The hot tub on the roof was one of the highlights of the trip! I wish I could say that the food was just as amazing, but it was not. For the price we paid for dinner, it was not worth it at all! It was below average. I will definitely visit the castle again, but will not be having dinner. There are better places to eat downtown. I'm giving 3 stars only because of the food!
(3)Julie C.
7 course meal was a complete joke..thought Alan Funt might pop out from the curtain any minute during service. Bland beyond belief, poor uneducated service, fake flowers on table in summer season, no salt/pepper, no water, no refill on drinks, no Gorgonzola on salad, cold soup, bland flounder, dry pork, frozen bread rolls , cheap silverware, so disappointing we wanted to leave. Huge tip added, no management present.
(1)Amy M.
We stayed at the inn and had the 11 course dinner. Stay, but do not have dinner! The meal was awful! It truly was! Check you room for basics before the desk closes ! We had no soap, shampoo... Etc. I don't know that I would spend that much money again for such a mediocre experience .
(1)Bryan R.
Had a magnificent dinner at the castle last night. We had the 7 course meal, our entrees were the pork loin and steak Diane. Both were perfect! Seasoned vegetables very tasty and the chocolate dessert was absolutely melt in your mouth! Service, presentation and ambiance - Classy!! Definitely going back
(5)Kate C.
We bought a deal to the castle through Living Social. It included a one night stay, the 7 course dinner and the "continental" breakfast the following morning. Upon arrival, getting to the front door was a bit treacherous. First it is a distance from the parking lot, over uneven brickwork. Getting up the stairs to the front door was a bit of a challenge as there were no hand rails. The front desk/lobby area has no place to sit. You need to read and sign off on a waiver regarding such things as no heels for woman, and you cannot bring your own wine into the castle etc. And then there was the mandatory 18% gratuity, even before you have set foot in your room or eaten! (oh , by the way at check out they tried to charge us the gratuity again! but my husband pointed out he had paid it upon check in and they found it noted "lower on the screen". ) No one offered to help with our luggage. We were staying in the Dutch room on the second floor. Room is nice enough overall; beautiful bird's eye maple furniture and a nice inlaid floor with lights in it which could be dimmed or turned off all together. However, there was no bath soap and when we asked for some we were offered two small bottles of organic shampoo instead as they had not soap we were told. The floor was quite dusty. There was no Kleenex. The worse part of the room was the drapery situation. There were three windows in the bedroom. Two windows had very light weight sheer curtains and the third had no curtain. In the morning, the sun just streamed in, hitting the head board and us. Most unpleasant. There was also a bee hive in the wall of our bedroom. When mentioned to the staff they were unaware, but the next day when we spoke to the owner, he was aware and they were treating the problem. When we went down for dinner, we had 6 p.m. reservations, we stood around waiting for someone to seat us for about 10 minutes. The front desk person was on an extended phone call regarding a problematic reservation, and it wasn't until she was done with that conversation that we were seated. Our waiter, John, was nice enough. The amuse bouche was a slice of tomato with something like a red sauce of some kind on it. The roasted vegetable soup was the best part of the meal. The salad was very small, and had more croutons on it than anything else. The steak Diane was very good, the chicken marsala dry and the sauce somewhat curdled like. We had ordered a flight of their wines to go with our meal. We had to ask for the flight after we had finished the first three courses. Also the bread was very hard, and rather than bringing butter, they brought a flavored olive oil and balsamic vinegar which was heavily noted on the bottles were sold in their gift store. We asked for butter and were given a cinnamon flavored butter and we again asked for just plain butter and finally got it. The dessert was some type of cherry crumble with whip cream on it. Breakfast was fine. Fresh fruit, a nice oatmeal and juice. Plenty for us. The grounds need attention. Many overgrown areas. All in all, not a bad experience, but would not go back or recommend.
(2)Sarah A.
I was looking for something special and romantic for an anniversary dinner. I thought the castle would be just that. I went to the website and saw that they had several fixed price menus. The menus sounded good so I made a reservation. When we arrived the front desk staff was rudely explaining to customers that the castle never received their reservation and that they didn't have any rooms available. Not a good first impression. We were seated in the small dining room next to a very ugly statute that blocked the window view. Our server arrived and was very nice. She was accompanied by a server in training who was also nice. We ordered our meals and also ordered flights of wine. The flights arrived and were literally less than a sip in each glass. It was really bizarre. I understand flights are more like tastes, but there was hardly anything in the glass. When the food arrived, I knew we were in for a let down. My chicken was the saddest chicken I've ever seen. The skin was on, the sauce was goopy and almost curdled looking. Neither of our meals had any seasoning and the portion was very small. For $100 in Kalamazoo I would have expected an exquisite meal and this was far from it. My tip: stay away and don't be lured by the novelty.
(1)Beth R.
DO NOT BE DUPED BY THIS PLACE! The owner, Francois, wants you to think that all of the bad reviews are by the 1% of angry customers that are "ragingly posting every where" (see his reply to the many negative reviews on Tripadvisor). He is unwilling to admit fault for poor management and customer service by himself and his employees. I stayed here for three days in September. We experienced horrible customer service from the breakfast waitstaff and management. Their customer service card was a 2"x2" hand-torn piece of standard paper. Clearly they do not care about feedback as many reviewers are complaining about the same issues. Management could not be bothered to call us regarding our poor experience as promised. The rooms are more shabby than chic. There are burnt out lightbulbs throughout the house, our robes were dirty and the grounds unkept and overgrown. You have already taken the time to look at this establishment on Yelp. Please learn from our mistakes. Until the building changes managerial hands (the sooner the better), don't waste your money or time staying here. You will just be disappointed.
(1)Lori V.
To be honest, we haven't stayed yet because they cancelled our reservation due to someone coming in and booking a wedding! We made our reservation months ago, looking forward to coming to Kalamazoo to see family and everyone was talking about this place so we thought we would stay there. This type of business practice is terrible and after reading the reviews about how horrible this place is to stay, I'm glad they cancelled. And to top it off, they called us at 0720, thinking it was 1020. They aren't smart enough to even do the time change. This place has serious problems. I will never attempt to stay there.
(1)Jane B.
If I could I would give this establishment no stars. This was the absolute worst meal I have had in years. First of all we paid for a four course meal only to learn that the second course was bread - in the form of cold, hard rolls that tasted like they had freezer burn. When did bread become a course? They should just say this is three and not four courses. If you want to make bread a course then at least make it good bread and give it some attention. Two of us ordered the steak which had an additional $10 surcharge and the meat tasted like it was cooked a few days ago and reheated for our meal. I have never had such an inferiour cut of meat. We were so disgusted that we sent our steak back and asked for the chicken and pork. My friend's pork was cold and undercooked in the middle. My chicken tasted like it was a frozen breaded chicken patty served with overcooked and over-sauced pasta. All the sides were the basically the same for everyone's dish which was asparagus. Please note that this is August and asparagus is out of season. Is the owner aware that there is a lovely farmer's market in town that he could be supporting? During all of this ordeal the owner (who claims to be the executive chef) sat at the next table over and saw the food being sent back and our dissatisfaction. We kindly asked to talk to him and we were told "that he was busy." He completely ignored us (we were one of only three tables at the time) and as we left out the door, we glanced at him and he and his guests looked at us and laughed. Please know that I have never written a review before, but I was so disgusted with my food and service that I could not go without posting my thoughts. I really don't feel that a small business owner should be this negligent about serving the community. I really have to believe (and hope) that this establishment will not be in business much longer.
(1)J L.
My lady and I wanted to give this place ZERO stars. You have allergies or fear of critters be advised!!!!! After stumbling across this place online my lady and I decided to check it out. The photos and video online made it look rather amazing. Well it was horrible, it smelled and supposedly was under "renovation" but I think it was just disgusting in general.
(1)Cynthia P.
One of the worst B&B or hotel stays ever! Our room (Maple room) was literally a former linen closet. You walk through the bathroom to get into the miniscule bedroom. The tiny flatscreen tv is more like a computer monitor. It's mounted 8' high on the wall so you can't see the picture on the tv unless you're standing up. No bedside lights, no desk, no chair. Just an armoire and the bed. The bed and pillows were uncomfortable. Every time one of us moved the whole bed shook so we woke each other up all night long. The continental breakfast was oatmeal, raisin bran or cheerios. That's it. No muffins, no fruit. OJ, tea and cold cereal for breakfast. Anything else you pay for. Also expected better service. The young woman who checked us in was surly and brusque. The bed was not made properly. At breakfast my tea came in a cup with no saucer. Where do I put my dirty spoon and used tea bag? The milk for the cereal came in a gravy boat. Huh? It's a beautiful house. Too bad it's so poorly run.
(1)Colleen W.
Buyer Beware is appropriate for this place. I'm a frequent traveler for business and needed a place to stay while traveling for business. Booked online (not on the hotel website) for the "last room available" and promised a suite with a kitchen, jacuzzi tub, and a private hot tub. What I got was the "suite" next door to the one promised, no kitchen, really hard bed in a mediocre at best room. It smelled really musty. AC was just a tiny little window unit. In addition, there was only 1 mirror in the room and that was in the bathroom over the sink, bathroom had 1 dim light. No jacuzzi, no private hot tub - nothing that was promised. No hair dryer, no coffee pot, no phone, no clock. It did have a TV but that was screwed down on a shelf by the couch and could not be seen from the bed. Wi-fi was so slow I finally gave up. They did offer an "upgrade" to a different room each night of my stay for an additional charge. No thanks Had to leave early after staying just 1 night and they charged me for 4 nights! RIP OFF!
(1)Gabe S.
My wife, a couple friends and I decided to try this place for dinner since there was a Groupon for the 11 course meal for 4. I went into this meal with an open mind and hopeful thoughts even though a few of the food reviews were less than glowing. Unfortunately, you can now add my group to that list of poor reviews. For one, the 11 "courses" are a stretch. The portions are incredibly small on most dishes and one of the courses is, wait for it, COFFEE. Or tea or espresso. Most of the courses are standard so I'll focus mainly on those, however the lobster bisque was beyond pathetic. 3 out of the 4 had no lobster with one having a minuscule piece. The soup itself looked and tasted like something you would get from a Campbell's Soup can. The broth was thin and had very little flavor. So the appetizer options are escargot, frog legs, and steamed crayfish. The escargot was fine but nothing special. The frog legs had absolutely zero flavor and the crayfish, which was supposed to come with melted butter, did not and had very little substance. My wife had the chicken Marsala for an entree and she ate about half because it was mediocre at best. One of us had the rabbit, which he said was okay but was a little dry and the portion size was that of an appetizer. I had the beef tenderloin and added a lobster tail cuz, hey, who doesn't like surf n turf? Well, the lobster tail was maybe 3 ounces at best and the bearnaise sauce on top of the steak seemed to have congealed on the way out. The steak itself was cooked properly and was okay. Nothing special. The last in our party had the Cornish hen which was also incredibly small and dry. The rest of the course after that were actually pretty good. Now what I wasn't expecting, probably due to lack of reading the Groupon, was for the tip to be added on to my bill, which was 18% based on the actual total of the bill. So, even though our server was less than stellar, she automatically got a $65 tip before we could even say something. I have no problem tipping great service, but was not happy that a preset amount was basically given to her regardless of the quality of service that was provided. All in all, I'm glad to have tried it, but definitely will not be going back and will advise my friends to avoid it as well. I'd rather go to Webster's or Zazio's and have good food that is worth spending that kind of money. I feel bad for anyone that would go here and pay full price. Clearly they don't like their mouths or their wallets.
(1)Rohan D.
So first, I think you need to separate the reviews focusing on the place as a restaurant, and the reviews from the people who stayed in the place as a bed and breakfast. We came to Kalamazoo to visit relatives. I love my brother-in-law (he took me to a World Series Game, I got to see the Tigers beat the Cardinals in 2006, Kenny Rogers pitched a gem of a game, so yeah, the best brother-in-law EVER), but I'd rather say good night and go to a hotel room than stay with kin, even the best brother-in-law in history (with three cute but highly active children). Okay, that was already too much information, but we know Kalamazoo, and the area has either reasonably good inexpensive but soul-less motels, and some pretty but typical bed and breakfast houses around Kalamazoo College. The problem I have with the typical bed and breakfast is that I don't want to have to be pleasant to B and B owners over breakfast, I'm not a pleasant person by nature, and I'm especially a curmudgeon in the morning before coffee. Besides, if I wanted to have friendly chit chat about how things are going, I'd stay with the relatives. Also, I'm not a big fan of potpourri, and I'm overweight, fat guys feel even more obese in the overstuffed, delicately overdecorated modal " cute" bed and breakfast place. Some of you know what I mean, enough antique plates on the walls,knick-knacks and vases on the shelves in a small bedroom with too many pillows, and I'm like the proverbial bull in a china shop. Maybe that should be, like the bull in the proverbial china shop, I'm not really sure with that metaphor. Or maybe it's a simile. I digress. This place is more hotel than B and B, a restored late 19th century house, it's really beautiful, with big pretty themed rooms. Most of the place is tastefully preserved or restored, though there are some odd inconsistencies (we were in the pretty Dutch room, which is all either original, or consistently restored except for the floor. The new floor is beautiful, the fiber optic lights are lovely, but it definitely doesn't fit with the rest of the room). The room was very spacious, we peeked in all the rooms, and they were all nice, interesting, spacious, and clean. You can see the rooms on their website, that's how we made the reservations. Their website has a painful but humorous number of spelling and grammatical mistakes, they may have had a non-English speaker write it. On the website, you can expand your room reservation to include all sorts of romantic extras, which I don't recommend. The book on the place for $30 is really just a long brochure, the "champagne" wasn't French (we spied), and the restaurant dinners didn't look that impressive. I'd recommend the very short drive into downtown to Food Dance for supper. Come back for the nightcap (they just got a liquor license). The service was friendly, competent, more like a hotel than a B and B, we didn't feel like we had to engage in make-nice conversation. The room was cleaned well, I liked having bath salts for the bathtub. They have a nice little bar, and the grounds are elegant. The included breakfast was continental, that was just fine by me, the coffee was good, the Chief of Staff elected for the $10 french toast which she reported to be " okay." There's a hot tub on the roof, which we didn't get to try out because of the weather, but the roof is nice. I especially recommend staying here if there's a severe frightening thunderstorm, as that created a very Scooby Doo experience for me. All in all, I think it was worth the price and we will be back.
(4)Jason L.
Had lunch in the new restaurant on the first floor of the house. Though the setting is pleasant and attractive, the food is utterly insipid. Our table ordered three of the four entrees available for the $20 prix-fixe menu: flounder in flavorless white sauce over rice; pork tenderloin wrapped in bacon and doused with unimpressive barbecue sauce over cipher mashed potatoes; and the establishment's "signature dish," marsala chicken--which, while containing no detectable traces of marsala, did include a generous dose of powdered from-a-can "parmesan" cheese. Pasta was overcooked, though the sauteed zucchini garnish was nice--and the tastiest element by far. To the chef's credit, the protein was not overcooked on any of the three plates. Bread was heated food service dinner rolls, though the butter was tasty. Salads were simple though somewhat aged greens with balsamic vinaigrette which was a bit heavy on sesame oil for my taste. Dessert was a perfectly fine chocolate mousse. Table linens were dirty, and glassware and flatware were not quite as clean as one would expect for the setting. Service was passable; nothing exceptional. Food Dance far surpasses this in service. Would you like to take a look around the place after your meal? That'll be $10 extra.
(2)Matthew W.
My wife and I chose the Italian Room to stay in because of the multi headed shower. We were disappointed when we arrived because the shower was out of order. To make matters worse, the toilet was running constantly. I contacted Francois regarding these issues. He got the toilet to run less, but it still made noise all night. The only other room available was on the 3rd floor with slanted ceilings that were quite cramped. We had the couples massage and that was excellent and the breakfast was tasty too. Then a month later, I find out I was billed twice for everything. Once in April when we booked and again in June when we checked out. I had to provide copies of my credit card statements to prove it to them because their books are so messed up!!
(1)Brandy H.
Attended a wedding here recently. The grounds and house itself are gorgeous--we were treated to a tour by the former owner and person who actually redid the house, which was pretty cool (especially since you are not allowed to walk around the house itself normally). The dinner setup, for a wedding, is not ideal. The couple was seated in a corner in the next room from where we were, which isn't anyone's fault, but something to note. Things were a bit tight, especially when they wanted to set up the cake during dinner, on top of a piano that was behind our table. Lots of jostling to be done, and we ended up having to move so that the couple could access and cut the cake. The dinner itself was meh. The salad was a small plate with one half of a grape tomato, several large mushroom slices (yuck), three small carrot bits, and some VERY acidic balsamic vinaigrette (which may have actually been straight vinegar). Next came plates of butter that, we were told, were for the "oven fresh bread." These turned out to be cold, hard rolls that looked like they were from the grocery store. No plates for said rolls. Then came small custard dishes of tomato bisque--it was okay, but I'm not a fan of bisques anyway. The servers came around to check everyone's dinner choices--I had the vegetarian chosen for me, because no one prior to the wedding could tell me what any of the menu choices were beyond "beef," "chicken," "fish," and "vegetarian." She responded that "he usually does sauteed vegetables over rice or pasta," which sounded fine to me...until she brought my plate, which was tofu chunks, mushrooms, and green beans with a mound of seasoned rice. a) Tofu is NOT a vegetable (soybeans are, sure, but tofu is a protein substitute), and b) I hate both tofu and mushrooms (also not a vegetable). I tried it, because I ordered it, and it was just as awful as I knew it would be. Even the rice was bad (I'm sure some people would like it, but it was very...almost sweet and fruity to me). I tried someone's steak Diane, which ended up being amazing. Our server was lovely and brought me a steak. Dessert was some pretty amazing chocolate mousse (best part of the meal). The staff was so-so. They were mostly friendly, but ignored two empty trays on our table, despite walking past them stacked on the corner several times. Our water glasses were mostly kept full. Like I said, we were brought rolls but nothing to set them on, so we had bread and crumbs all over the table. Unfortunately, because of the set up (and it being a converted house, not something built with a place for functions in mind), I felt a little cramped and like we were always in someone's way. If you can get a look at the rooms, take advantage of that. They're beautiful, and the former owner put a lot of little details everywhere. Each guest room has a different theme (the Tibet and France rooms were my favorite). The rooftop is very cool, especially at night, overlooking downtown Kalamazoo. The tile work there is gorgeous. However. The staircase leading up is VERY steep. There is no railing for the first three feet of the staircase on your way back down from the roof, which is not a good thing when you're coming back down a 50-60 degree angle staircase in heels, especially ones that have just been in the snow. Despite being told that the stairs have "something" on them to prevent slips (which just appeared to be areas of worn-off wood stain), my father in law did slip and fall almost all the way down from the middle landing (he's fine).
(2)Trent W.
I agree with the previous reviewer who labeled the food positively insipid. The only positive about this dining experience was the beautiful historical home itself. My husband took me here for Valentines Day and we actually got up and left because the food was THAT BAD (and I have never left a meal before in my life). To begin with, it was a fixed price, 7 course menu ($48/person with an "amuse bouche", a salad, a soup, bread, main entree and dessert. Seven course meal...sounds great. Only problem, I cannot have dairy and all of the entrees and the soup had dairy in them. Then I noticed at the bottom of the page it said there are veg., GF and dairy free options available. Wonderful! I let our server know that I am interested in the dairy free options and she says, "well, we can make the flounder with a butter sauce instead of a cream sauce." Ummm...I don't know where her butter comes from, but the kind I'm familiar with comes from a cow. Anyways, she said she could give me extra salad instead of the soup and extra green beans instead of the Parmesan mashed potatoes with my meal. I agreed that would be ok. So we wait...and our "amuse bouche" comes. It was laughable and we laughed. It was literally a toothpick skewering a piece of deli salami folded up and a huge chunk of honeydew melon and a maraschino cherry. GAG! I ate the piece of salami because at that point I was starving. Needless to say, I was not amused by their amuse bouche and was beginning to be frightened about the rest of my meal at that point. But I forced myself to give them another chance. So, then the salad came and the server did bring me twice the amount of salad as my husband, but on the same tiny plate. There was so much salad on the plate that I could hardly mix it without losing lettuce leaves (which, by the way definitely came out of a cheap bag mix) onto the table. I did finally get it mixed thoroughly and tasted my first bite. Wow! And not a good wow. Wow as in, holy sesame oil, Batman! The dressing consisted of a mix of very little vinegar (it coulda used a lot more acid to cut the thick oil), a lot of sesame oil and some sort of vegetable oil. I tried to bring a little more flavor (other than sesame oil) to it by putting salt and pepper on it, but it didn't help. And then I saw it...shredded black plastic in my salad. Eew! At that point we were done. We asked if we could forgo the rest of the meal and not have to pay the $48/person charge. The waitress came back after consulting someone and said we could pay $15/person and be done. Kinda ridiculous to have to pay $15 for a piece of salami/melon/cherry and a couple bites of my salad that had plastic in it, but we agreed because we just wanted to be done. I'm really surprised that we never spoke with a supervisor or a chef or anything. I know if it were my restaurant, I wouldn't want them to walk out displeased and definitely would try to apologize or make it better somehow. I definitely wouldn't charge them almost $40 for a bad meal that had an inedible object in it. I am so disappointed. I had high hopes for this beautiful place, but they sure let me down. And on Valentines Day. Boo :(
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