Barrows House

We were up to VT for a few nights but stayed elsewhere where there was an amazing view. We had a reservation for dinner at 5:00 on Sunday the 7th. We were seated promptly. Then it took a bit for a waitstaff to arrive. Menus were dropped off and we ordered a bottle of white wine immediately. The dinner menu was somewhat limited but we were going to make it work. At 5:20 we were told our bottle of wine nor the one below it were available. Always good to know what is not available when menu dropped off. We were gruffly asked so what do you plan to order. We responded we would catch them on a better night and left.

Barrows House is a beautiful property and well maintained. The outdoor salt water pool is exceptional. The restaurant is nice and the food above average. The wait staff and bartenders are friendly and hard working. Overall, my experience was good and I would visit again but not before trying other places in the Dorset and Manchester area. I do have a few minor complaints. First, the floor in the bar area was really sticky during both days of my visit. It appears the floor is not cleaned on a daily basis. Second, my room was stocked with coffee, tea, and water but there was only one decaf pod out of the 20 stocked. The rooms are not serviced on a daily basis so fresh towels, and coffee pods, can only be had by asking at the front desk. My main complaint is the front desk staff. They seem poorly trained and not very professional. Here is one example, from several, during my stay. Breakfast is served at either the Dorset Bakery or the Dorset Inn, both of which have the same owners as Barrows House. I was given a voucher for breakfast and told it could be used at either establishment but never told that the days alternate between the two establishments. On the day of my departure I did not have time to sit for breakfast at the Dorset Inn. I went to the bakery but they declined my voucher and informed me that breakfast was only being served at the Dorset Inn. We spent $15 for coffee and bagels and then went back to Barrows House to check out. When I informed the desk person that I had to purchase breakfast there was no offer to reimburse me. This should have been a simple, $15 gesture to ensure my return. But the desk person never considered this, and I was not going to ask, so when I return for my semi-annual visit I will consider other establishments. This type of situation, and there were several, could easily be remedied with better staff training.

We had stayed at this property years ago and remembered it as being very charming. We booked a last minute getaway and chose the Falcon's Flight suite because we like to have separate sleeping and sitting areas. When we checked in, the very pleasant person at the desk said she would lead us to our room because it was in a standalone cottage (the Inn has rooms in the main building then a number of other buildings scattered around the property). She then led us out through the back parking lot and up a path that led between what appeared to be a maintenance shop below some other rooms and a large dumpster filled with construction debris. Our suite turned out to be the upper floor of a building that housed the pool changing room on the first floor and abutted the pool. The suite itself was painted in dark red and had little natural light so the overall effect was dreary. The bedroom overlooked the pool so we heard children splashing and yelling most of each day -- they weren't being naughty, we just mention this because if you're looking for quiet, this location wouldn't be for you. When we went outside to sit beside our cottage, we were once again greeted with a view of the construction debris and dumpster, as well as regular garbage dumpsters in another area of the parking lot. For just under $450 a night, we were really expecting something much better. Then there was dinner on both nights. The first night was OK, food and service were acceptable. On the second night, I didn't want a large dinner so I ordered what I thought would be a dinner sized Caesar with shrimp ($28 in total). When my "dinner" arrived, it consisted of a small heart of Romaine lettuce with 5 small leaves in total, and 6 small shrimp. We had to ask our waiter for rolls (which he'd initially forgotten) so I'd have something to fill up on. Dorset is a lovely village but we discovered that a much nicer place to stay is the Barrows House sister property, the Dorset Inn. That's where we'll go next time if we decide to return.

My wife and I had a delightful dinner at the beautiful outdoor patio. We both had the salmon that was grilled to perfection with delicious accompaniments. The service was fantastic and we were particularly impressed with Alex who went out of his way to adjust the sun screen to provide us with some shade from the setting sun. We'll be back again!

We looked forward to trying the restaurant since we heard so many good thinks about the food. And it does have an enticing menu. We decided, though, not to put up with rudeness and unacceptable behavior. We had made reservations for after 8 PM. We decided, however, to eat at the bar earlier. The barmaid was rude: Among other things, she slapped down the place mats, telling us when we said we were staying at the bar for dinner, “of course you are.” She then doubted we had cancelled our dining room reservation by making a point of going over to ask the hostess if we had really cancelled. Small reasons to up and leave what could have been a wonderful dinner? Perhaps, though in the scheme of life, it’s too short to tolerate boorish behavior. As often said, it takes years to build a (restaurant/bar’s) reputation and five minutes to lose it!