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The Essex, Vermont's Culinary Resort & Spa
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10 reviews for The Essex, Vermont's Culinary Resort & Spa
We stayed here while honeymooning through New England to see the fall foliage. The hotel itself is quite large and impressive and appears to be the perfect setting for a wedding. There was a wedding going on during our second night, which we were watching from our dinner table at Butler's. It's hilarious to watch people dance that shouldn't be dancing. : )
The hotel provided free coffee and hot cider as well as cookies in the lobby. Delicious cider! Front desk was always very courteous and polite, and they always knew our names every time we went to ask about something.
We booked a suite which was a very large room with a seating area at the foot of the bed in front of the faux fireplace. It was nice to have some drinks by our fire at night. First morning there we kept blowing a fuse in our room. After management checked our room out, it turns out I couldn't use my own hair dryer while the tv was on and my husband was ironing. Got to love old wiring.
Our bed appeared too soft for us at first, but after getting 2 restful nights sleep with no back aches, it turned out to be a very comfy bed. The first night at the Inn, we ate at The Tavern. Great food, wine selection was mediocre. It was packed both nights for both dinner and the bar. Second night we ate at Butler's. Awesome, btw, both dinner menu and wine selection. Both nights we extended excellent compliments to the student chefs.
Giving this place 4 stars because we kept blowing a fuse in our room which delayed our activities for the day by an hour. And there was construction going on near our room. A bit on the pricey side too, but food and room were both worth it.
The hotel is average looking and they do have 2 restaurant there(Tavern & Butler) but it isn't no longer run by NECI student but they hired a outside source to come in to take care of the food part. I hear alot of things are prepare in bags before serving it to the guest. Overall experience was ok, nothing to brag about.
The best part is it is close to Burlington church street where you can hang out and be a college student again.
I love Burlington. Downtown is really cool. The lake is beautiful when its all iced over in the winter. I just don't get why my company continues to send me to Essex Junction instead. Zzzz.
The Inn is ok. Its not very cheap though and to make matters worse, there's only one bloody bar within walking distance. However, that aside, it's not bad as far as hotels go. They have a culinary school on-site, so the restaurant does some pretty good grub after a hard day at the local large hi tech employer discussing Chips, Heisenberg Buffers and Chemtrails...
The rooms are of a high standard. The beds are comfy & super cozy which comes in handy when there is 6ft of snow outside and its minus one billion degrees centigrade (not including wind chill effect). Free home baked cookies and coffee at the front desk make those early starts a breeze. I'll definitely come back here again (I don't have any choice - my company are gonna put me here anyhow).
Only next time, I will bring my dog and sled.
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There's nothing *wrong* with the Inn at Essex. It's just that, for the price and the billing it gives itself, the hotel part should be a lot more.
My husband and I spent two nights in an "upgraded" room with a fireplace and a full kitchen when staying for a friend's wedding. The room was in desperate need of redecoration as well as structural work. There had obviously been a flood from the bathroom upstairs at some point and the linoleum (!!!!) and wallpaper in the bathroom were discolored as a result, among other things. There were other details, as well, that did not quite jibe with a luxury hotel, including low thread count sheets, outmoded "kountry kitchen" style decor, and even the older appliances in the kitchenette.
The room was far closer to Hampton Inn than Boutique Hotel, which is just fine, but I expect to pay Hampton Inn prices in that case. Even at the negotiated rate for the wedding, the prices seemed rather high to me in comparison to a business travel hotel, which is what our room was on par with.
2 stars for our room.
The pool and tennis facilities, which we didn't get a chance to use, looked great. The pool in particular was very nice.
The ballroom and garden, where my friends got married, were lovely, as were the rest of the facilities. I really enjoyed the bonfire with s'mores, which the Inn puts on every Saturday night. The grounds in general are well kept and there is a spa under construction right now. The hotel staff, from the hotel shuttle driver, to the front desk manager, were all extremely gracious.
The two restaurants on site are fan.tas.tic.
5 stars for facilities (including upcoming facilities) and service.
So, even though I was underwhelmed by our room, I'll give the place 3 stars.
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Sometimes it is hard to know what separates good hotels from great hotels. Why is one place $250 per night, another $99?
After spending a long weekend at exactly places in those ranges, I can tell you. Sheets, towels, services, space, ambiance, location...I could go on.
The Inn at Essex is superior with great attention and service; rooms are very comfortable and there is a wide variety of types of rooms as well as various combination packages you can book.
Husband and I have stayed here twice; both times we did a combo that included dinner for two in Butler's Restaurant. We have not been disappointed and will definitely be back!
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I found a great package for this place on TravelZoo and booked 3 night stay for me and my husband (Sunday-Wednesday). Upon arriving, we were delighted by the charming exterior and our lovely, light-filled room. It was updated and spacious with a king bed and sitting area w/ faux fireplace.
The amenities were good on the whole. The pool with water feature was great; there was a tiny exercise room (but day passes to the gym down the street), and lemonade and cookies in the afternoon (word to the wise--skip the lemonade; it was terrible!). Only downside to visiting right now is that they're building a new spa facility on-site, so there's some construction noise when you're out by the pool. The spa is scheduled to open in Spring 2009, so just in time for pool weather again.
Our package included in-room massages, which were awesome. One tip--they told us at the front desk that we could put her gratuity on our room, but when we asked her, she said it almost never reached her when clients did that, so have some cash on-hand for a tip.
The package also included 'continental breakfast' and dinner each day at the Tavern (the casual NECI restaurant on-site). We never got the continental breakfast option because it was only coffee, juice, and a single pastry, but instead elected to apply it as a $5 credit towards a regular breakfast. The a la carte breakfasts can get a little pricey, but everything was very tasty (especially recommend the organic oatmeal with seasonal fruit). Dinner was not great for the most part--I had salmon one night, which was average, and a server-recommended fettuccine dish the next night, which was basically just chunks of goat cheese tossed with noodles. My husband's fish & chips was pretty tasty though.
On the third night, we "upgraded" (for an additional $20 per person) to Butler's Restaurant, which was really nice. I would have never paid the regular menu prices, but with our package, it was a good value. I started with the Cheddar Souffle, which unfortunately sounded better than it tasted, followed by the Artic Char (very nice). The dessert was the highlight--I had a plum tart and my husband ordered applesauce cookie ice cream--sounded a bit odd, but they were both amazing and unique and delicious! Service was friendly and professional.
The Essex Junction/Burlington area is great for a weekend getaway as well--we enjoyed shopping, mini-golf, walking around & eating on the waterfront (Lake Champlain) in downtown Burlington, as well as some of the gustatory nearby attractions (e.g. Ben & Jerry's Factory & Cold Hollow Cider Mill).
Highly recommend the Inn at Essex for a fun long weekend, just be on the look-out for special packages to really make it a good deal.
The combination of inn and culinary institute makes this place amazing! What more do you need than food that knocks your socks off and a cute room to sleep in at night? If that's not enough you can always slip outside to the bonfire and enjoy s'mores and hot cocoa with other guests, or take a walk through the organic garden, or play golf across the street. In the warm months they have the outdoor pool available for use and small culinary classes in the front yard on barbecuing (cool BBQ too: like seafood and lamb and stuff). Cozy up to your sweetheart in the cool months at the tavern for a hot meal and enjoy a soak in the two-person jacuzzi in your suite room later.
I love this place. It is minutes outside of Burlington so I can still enjoy being a tourist but it is on plenty of land with trees on several sides that it feels remote and like an escape. The food is fantastic and they use only local, organic, grass-fed, free-range ingredients and you really taste the difference. The cooking classes are fun too! Try the creme brulee workshop and you get a glass of wine to sip while learning how to make something sweet with your sweetie. Fun! Oh, and the in-room massages were fabulous! Ask them to reserve an out-call massage therapist for you when you book the room, it really completes your romantic getaway.
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I stayed here in 2002, so please bear in mind that some changes could have been made since then.
Not that my stay at the Inn at Essex was in any way disappointing. (Especially since it was paid for by my parents!) The room itself was very richly decorated and the beds were pretty damn comfortable. Also, they have these nice suites with fireplaces. I would say that Inn at Essex is a nice place to go with a significant other.
Also some perks:
- They have some great getaway packages.
- Everyone I came in contact with there is super friendly.
- The New England Culinary Institute is downstairs.
- Fairly quiet area.
- There is a spa.
- There are tennis courts on-site.
I tend to agree with Michelle W. here. This place is fine, but nothing special. If you can find a really good deal on Travelzoo (like we did), you won't feel like you got too badly screwed. But rack rate? Oh hell no. I mean, our room was fine, it had a gas fireplace along with the basics, but the bathroom had one of those bathfitter surrounds, and reminded me of dorm housing. The room was painted red, which was an odd choice but I didn't mind too much. The clashing bed linens and couch didn't really help make the room soothing either though. They do have a good deal of amenities on site. The restaurant was great, the pub was not. The gym was perfectly ample, but who the heck exercises on vacation. They do cute things like balloon rides and cookie hour too. The service was mixed, some people were nice and normal, others were not. Like, am I really the first queer you've seen in your life? You live in VT, get a clue. I really doubt I'd go back unless I got a really drop dead amazing deal on the room. There were too many ehs and not enough yays.
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What a disappointment.
We were given a gift certificate to spend the night (and free babysitting!), so we were looking forward to a night out as adults. The menus in the room were priced significantly lower than the actual menus in the restaurant, so we ended up paying a lot more over the course of the weekend for our meals.
The hotel staff (particularly the woman behind the desk when we checked out) were rude and unfriendly.
The room was fine - it was a hotel room. The bed was comfortable enough. This was mid-March, and the cold wind was blowing through the windows with enough strength to blow the curtains (despite the toilet paper stuffed in the seams).
Like I said, incredibly disappointing. We were happy for the night out, but we won't be going back.
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