Mohonk Mountain House-New Paltz

[Rosie]

We spent a few days at Mohonk Mountain House in New Paltz, NY. This hotel is quite impressive from the outside and has gorgeous grounds, gardens and fabulous hiking paths lined with rustic gazebos. The hotel faces a lake formed by a glacier where one can boat, swim and fish. We loved the hiking, nothing else. Our problems started with our room which contained a double bed, a single bed and a bed upright against the closet door. We had requested a queen or king when we made the reservation. After calling the front desk we were shown a much, much smaller room that had a king size bed but because the room was so small we also found it unacceptable. We were told that there were absolutely no other rooms so we unhappily stayed with the first room. Two calls to housekeeping were made to remove the upright bed. Finally, when our luggage came the bellhop removed the bed. Dinner that night was awful with inattentive service. When seated we were not asked if we wanted wine or the wine list. Since Quakers own the hotel there is no bar but you can get a drink in the dining room. We had to ask for water which was never refilled. We figured we were suppose to have bread as there were bread plates on the table and we asked for that also. The bread was brought. We asked for butter. The butter was taken off of a nearby table and had melted. When we finished our salad the waitress put our salad fork back on the table but did bring us fresh forks when we requested them. Lowell was given an old looking flimsy knife for his pork chop. Meanwhile this formal dining room where jackets are required for men was full of children, some of whom were crying. These children should have been in the large informal dining room where they would not disturb a formal atmosphere. We didn't like the food as it was overcooked and dry. Lowell's ice tea was warm and didn't have any ice in it. His coffee was not refilled. A sign outside of the dining room said that the food is cooked to order and expect to be in the dining room two hours. We were finished in an hour. We went upstairs to see what was on the buffet. Surprise! Surprise! The food that we had for dinner was on the buffet. We had a choice of having a buffet lunch the next day in the main dining room, or at the grange which is a bbq, or a sandwich at a hikers lodge. We opted for the lodge but were told that we would have to sign up very early in the morning because once they get filled up that's it. At this point we were quite disgusted with the whole evening and questioned the dining room captain about this procedure and why would we have to get up early to sign up for a sandwich. Her reply was "this is the way we do it and don't worry you'll get your sandwich." She then saw how annoyed we were and offered to put our name on the list for us. Breakfast the next morning was a buffet. We came into the cavernous dining room and were seated in the back of the room a.k.a. purgatory. I asked for a window seat. It was 8 AM and the dining room was empty. We were seated by the window with a lovely view and still can't understand why we weren't initially seated at the one of the window seats all of which were empty. Our tablecloth was wrinkled, we had to ask for water but we did find enough on the buffet to eat. Lunch (our sandwich) was fine and the service there was friendly. Dinner the second night was much better. We were in a different formal dining room which had no children and the staff were professional. One of the problems is that many waiters/waitresses were college students who get their tips from the 15% service charge which is added to the room rate. They get their tips whether they are efficient or not.

We would recommend this place for it's hiking trails and certainly if you don't care about the quality of the food there are many family oriented activities that you can participate in.

[Fat Guy]

I still remember a childhood vacation to Mohonk as one of the worst of my entire life. It was like staying in the hotel in The Shining, though I'm not sure The Shining had even been released at the time so I can't say which reminded me of which. Even at the age of 11 or so I was able to discern the awfulness of the food. Also, at the time there was no air conditioning. I assume there is still none -- do you recall, Rosie?

Highly unrecommended.

[cabrales]

We asked for butter. The butter was taken off of a nearby table and had melted.

Rosie -- A question in clarification of the butter furnished to you. Was it butter that had been served previously to another table and that you received the remaining portions of?

[Sandra Levine]

Rose, it sounds as if the food at Mohonk has improved. I was there many, many years ago with the Victorian Society in America. The architecture is great, as well as the hiking trails. As for the food, fugetaboutit.

[rozrapp]

The NY Times had an article about MMH in its Escapes section just last week. Here it is:

http://query.nytimes.com/search/abstract?r...DAE0894DA404482

FG,

There is still no a.c.!

[Fat Guy]

Rose, it sounds as if the food at Mohonk has improved.

Good one!

Two elderly women are at a Catskill Mountain resort and one of them says, "Boy, the food at this place is really terrible." The other one says, "Yeah I know, and such small portions." (Annie Hall)

[glenn]

We spent Thanksgiving there about 4 years ago and had a similar experience. It was so stuffy there - the atmosphere and guests - it drove me bonkers. And yes, the food was the pits. Couldn't believe I had to get dressed up to eat that rot. The area is gorgeous but you don't need to stay there to experience it. Actually, we enjoy staying at the B&B's on the other side of the river -- in the Garrison and Cold Spring area and driving around visiting the sites.

top 5...

High 5 (Rock the Catskills) - Beck

Mountain of Needles - David Byrne/Brian Eno

Mohonk Massacre - Arlo Guthrie & S. Plotzkie

Mountain of Love - duh

House in the Country - Kinks

[Rosie]

No airconditioning but that wasn't a problem. It was cool at night and not muggy during the day. Since we were hiking the woods were cool. The "formal" dining room is AC. The main one is not. The butter came from another table but it hadn't been touched. The butter still held it's shape but when you put your knife to it the butter became a small puddle. The only way you could get butter on your bread was to dip your bread into it.

We didn't realize that New Paltz was just 1 1/2 hours from us so we could actually drive there for the day and hike in Mohonk Preserve. Anyone hike there?

[Rail Paul]

There's an excellent hiking trail based on the route of the New York Central Railroad's Walkill Valley line. The trail begins north of Montgomery, continues north through New Paltz and on to the outskirts of Kingston.

Some of the trail is open for use, although other portions are still under construction or design. For mass transit users, several points are available for connections with New York City originating buses. There's an excellent little brew pub in New Paltz (Golden Otter) located along the right of way if that need should arise.

Other mass transit accessible trails include three in Putnam and Dutchess, and one which uses the Bear Mountain bridge. MetroNorth had a brochure for hikers a few years ago. Of I find it, I'll open a thread and we can slide restaurants into the trails

[Rosie]

We walked a very short portion of the rail line in New Paltz. I think it goes 12 miles. We had lunch at Main St. Bisto in New Paltz and it was quite good with large portions. I had hummus with vegetables and Lowell had a grilled chicken sandwich.

[glenn]

Sorry for not clarifying, but I meant stuffy in terms of stodgy. I found it to be a very uptight place where appearances and etiquette are valued more than substance.

If I recall, the park is right near by. There's great hiking and biking trails, some of them on the expert level.