Paradise Inn

Although the lodge and rooms were as advertised the food in the dining room was dreadful, one of the worst meals we have ever had. There is just no excuse for the Park Service to be unable to provide a decent dining experience to an otherwise captive audience

We had a very bad experience at the Paradise Inn. I realize it is a beautiful scenic location and we had adjusted our expectations for the small rooms with smaller bathrooms. But I was not prepared for the awful service we received - especially in the dining room.

Eating dinner at the Paradise Inn ended up being one of our worst dining experiences ever. They only had 3 items on the menu – chicken, salmon, or meatloaf all going for $19.95. We could not get anyone to wait on us! I even went to the hostess TWICE to complain. Finally got a waiter from another section to come over and we order meatloaf and salmon. He brings us water and tea and the cups were dirty. But of course, we can’t FIND him again to get clean cups. We finally snags a bus boy who brings us clean cups. The restaurant is about half full and we can’t figure out what the problem is and there are only three items on the menu! The hostess comes out with our meals – meatloaf and chicken. We complain that wasn’t what we ordered and she takes it back to the kitchen. Our waiter comes back with meatloaf and salmon and tells my husband to try the salmon because someone just sent it back to the kitchen. My husband says it is pretty dry and would rather have the chicken after all. We finally get our meals and for $19.95 we get about 3 oz of meat, 1 scoop of mashed potatoes and 5 slices of zucchini. Not the ultimate dining experience. I ask the hostess if there is a manager on duty and she says “yes” and WALKS AWAY FROM ME. I never see her or a manager again.

We just finish our meals and the power goes out ALL OVER THE INN. We try to get our bill for dinner, but of course we can’t SEE any waiters – they all have little flashlights, but trying to pick out an incompetent waiter from a slew of incompetent waiters by flashlight is almost impossible. We finally tell them to charge it to our room and leave.

Now we go to our tiny room – and the power is still out. We have no lights, no hot water, and most important NO HEAT! It is 47 degrees outside. I would have expected the hotel staff to offer us extra blankets or flashlights, but nothing. The power remained off all night and when we checkout the next morning and ask if they will give us some kind of discount for our experience and the manager pretty much tells us a power outage is like an act of God – no compensation will be offered. Very very disappointing.

Next time we'll drive out of the park for better accommodations and service.