Accommodations and housekeeping
In a word they were were superb. Everyone raves about the grounds, the architecture, and the peaceful environment. I can confirm that the rooms were comfortable, clean, and well appointed. I've noticed over the years that the style and decor of most Relais and Chateau properties are pretty much the same with not a lot of difference in decor. For our stay housekeeping was very good and clearly the best service offered. They met our requests on the first request. We had no issues at all with housekeeping. Our room was right next to a community refrigerator with drinks, snacks and ice cream that we could help ourselves to on demand. Our room connected to a communal living space or living room with a wood burning fireplace that was very comfortable as well as a communal coffee service. You also had access to a very large game room and library that you could easily spend hours in close by.
Check-in service was chaotic.
When you arrive the arrival area and registration is very contracted. There was a service person in the driveway who stopped us. And when I rolled the window down a somewhat brusk individual stated, why are you here? I was somewhat taken aback. Obviously I was there because I had a reservation. And the signs directed me to that one spot. When I told the service person this I was told to wait while she went inside to find out what was going on. After a brief period I was invited into register. But it just seemed strange, the way it was handled. No welcome, just why are you here? Do they have strangers without a reservation just drive up all the time? Once I got to the registration, we went through the usual formalities, but the receptionists seem to be only interested in one thing which was advising me more than once to be aware that anything and everything, including the room charge while I was there would be subject to a 20% on top service charge. It really seemed like that was the main interest when we got checked in. It was somewhat depressing in that instead of being warmly welcomed, we were basically told, and it was our perception we want your money first. We were given a bell person to go to the room. However, the bell person assigned to us was actually the same age or older than my wife(we are both elderly). It was obvious they were physically incapable of carrying heavy luggage. My wife felt sorry for them and actually carried some of the heavier luggage into the room which I found completely unacceptable especially after being reminded multiple times of the service charge. At that point in time I expected royal service which was not provided. And the bell-person didn't say, no, don't do that, I'll do it they went ahead and let my wife carry heavy luggage in. Again simply unacceptable.
Dining
There are two dining venues, Dogwood, which is a more casual place providing three meals a day, and the Barn, which is more upscale and serving dinner only. In general the food was good but in our opinion did not match the price paid. There were some innovative dishes and flavors, and some of them worked, but then again some of them didn't work. To us most of the menu choices were what you would find elsewhere and nothing special or really different. I found it interesting that the dining venues have only received minor awards from one or two magazines but to be clear no Michelin star awards and no Mobile 4 or 5 diamond awards for either restaurant. You would think, based on their reputation and the prices they charged that that would be something you would anticipate but no, it didn't happen. Perhaps the main reason was the service again was completely unacceptable. It was extremely young untrained, and unprofessional servers. The servers were most interested in constant small talk every time they walked by your table as opposed to providing professional service. In fact we had to complain and request reducing the small talk every what seemed to be 5 minutes. It was the second time we have made that request and interestingly the first time was at another Realis and Chateau property. There were 2 or 3 professionals overseeing the operation, but they were seldom seen. They did have a world famous sommelier who was extremely helpful, but the whole dinner service taken as a whole, was simply not up to caliber to what you would expect. We were terribly disappointed overall, and we agreed with other reviewers who said they probably preferred the casual dining spot as opposed to the upscale Barn. The Barn seemed to us to be way overrated, and my wife made an interesting observation that the chefs and the sous chefs in the open kitchen seem to be depressed. They just sort of were walking around with sad faces. They weren't particularly excited about making dinner. It was just something you could feel, and you could see a lack of enthusiasm.
Wine
Allegedly Blackberry Farms wine list is the second best in the world compared to Bern’s steakhouse in Tampa. Having been to Bern's multiple times in my life as well as multiple trips into Bern’s wine cellars both on and off site, I can verify the truth of that statement. Especially French wines and more to the point Madam Leroy-Bize wines from Bourgogne. I was very excited about reviewing the wine list, understanding prices would be high but hoping the possibility of finding something not too expensive. No such luck. The problem is you cannot afford any of it unless you are Jeff Bezos or Warren Buffet. I was able to review the list before going and came to the conclusion I would need to take my own wines and pay the high corkage fee of $100 per bottle(++ that 20% service charge). The prices were simply unacceptable. The markup on the wines, by my estimation in some cases was close to 700%. I can assure you even Warren Buffet with all his Billions would most likely not buy most of those wines. 700% markup over retail is simply not right no matter how much money you have. I simply will not support any venue that does that. Years ago we stayed at the Delano, South Beach Miami and dined at the Blue Door restaurant. At that time I was always meeting with the Food & Beverage managers and they told me their markup was 1.5 retail and they were making money at that level, just not a killing and they wanted people to enjoy good wines with their meals. At another high end place in NYC the sommelier told me they charge those high prices because that is what they sell for in the Hong Kong wine auctions. Fine then, be honest, ship the wines to Hong Kong and sell them as money is the only thing you are interest in and could care less about the dining experience of your customers. The usual standard is 200% of retail and on rare occasion, 300% times retail, but 700% times retail is highway robbery and sends the wrong message. Contrary to popular belief I support reasonable corkage fees. Restaurants still provide glassware, service personnel, and must pay for insurance and must follow State alcohol laws when serving you your own wines so yes they should charge you a corkage fee for providing you those services in their place. Where the debate comes in is what is considered reasonable and for most of the world that is somewhere between $20 to maybe $50 dependent on the venue. Most of my wine friends consider $100 at the top end but examples like Thomas Keller’s places The French Laundry and Per Se it is his standard so for a high end place OK. But also don’t forget at Blackberry Farms on top of that is that ++ service charge. There are also unwritten rules regarding taking your own wine to a restaurant chief of which is you don’t take a wine they have on their list. So I made sure I took wines they did not have. Another unwritten rules is you take wines they would be proud to pour which I did, not Ripple or Blue Nun.
Activities
Their activity list is almost as long as their wine list. There's a ton to do at this place, and while I was in the hot tub, one afternoon a young couple was there and they expressed that they were over busy as they had actually signed up for more than they really should have, and as a result they had no downtime. That could be quite easy at BlackBerry farms so take it from us old folks with our new rule, one activity a day then a nap. We appreciated the pool space and hot tub very much. It was one of the highlights of our visit. It's small, but it was not crowded partly because it was sort of cool. But I will say that the pool was heated, and the hot tub had strong jets so you actually could get a pretty decent massage in the hot tub and then go for a swim comfortably. They also allow you to use the pool and hot tub 24/7which I found different from other places. I have always been told how extremely expensive it is to heat a pool so maybe that explains the high prices? Be aware there are very few included activities during your stay and even simple activities like a tour are to me expensive especially once you add that service charge.
Check out
Check out service was not much better than checking in. We had to call more than once to get checkout service. This time I insisted that they send someone who was strong enough to carry the luggage. I really shouldn't have to do that but based on our check in experience, I felt that it was clearly necessary to let the front desk know that they needed to have somebody younger and stronger to handle luggage and of course I was looking out for my wife also. Something interesting and positive occurred at check out. Turns out Blackberry Farms has some kind of relationship with Lexus Automobiles and one of the actual free activities you can do(and not pay a service charge) is drive around in a free demonstration ride in a Lexus SUV. At check out there was a $100 credit off of our bill for driving up in and being a Lexus owner. What a nice surprise. Thinking about it our visit might have started out better had we been told on check in “Oh we see you have a Lexus car, you will receive a $100 credit off of your total bill at check out”. We probably would have remember nothing else. As it was we remembered “why are you here" and "don’t forget the 20% service charge”.
The Soapbox and Conclusions
We truly were looking forward to this trip and nothing short of an unforgettable experience at Blackberry Farms. We have been wishing for it for over 30 years. We have multiple friends, including friends who know the owners, who have come multiple times who gave it their highest reviews. We had nothing but the best intentions of having a great time enjoying the best in accommodations, cuisine, and service. With huge disappointment our experience was in fact forgettable. For what we paid we could have had a suite at a 100 better properties. We could have stayed at the Ritz in Paris. We could have been in the Penthouse on Regents Seven Seas. But we were stuck at Blackberry Farms with mediocre food, non existent service, and an added 20% service charge. I had already written my shorter review on Trip Advisor and while there I read about a dozen reviews over the past year or two that essentially agreed with what I have told you here. I noticed that up until a couple of years ago management responded to each review, positive or negative with a comment acknowledging the writers good or bad comments. From what I could tell for the recent past at least I saw no management comments regarding customers comments so I can only come to one conclusion, management really does not care what you think. And guess what, it shows. As we drove away in our Lexus my wife and I were commenting that we were actually happy to leave. We were going to another Relais and Chateau property, The Old Edwards Inn, in Highlands NC which it turns out was 20% the cost and 1000% better food and service and we could not wait to get there. Thinking about that was very sad. After waiting 30 years to go to Blackberry Farms we could not wait to leave because we felt ripped off and will not return. But it is sad we feel that way and sadder that Blackberry Farms could care less as long as they receive that 20% service charge.
