Today I had a special lunch planned for my mom and I at Grey Gables Inn and Spa and The Oak Door in Pembroke. Despite Mom being very ill with cancer I wanted to take her somewhere nice without being near others. I emailed The Oak Door over a week ago explaining our situation. The lady I spoke to, Arista, was very accommodating and set us up to have a private lunch in our own room. I confirmed our arrival last night and she quickly confirmed as well. My mom and I were both really looking forward to seeing this beautiful property and enjoying a lunch together.
We arrived to find that the first people we met were not wearing face masks. When I told them we had a reservation for noon in the Birch Room we were told that that couldn't be possible as they were not offering a lunch menu for a month. What? How could this be? I just confirmed our reservation last night. No explanation. The owner, Lisa came out and acted like nothing was wrong. They offered to serve us beef stroganoff - tonight's dinner special. When I asked why they had no knowledge of our arrangements, no explanation was given. Lisa just kept saying that they could do something up fresh. My mother has fractures in her spine from the tumours there - she can't sit long enough for them to figure out what to serve us! I was understandably frustrated. Instead of offering any sort of apology or explanation, Lisa became angry and said, "If this is going to be your attitude, things are not going to go well." At this point I was furious, Mom was upset and we just left. We ended up having to order a pizza and eat in the car.
I just called Grey Gables to speak to Arista who was not there when we arrived. I wanted to get to the bottom of things. She, too, had no explanation for what happened. She said she told the cook and told Lisa but nothing was prepared. Something definitely is not right. Why would she be booking us for lunch if they weren't serving lunch at the establishment for another month? She said the only thing she could say was that she learned a lesson that she can't trust her colleagues or the owner to follow through on things. Boy, that's a comfort. I told her I would be writing a nasty review. I was so upset and disappointed to have to make my Mom take the long car ride there only to be treated so poorly. So this is my rant. Grey Gables Inn is a beautiful building. Unfortunately, the owner, Lisa, needs to learn how to admit mistakes and treat customers with respect. Mom was the picture of positivity and grace throughout the whole ordeal. read more