I'm reviewing for the Safari Room. The view was great. Good atmosphere and open area. Food was also good. New England Clam Chowder was delicious, including with their baked roll. Grilled salmon was nice, a bit too much butter for my liking but easy to discard. read more

OceanCliff - Grilled Salmon Special with Spinach and butter. (From Safari Room) - Venues & Event Spaces Near Me - Newport, Rhode Island

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It doesn't get any better than this. Stopped in for a 5:00 cocktail and didn't leave until after 8:00. Couldn't pull ourselves away from the deck and the incredible views of the bay and sailboats. A clear view of the Newport bridge is an awesome backdrop. A beautiful lawn area and Adirondack chairs, and deck with sofas makes you feel right at home. Great staff and the perfect venue. read more

Fantastic view and laid back relaxed environment. Good food and really wonderful fun upscale bar.

The Safari Room was okay, not great. Portions are somewhat small and the service was ok.We had to wait way to long for our appetizers to arrive and there was only 5 other tables eating. When we got them, they were pretty bad, The Cesar salad was by far the worst I had ever had and did not even resemble a salad (or taste like one). Other then the amazing setting and great decor, I was pretty disappointed, but would be willing to give it another shot if I head back to Newport. read more

I have been to Oceancliff a few times and every time has been a perfect memory. I was lucky enough to get married at Oceancliff in June and it was absolutely perfect. Service staff is always on point and they are the sweetest nicest people!!!! The food is excellent and the view is gorgeous. The rooms are great and very well kept. I really don't think you could ever go wrong at Oceancliff!! read more

Do not order the steak. Poor quality. Tough,tough. Esp, the steak frities.. And the flies were so bad all over our food. Lovely setting.

First of all this venue is STUNNING. You cannot get better views in Newport. Second, they really make you feel special. From planning every detail, to bustling your dress, to packing up your car at the end of the night, they are super accommodating. Their menu and bar options offer a variety of price points and allow you to really customize your experience. One challenge is that the hotel management and the wedding venue are two separate teams so you need to work with two different contacts for planning that aspect. Otherwise, they really make you feel at home and make not only your wedding perfect, but your entire stay/weekend both exciting and relaxing. read more

Preface this by stating this is a wonderful venue for a wedding but the rooms at the hotel are so different you must know what you get before you book! Cost of room, with taxes, approaching $400.00 a night. We paid up to get the bathroom inside our room. For that we got a third floor walk-up with a noisy room air conditioner, a bed on a broken metal frame, stuck in a dormer which touched both walls necessitating sitting on the foot of the bed and skooching up to reach the pillow. slopping attic ceilings which prevented me from standing while using the toilet without resting my head on the ceiling or taking a shower without leaning down or taking a glass of water without leaning to the side to tip the glass up. Bathroom itself was on an 8" pedestal requiring light be on all night to prevent tripping on a midnight bathroom visit. Bar in closet was so low I could not hang my pants on a pants hanger. Upon walking to the un-air conditioned attic we found our electronic room keys did not work. Since there was no house phone we used our cell phone to call on an outside line only to find we had to negotiate an answering phone tree to rival a health insurance company. Very nice staff member brought new room keys which also didn't work. We were told it may take multiple insertions of the keys at varying speeds since the locks were old and temperamental. Carpet tack on closet threshold stuck me in the foot at the height of my annoyance. After our lovely wedding reception we attempted to have a night cap at the bar only to find it closed at 11:00. Lovely surprise though, free breakfast next morning. Bagel and cream cheese. So, word to the wise, if you stay here, demand that you are placed in the lovely second floor which really is as the place advertises. POSITIVES: WIFI connection is specific to each area of the facility , very easy to connect and offering a very strong signal. Staff is incredibly helpful read more

If you are very fussy about amenities and decor and large rooms, do not stay here. If you are far more concerned about an ocean view...then you might like this place a lot. Sadly, a new large house is going up in back of the property. It is a shame that part of the view is blocked. There were no wash clothes, but nice Gilcrest and Soames bottles and soap. The decor is very simple and sparse. But we did not mind that in exchange for the setting. Their restaurant, Safari, is very attractive - with large picture windows. The bridge is lovely at night. The whole place is romanitc - as it is geared for weddings - they do not even advertise as a hotel. But we found the desk staff pleasant and responsive. Our 3rd floor room was large, had a great view, and was FREEZING- so I asked for a portable heater. The nice fellow at the desk brought one up quickly and he said he checked and realized that someone forgot to turn on the heat in our area ...and so it quickly warmed up. By morning it was too warm, but we could open the windows. The continental breakfast was very nice. They have excellent teas here and good coffee cake. There was a choice a bagels (but no toaster), croissants, cakes, muffins, fresh fruit, cereal, and yogurt. We were very satisfied, sitting in the pretty dining room almost all to ourselves and looking out at the ocean. If it were not for a good deal , we would not have decided to spend a night. But we were glad for the experience. Some rooms have jacuzzi tubs, but we opted for the more private room with a window seat overlooking the beautiful views of the water and the bridge. The place is gorgeous from the outside and the downstaris common rooms - and no wonder it was featured on Platinum Weddings! read more

I got married back in August- the weekend of Hurricane Irene- at OceanCliff. I can't even begin to describe how amazing this venue was. Prior to the weekend of the wedding, they had every detailed covered, they had timelines and checklists. They were so organized, which we loved. The weekend of my wedding- they couldn't have been better! My guests LOVED the venue, the staff, the food- everything was perfect, even with the Hurricane. The staff was so friendly, so helpful- a pleasure to work with. read more

My fiancé and I came to view this venue to see if we would like to get married here. The lady (who shall remain nameless) who helped us assumed we couldn't afford much, without even asking us a price range. She also ran through the venue explaining everything entirely too fast, as if she didn't have time for us to be there. She also said she would email us more information and never did reach out. Thanks to her you lost potential customers to rent out your venue. Your sales team(or maybe just her) needs a class on how to not pass judgement and assume which couples that come in, want the cheapest of everything! Out of all of the venues we have seen, never have we encountered such unprofessionalism! read more

If you are planning a wedding, it's a great venue but otherwise DO NOT choose this hotel for a vacation! It has spectacular views, I'll give it that, but we were there on a Sunday night and the noise level from the wedding was absurd! We called down to the desk clerk and were told there was nothing they could do. Unacceptable! When we checked out the desk clerk promised we would get a call from the hotel manager (we did not receive any call)! We contacted him, via email and all he said in return was that he was sorry. I will never return to this hotel! read more

This hotel was the one I was most excited to stay at on this trip. Externally, Oceancliff is breathtaking. It looks like we were going to be stying in a mansion. Inside in the lobby it was beautiful as well. We were made aware that there was no elevator access so we knew that we would have to drag all our luggage upstairs. While my friend that made the reservation checked in, she told us afterwards, she had to sign some kind of waiver about knowing it was an event venue and that we would be subject to the noise that may come from it so we wouldn't make noise complaints. That was kind of strange to me, but whatever. Our room looked great. It was a beautiful room. BUT, there were a few things that were not so great. There was second door/entrance into our room, which went out into what looked to be a workers stairwell. It was slightly unnerving that there was no extra lock on this door on the inside of the room, like a chain or something that secures the door from the inside. In the bathroom, which was large, there was only one small table to put anything on and nowhere near the shower to place or hang a towel. This is clearly an old building so there weren't a lot outlets to charge our electronics. We could not get the wifi to work at all, and the router itself was located in our room, so it's not like we were too far away from it. The fold out couch was fine, but there was only a sheet and alight blanket in the room for use on it. We could shower, we could sleep, we could look at the amazing view. It was an ok stay in an old building. It is getting 3 stars because it really was beautiful, although the room was lacking. read more

Went to the Safari Room for an early lunch today. Sat outside, had a table with a beautiful view!!! The service, however, ruined the experience. Waiter was not personable at all, never smiled or made casual conversation - could have gotten better service from a robot!!! He never came back to check in on our lunch choices which were sub-par. The salad we chose came without the goat cheese and was fair at best. It tasted like store bought spring mix with shredded carrots. The crab cakes were extremely fishy tasting. Since we never saw our waiter again, it was impossible to express our disappointment. We had planned on ordering more food but were soooo disappointed with the appetizers that we decided to continue our lunch elsewhere! read more

Recently held a surprise party in the Safari Room at OceanCliff and was so happy with how it turned out. Between the initial tour, to many many emails planning the details, to the service on the day of the event, the staff were all very helpful and accommodating. The space was perfect for our party of 40+ guests, and having our own bar was great. The food was all excellent, and the service team did a great job - even packed up extras from the food stations to take home. Lastly, the location can not be beat. The waterfront view as well as the interior are simply beautiful. Special props to Krystal for managing the event and making everything run smoothly. read more

I attended a wedding here on November 6th and my server Devin reeked of marijuana I couldn't even face him while he was taking my order, he did not refill our waters a single time we had to continuously go to the bar for water (I have trouble walking), and everyone at the table had said their food was wrong or messed up. I asked him if he would be kind enough to get me a drink (I am older and have trouble walking) and he said yes but seemed irritated that I would even ask, and never came back with the drink. When I went to ask another server if I could speak to the manager or whoever is in charge they could not find the person in charge for 30+ minutes. There was no clear person in charge. I do not recommend this establishment if you are thinking of having your wedding here just don't. A few of the servers I encountered were helpful but as for my tables server he was arrogant and he had a huge attitude towards everyone at my table. Whoever runs this place does not know what they're doing clearly. This wedding was a mess. read more

My boyfriend and I stayed here for this birthday weekend and the Jazz Fest, what an amazing place. The staff is incredibly accommodating, the atmosphere of the hotel itself is peaceful and just what you would want on a nice getaway vacay. However, there are minor 3 things that needed to be changed - 1. the pillows are super huge, which at first sounds nice, and while sitting up leaning on them watching tv, they're great, but trying to sleep on them makes for a less than enjoyable sleep. I woke up about 3 times a night because of the pillow. 2. Our room happened to face the sunrise, and our windows only had blinds, not curtains, and the bed was right below the windows, so every morning the sun would come blaring in waking us up way earlier than one wants to be woken up when on vacation. We finally took the bedspread and rigged it up to the windows. 3. The room we had was on the 3rd floor, away from the noise of the wedding going on, but it was an attic room, so it has slanted ceilings, which were nice when we walked in, but not functional, we both bumped our heads at least 3x a day. Other than that it really is a great hotel. They have a restaurant called The Safari room which has amazing food and incredible staff. We came down for a late dinner and the floor manager (i'm told thats who she was) said it was too late for dinner for us, but Victoria (who i'm guessing was the head manager) said it was no problem as long as the chef was ok with it, she asked him and he was fine with it. Our waiter Kirk was very accommodating as well, no one rushed us through our meal even though he stayed at least an hr past closing for us, and made great conversation with us. They both made our first night there and first imprecation a great one. All-in-all we will definitely be coming back here. read more

No porter. Lug your luggage up the stairs. No gift shop for basics. Too bad you are a ways from civilization - you will have to hood it if you forgot toothpaste. Oh - no dresser in the room. Forget taking your clothes out of your suitcase! The guest room has no thermostat. As you freeze your butt, you can call down to the desk (actually got voice mail - calling the front desk). They will put in to facilities to raise the temp in your room - though not certain how much. Seriously! I didnt actually see any cockroaches or bedbugs so I will give this hotel 1 Star. Do not go here. Plenty of other options read more

I had my wedding here on 09/02/2011. I cannot say enough about this place. Not only is the venue incredible (great options for outdoor as well as indoor ceremony/cocktail hour), the staff is out of this world. Every time I had a question or comment, someone followed up with me within hours. It's pretty remarkable that they do so many weddings each year and are able to dedicate so much attention to each client. I can't wait until it's time to renew my vows :) read more

This was the nicest venue for a wedding I have ever attended. The room overlooks the bay and is simply stunning. So the next time you have $40k stuffed under your mattress and your child asks you to arrange their wedding, book this place. read more

This review is for the resort. As I haven't gone to safari restaurant yet. The staff...Megan is WONDERFUL., pleasant and very accomodating. I got to checkin 2 days prior to my week! As I wanted to spend thanksgiving here. I'd give it 5 stars but the rooms are a bit drafty and the living room furniture lil uncomfortable, I love having my king size bedroom upstairs but the children running around above me wasn't so fun. The TV's are huge, fireplace nice, kitchen perfect. I really love the views and I say kudos to the ocean outside my door and plenty of space to roam around! Thanks! read more

One of the most beautiful locations in Newport. The hotel has a historic charm and views that will make you fall in love with Newport. Unfortunately, it all stops there. This hotel is nowhere near guest centric. From the front desk to the bar it is almost as they are doing you a favor by allowing you to be there. I triple checked my 4 night reservations for a wedding I was attending and when I arrived it somehow went to 2 nights. No one says hello to you or good morning unless you say it first. One of the employees actually made me move out of his way even though he could have easily have gone around me. The bar, dear lord, I asked for a menu twice, when I finally got it I placed an order and then a couple placed their order. Later when the couple received their meal I asked the bartender when my order was coming and he said "you didn't order anything".... this is how dealing with everyone at the hotel is like. Not one employee looks or acts like they want to be there. Oh, and if you want to control your room AC, look elsewhere, they control it at the desk and it's like pulling teeth since one ac controls multiple rooms. Anyhow, at $500 per night I expect at least a "good morning" or "how is your stay going", anything to actually make me feel welcomed. Ps, there is no pool like it says in the website! read more

If you are planning a wedding make sure you book a room in advance as they do not provide a dressing room. The real only reason they are not getting a 4 or 5 star rating from me is due to the fact that they tried to get me to spend more money (on top of the thousands we spent reserving the space for a wedding) to reserve a hotel room to dress for the wedding...in this case I only needed a space for 1 hour and the fact that they didnt accommodate me was really dissapointing - they advertise as a weddng venue but their excuse is that they don't cater to weddings becasue they are a hotel. Honestly, that excuse made me upset and had they been more understanding of my situation then I would have raved about the wedding space and accommodation. the other comments you read here about the service sounds very accurate. read more

Came here for a wedding and while the view is beautiful the customer service, hotel rooms and wedding planners are not. They charged us $750 for a rundown room on the road with no private bathroom. It was a part of their Gatehouse which looks nothing like their photos online. The Gatehouse is not worth the $2700 they charge you for 2 nights. You should save your money and rent a massive Air B&B house down the street for 1/3 of the price. Maybe stop by the OceanCliff for the views but the Gatehouse is old, rundown, and doesn't provide "$$$" a quality and high end experience. read more

My wife and I came here for Newport's Restaurant Week. This was our first time in the Safari Room for dinner. A quiet and dim lit room over looking the Newport Harbor awaited us. Named for its African hunting lodge decor, the Safari Room was a welcome break from the nautical-themed restaurants of Newport. The service was exceptional without being stuffy. Dinner was a true culinary experience, from a complimentary amuse-bouche, through our three courses. My first exposure to fois gras was interesting, I'm happy I tried it. The cherry-chocolate rack of venison was tender, falling off the rack. My salted caramel was one of the best desserts I'd had in a while. My wife scarfed her appetizer of Frisee salad with fig & prosciutto, saying it was one of her favorite salads. Her artichoke & pistachio crusted halibut was a huge hunk of fish, cooked perfectly without being dried out. Her apple pie was good, but she seemed to enjoy the housemade pumpkin ice cream more. Overall, we certainly enjoyed our evening and plan to return again, with or without the NRW discount. read more

OceanCliff - LT:Fig & proscuitto;Artichoke&pistachio halibut;Apple pie. RT:Dois gras;Cherry/choc venison rack;Salted caramel - Venues & Event Spaces Near Me - Newport, Rhode Island

I got married here back in July and it was phenomenal. The food was excellent. The service on point. The staff was perfect. 2 issues came about. The list for tables and table numbers somehow got mixed up. Unfortunately I was missing an entire table at the wedding and half of the tables had incorrect seats at it. But I didn't notice one bit the night of my wedding as I had a blast and the venue was beautiful!!! The other issue I did have was that they don't water the grass in. The back where we got married and took pictures. So some pictures look like I am standing in hay. Other than that I absolutely loved the venue and the staff members!!! They went above and beyond helping me plan!!! Highly recommend it. read more

Location is just beautiful - but would never go back to the restaurant unfortunately. We sent back 3 entrees for dried out haddock and lobster, I don't know if it was pre-cooked and then re-heated but they were just awful- you needed a fork to cut into both they were so tough. They replaced with Salmon which was just as bad- ended up just giving up and not even eating the entree. The dessert was just as disappointing- creme brûlée was liquid, actual liquid! They gave us a few glasses of wine on the house- they should have taken off the entrees but just wanted to get out of there - I was done. read more

The food was great, lobster mac was really good with the penne. View was amazing. Waitresses's had attitudes and had a couple smartass comments. Guess they aren't poor college kids. With attitudes like that, u would think they would be easy on the eyes at least. read more

If you are not part of the wedding mill that grinds on here, forget it. The rare adult in charge tended bar - the rest guarded every entrance to the common rooms used exclusively for weddings downstairs except the over-priced Safari Room which served unimpressive fare and closed early, even for breakfast. The omnipresent wedding tent blocked what would have been a great view and the pool was in the next complex- and not worth the walk. Constant calls to the front desk was the only way we got ice, sundries, room temp adjustments (no thermostat!) and we were conveniently located above the garage where periodic dumps of recyclables crashed until 2am. Unless you are attending one of the back to back weddings, book somewhere else. read more

I found a dirty condom in my room. The staff overcharged me. Worst hotel experience of my life

This establishment is only beautiful and amazing based on looks only. Once you actually have to deal with any of the staff then everything goes downhill from there. Good luck getting anyone to respond to you via phone or email. If they do it isn't till days later. I've never had to deal with such unprofessional people in this entire world. I'm pretty sure 5 year olds could run this place than IDC does (no offense to all the 5 year old out there). If your looking for somewhere to be a Newport yuppy and don't care about anything then "where" you are while in Newport then go ahead and waste every cent you drop at this venue. I would highly recommend visiting or using many of the other places Newport has to offer. read more

I'm getting married here next month! I can't wait! WOO!

Had my wedding there in October. Beautiful location, support was good for the most part. A couple of heads up, don't order the cod. The steak was good, but the cod was a sad disappointment. If your having your ceremony outside, make sure Castle Hill isn't testing their sound system. They made racists jokes during mine :). Lastly, check the guest welcome sign. They spelt my name incorrectly. All the all, would do it again but double check everything and save yourself from that cornmeal crusted cod. read more

The Staff was horrible. The floors were dirty. There was a man smoking a pipe right outside the door way. The traffic was horrendous. It was a horrible nightmare. I will never stay here again. read more

Spent this past weekend here and had a real blast. I actually had my senior prom here 14 years ago but I appreciated this place much more as an adult than i did as a teenager. The grounds are in tip top shape. The main house is really breathtaking. I have to say this a truly amazing spot to have a wedding (even though it rained half the day) The staff is super friendly and seemed to go out of their way. My only complaint was that the room i booked was suppose to have a bathroom (as i was specifically asked if i wanted a room with bathroom) after i checked in I quickly realized that there was not bathroom. I called down to the front desk but was told every room was taken and there wasn't much they could do. The bathroom which was right down the hall was specifically for my room (you need my room key for access) so it wasn't the end of the world, just not ideal. The other downside was last call in the main bar (after the wedding had finished) was at 12:15. I know that in Rhode Island you have to close bars down by 1am but I would have appreciated that 45 min. (and everyone else would have too) Other than that this was a real magical place to attend a wedding (it was a great place to have a prom too) and would totally recommend this to any potential bride and groom for sure read more

I recently stayed at this hotel, in connection with a family wedding. Though this hotel prides itself on the charm of an historic property, this hotel has not been updated: my room was the size of a closet, the room reeked of mold throughout my stay, the bed was the worst I've ever slept in (complete with creaking box spring at every movement) the air conditioning did not work--at all--in a family member's room, and the staff was unapologetic about everything. The staff at the bar and patio area werre uninterested and unhelpful. The final insult: these rooms were in the $400 range. Absolutely ridiculous. Attend a wedding here, but stay at another hotel! read more

Wow! This place is super nice. We attended a friends wedding here in September and was totally blown away. I can't wait to get engaged some day...I would love to have my wedding here. They had a quick ceremony outside on the grass with the most incredible ocean view. They probably spent a ton of money but well worth it. We had the best time and everyone has been talking about this place for months. I had to go back again! read more

We went to a beautiful wedding and had a great time at Oceancliff. The wedding was open bar and as the night continued we were still hanging out past 1 in the morning. At that time, my husband and I decided to go up to our room and the key card did not work. Which was fine, if someone was down at the front desk to fix it. Someone didn't come back to the front of the desk till 3 in the morning (2 1/2 hours later). A waitress was trying to help us get in contact with Max (the man behind a desk) or Heather (the manager). Neither one of them decided to come or call back. 2 1/2 hours went by Max finally decided to show up at the front desk and at that point I asked to have a refund for the money because there was no way of getting into the room or any bathroom for a long period of time. It was unacceptable. Our bathroom is not hooked up to our room, so we needed a key to get into the bathroom at the same time. He refunded our money back but then told us we had to leave because he refunded our money and we were unable to stay. Which we were still under the influence we had to wait a little bit longer to drive home because of the fact it was open bar and that's why we were staying overnight in the first place. Unfortunately we missed the brunch that the bride and groom had for the wedding guest the next day. I did call Heather the manager the next day it took three times to get in touch with her. The 4th time I finally was able to talk to her and she knew nothing of the sort of what occurred the night before. All she knew was that he refunded my money. She said that she would email me the receipt of the refund and also com us a room to give us the the Newport experience. As of a week later now I still don't have any emails from the manager I did call mid-week and she said it was on her to-do list but still have not received anything. I'm just very upset that a beautiful place does not have the respect for others and or management that can handle situations that could have been avoided if someone was just at the front desk. NOW to top it off the same thing happened to the bride the following night with the same man working behind the desk! read more

This is a nice hotel but better suited for the summer time. It was quite off the beaten path but near enough to the center of town. The hotel itself is an older one and could do with a bit of sprucing up. It seems like they were in the midst of doing that for the common rooms. The guest rooms were kind of dreary, although clean. The decor was uninspiring. The rooms were also very hot. Being such a cold weekend I guess they wanted to make sure the rooms were heated, but it was a bit much. Continental breakfast was ok. It would have been better had they put out the proper utensils. I had to eat my yogurt with a fork. The area to have breakfast was not very practical either. It was an area with a small sofa and chairs with a coffee table. Not very comfortable. It was equally uncomfortable in the dining area which was not heated at all. There was a lovely room with a very inviting fire roaring in the fireplace, but it was roped off to keep people out. I don't get it. Probably would not stay again. read more