Canoe Bay

Our ninth visit to Canoe Bay. Lovely getaway to unwind and relax. The food was superb. Delicious breakfasts, and outstanding dinner. The fall colors were stunning! I can’t say enough about how much we love our visits here. We’re certainly looking forward to coming back again!

Fantastic get a way. Perfect time of year to walk the grounds, explore nature and enjoy the incredible surroundings. Lodging options were great, complimented by great food and service. Will definitely visit again.

Canoe Bay is a remarkable hideaway that combines luxury, nature and amazing design. The resort has stunning cottages that are all unique and well appointed. Our stay was outstanding due to the personalization of the hotel team which was engaging, friendly and committed. We enjoyed wine-paired dinners each night followed by breakfast delivered each morning in handcrafted wooden crates. The property has a 3 acre organic garden which is super impressive and shows the resorts commitment to sustainability. The canoes, kayaks and paddleboards are right there and easy to use on the private lake. I can't recommend Canoe Bay highly enough for anyone seeking tranquility, fine dining, and timeless design in a breathtaking natural setting..

The food operation at Canoe Bay is a complete ripoff, and not just because of the prices. I’m very willing to pay a premium price for premium quality and service, but Canoe Bay fell woefully short. They completely forgot our cheese tray delivery order and admitted as much when we called to check up on it. Then, when finally delivering it so late, they forgot the wine we had ordered with it. The delivery person said “I’m just the delivery person.” That’s a direct quote. Later that evening our dinner for two (delivered to the room because we respected their dining room dress code which we hadn’t packed for) was delivered with no set-up whatsoever. We answered the door and the delivery person came in, put the delivery tray on our table, and left. No removal of the covers or plastic wrapping on all the food, no set-up at all. This is a $200 dinner. But the worst problem was that the portions were incredibly tiny, looked thrown together, and included no bread. We have relatively small appetites but there was so little food that we had to drive into town to get pizza afterward. At checkout they removed the mandatory $20 service tip from the cheese/wine delivery, but did nothing about the dinner. Their standard thank-you email, sent a few days after our stay, asked that guests call if there were any issues. So I called but was told no manager was available so they would have one call back. That was more than a week ago. No one has called. We feel like fools for spending $2000 for what was supposed to be a special weekend. Every business in the service industry will occasionally have things go wrong, so the key is how they recover to keep that customer. It appears Canoe Bay does not care.

(All information below was shared with the manager and asked to be passed along to the owners, Dan and Lisa.) We have stayed at Canoe Bay about 6 times since the late 1990s. It has always been a magical place of refuge and renewal for us. We have always thoroughly enjoyed our stays. We decided to book Canoe Bay again after our daughter's wedding to recharge and recuperate. Canoe Bay has beautiful grounds, garden, and landscape. We enjoyed hiking and kayaking, resting and restoring. We stayed in Cabin #20 Rattenbury which is "tired." It needs refurbishing such as the couch cushions are very soft and worn, the bathroom is very dated, and the cabin needs a general makeover. Although comfortable, this cabin was a disappointment after having stayed in a variety of other cabins throughout our stays over the years. This time, however, the food service and restaurant was very disappointing. Here are the examples we left with the Canoe Bay manager: 1. My husband reserved the wine cellar dinner as a special evening for us. We arrived and were taken to the wine cellar. We were offered water, they brought bread (but not gluten free bread which was requested throughout the week), soup (which was cold).... then radio silence. We were never asked about a wine selection despite being in the wine cellar. But, after waiting 45 minutes for our entrees my husband went to speak to the wait staff. They brought out a sliver of "baked brie" which was placed in the soup they just served us. The brie was cold... this appeared to be an attempt to bide more time. Another 20 minutes went by and we decided to leave without our entrees. We talked to the manager and this meal was credited on our tab. 2. Our other meals in the dining room were very painfully slow. The chicken was very good; the beef tenderloin not so much. 3. One night we ordered the dinner to be brought to our cabin. Delivery is between 6:00-6:30. The meal came at 6:50 and was cold. 4. The bakery basket used to be an assortment of warm bakery and pastry with butter and home-made jam. This visit we only received 2 muffins. We requested each day to have 1 gluten free muffin and 1 regular muffin. We received a correct order 50% of the time. The last morning the muffins were just plain muffin mix--- no berries or enhancements. Also, one morning we did not receive coffee mugs... And, upon checkout we were charged for a $99 bottle of wine we never ordered. This was pointed out and the charge was removed, but this shouldn't have happened. These issues are so disappointing because we know that Canoe Bay can do better. We've seen them exceed every expectation in our past stays. Something is amiss and we hope they correct it soon because Canoe Bay is a gem and we'd love to see it succeed in every way.