MacCallum House Inn & Restaurant

We arrived on a Thursday afternoon for a three night stay to celebrate my husband‘s birthday. Booked the honeymoon suite, but received a polite phone call the day before informing us that there were plumbing issues with the honeymoon suite but they would be moving us to a comparable room. In fact, the woman on the telephone told me she actually thought the room we would be assigned was even nicer. I realize this is a small inn and maintenance issues happen, but I have never been so disappointed as I was in the room they provided us. Upon entering the room, I could see scraps of used Kleenex under the king size bed. This is never a sight you wish to greet you. Walking into the bathroom, I was greeted by a number of ants crawling all over the sink and countertop where I would need to place my things. The ants, it turns out, were a problem all over the room. After a wonderful dinner at the hotel restaurant, I got into bed and within just a few minutes, found an ant crawling all over my hand, one on my pillow and several on the night table. I told my husband we needed to leave the next morning. Sadly, he became ill that evening and told me he was simply not up for the winding road on Highway 128 to get back to the Bay Area. His medical situation required rest, so we did not leave the hotel that next morning. I wish we had. Although we understood that the honeymoon suite had maintenance issues and was not available, Management basically lied to us by telling us that the rooms were comparable with the same view. We did have a deck with distant ocean views at an angle, but the room that we had booked had a nice living room area and a deck that had much better ocean facing views. I always try to make sure we have nice living space in our room or suite when we travel in the event that the weather turns bad or, as it turned out in this case, one of us is not feeling well and the other is going to spend more time in the room. The only place to sit in the room we were assigned was a small sofa, shoved into the corner of the room without even a throw pillow., There was one little occasional table in front of the sofa but it was broken! It had a glass top that was sloping down at least 30° and you could not set a cup of coffee or anything upon it. That’s it! I ended up having to drag a dining chair over to the end of the sofa and set a book on the seat so that I had somewhere to set my coffee. More important, there was absolutely no way to see out the window from this corner sofa. This was not comparable to the lovely living area with a sofa and two wing back chairs and a fireplace all with a huge slider looking out to the ocean that we have booked. I wish they had just been honest. I certainly applied what I felt was a fair handicap to my rating of this hotel based upon the price, but the room was depressing, the ants continued to be a problem all weekend (not easy for me to try to fall asleep, wondering if I will wake up with ants on my hand again, which I did the second night) and I never felt like the room was clean and comfortable after our initial night. I just could not get comfortable there. The delightful young woman who was working the front desk on the weekend and checked us out on Sunday told me she was embarrassed and had taken very detailed notes about all of the issues and was speaking with Management. When I checked out on Sunday morning, she said no one had gotten back with her regarding all of the problems with our room. We were charged the previously agreed-upon price for the weekend. She then very courteously told me that she would be emailing me and they would be getting in touch with me regarding this hugely disappointing room and stay. I have now been home one week and have not heard anything from anyone. I love Mendocino and understand that it is not Carmel. I am sure it does not want to be Carmel. And I realize that I wasn’t at the Post Ranch Inn. However, basic issues like not having enough hot water to use the bathtub that was provided in the room, or even being able to step out of that bathtub without needing to step into a pair of slides because I could see ants walking all over the floor… These are not issues that I expect anywhere. And if they occur, I certainly expect a professional response from management to make me feel as though they understand that their issues have diminished my experience and they want to try to make it right. I am more disappointed about this experience one week later than I was when I drove away from the hotel. Many times when things go wrong, the most important issue is how it’s handled by the people who are responsible. I was very polite and understanding and courteous when I provided information about the problems we were having with our room. I was met with very sincere response from the front desk. However, it’s clear that no one really cares about the guest experience if one week later no one has even reached out to provide the promised response and resolution we were offered when we left. The failure to provide some type of meaningful response and resolution is inexcusable. I do want to add that the Restaurant food, atmosphere, and service were wonderful. We had an excellent experience at both breakfast and dinner twice. I wish we had dined at the restaurant and stayed elsewhere. I will not make this mistake again.

We have stayed at MacCallum House since 2004 when we stayed for our honeymoon. We have come back with our kids multiple times since then. We stayed in the Jedediah Smith House this time and we stayed there several times in the past. We love being there in the winter. We have no issues with rain. However, this time, the main bedroom flooded when there was a lot of rain. We called the front desk multiple times and nothing was done. There was also a horrendous fly problem. We were constantly swatting and killing flies. When we complained when we left, we were told the manager would contact us. I have sent 3 follow up emails and never heard back. I just filed a complaint with the BBB. The quality of this business has declined dramatically in the past few years and I don’t recommend that anyone stay here now.

The room and deck need to be updated. The deck especially should be replaced and the shrubs should be trimmed and cleaned off the deck. The room itself is OK. The bathroom has been updated, but the toilet ran constantly as the pull chain was too long for the toilet and had to be manually picked up so the toilet would stop running. Bed was comfortable and the fireplace was a nice feature.

Restaurant and inn has very poor access by foot if you depend on a cane:: -multiple stairs at entrance and although their is designated handicapped parking at back of inn there are ancient stone stairs to walk down on a incline to reach the restaurant entrance. While service and food excellent the tables are too close together/ they have ONE small votive candle for table lighting ( a shame for a classy restaurant) ; no table flower and the chairs are small/ hard and after appetizer and cocktail-my back was hurting me. Chairs could have a cushion. Don’t know how 6 ft male diners enjoy their meal at all. My server excellent as he offered and helped give his arm support when I needed to leave with y “ doggie bag” as I exiting stairs to my car. No management staff seemed at all observant of my dilemma. Also-there was an adjacent room where could be heard a “ sales pitch” to diners about “ an ownership plea?? for several moments. Disappointed in such a advertized class A restaurant. The food was its best claim.

This is the best place to stay by far in Mendocino, the best host and the the most amazing restaurant, I had a perfect room with a jacuzzi on the porch where I watched the stars all night which was amazing . I recommend this place to everyone .. BEST