Nemacolin Woodlands Resort, Farmington

To start off this review, I'll name the good parts of this trip, and the only reasons why this vacation did not score a 1/5. It will take less time. The food was fantastic, definitely the best kitchen at any resort I've stayed at. Except for some of the more fast foody joins, such as a shack near the golf course or a pizza parlor. But even the junk tasted good. The shooting academy was fun, and the staff there was professional. I enjoyed the clay pigeons and archery very much. There was also a really nice mini golf course there. Now the bad stuff about Nemacolin Woodlands Resort: For our trip, we decided to stay in one of the nemacolin townhouses, as we assumed they would be similar to a suite, but not as pricey and with a bit more room. Upon our arrival, we found the entire townhouse in disrepair, and even when we moved into another we found similar imperfections. The window shades were broken, there were holes in the walls, lights did not work and the place just felt dirty in general. That may be because our townhouse was in a very muggy, foresty part of the property. The one good part about the townhouse is that it sort of overlooked the zoo. As we wanted to see some of the animals kept on property, we arranged for a "safari trip." Little did we know that this safari would really only consist of riding around on a golf cart and viewing animals through a chain link fence, and through a bunch of foliage. You can see animals better at your local zoo. The fauna also looked completely out of place. Lions and zebras do not belong in the mountains of pennsylvania, and it looked like the staff could care less. Travelling up to the main campus of the resort, I decided to play some tennis on their courts, and have a lesson or two with the pro. I play a lot of tennis, on hard court and clay, and I was looking forward to the seemingly exotic "omni-turf" tennis courts. Well, if you want to play tennis at Nemacolin, you might as well play it on a shredded up living room rug to get the same feel. Why they prefer having the sandy, carpetlike, ripped up courts to real, universal hard courts is beyond me. And then there is the adventure center. If you like heights, this is the place for you. But that wasnt really for me, so the only thing I had to do was paintball. So, after a short while at the Adventure Center, we went back to the Chateau to walk around. I didnt really get much enjoyment out of touring though, because Joe Hardy, the resorts owner, seems to be so self indulgent that he feels it necessary to shove all his achievements, photos with celebrities and mementos in the face of his guests. The property is covered with all the artifacts he purchased at auctions, such as a piece of the berlin wall, elvis's shirt, antique cars and entire walls filled with his picture with at least 200 celebrities on his birthday. We know he's rich, but does he have to show off? The Wildside, currently a bowling alley/arcade but soon to be casino, was depressing. The arcade games were either broken or not worth anyones time, and the bowling was nothing special. The absolute worst part of this trip has nothing to do with the activities, but with the space itself. All disconnected buildings are at least one mile away from each other, and if you're too tired to walk, you have to take a bus. Not only are the buses a waste of gas and hardly a pleasing mode of transport, they smell. If this resort is to be a kid friendly place, the bus drivers definitely need to stop smoking. We did not bring any pets on this vacation, but if you plan to do so, you can bet on your pet being a stinky fifteen minute bus ride away, at the stupidly named Nemacolin Wooflands Pet Resort. In sum, this trip was definitely not worth the money we paid for it. "Expect the unexpected at Nemacolin" is their motto, mainly because all your expectations of a decent vacation are put to rest the second you enter the property.

Three of us went to Aqueous for Mother's Day dinner expecting a really good dining experience. Paid $325 for too much service - server, assistant server, bus person, sommellier - and an average meal. Going to Neamcolin was on our places to see list. Now we can say been there/done that and won't do it again. Obviously we were very disappointed. We are frequent visitors to the area and have had consistently better food elsewhere - sea food in Donegal, steak in Scottdale and pork in Mt Pleasant.

Please Share the Good experiences as well! Why do people dwell on the negetives that they experience, I am most certain that there were good experiences!

Used to go Nemacolin back in 1991 about 6 or 7 weekends a year. This was before most of the changes. My wife and I loved the staff, and the manager we always greeting the quests and checking on our service. We moved away and came back this past September. We could not believe our eyes. It was still beautiful and really grand, but the service was poor. Did not once feel special as we did before. The management and employee moral has surely changed for the worse and the cost was way over the top. We expected to feel great after our trip, but felt sad and shafted....

We stayed at the Lodge, and can only speak for our experience there in between summer and winter seasons. This resort would be a great family spot, if it weren't so expensive. It would be a great couples getaway, if it lived up to its expectations. It is a good girls getaway, and might possibly be a wonderful place to golf or ski. But for us, we were dissapointed. If you spend 5 star money, you epect 5 star service, food, accomodations, and experiences. I am sure the intention is good, but the follow through was poor. I do not blame this on the staff, (most tried hard), but on lack of training, lazy supervisors who failed to correct problems appropriately, and a "get the most dollars from your guest while they are here" type of attitude. High priced food, spa services, activity fees and shopping is one thing - we sort of expected that. Over priced, outrageously expensive, and poor value for those services, restaurants, and activities was not acceptable. I am sure Joe Hardy would be dissapointed if he experienced his resort through our eyes. How can you justify charging $70 per couple for a wine tasting and NOT provide any food (cheese, grapes, crackers, bread, or other appetizers) to accompany it? (We still tipped the sommilier who was very good - make that $80 per couple) How can you close resort amenities (restaurants and shooting range) and not inform guests who make reservations during the closings of the that inconvenience? How can you charge $350 per night for a room when the walls between them are so thin I woke up to hear the guy in the room next to me use the toilet? Consider if any of these things are acceptable to you if your expectation was 5 star resort and the prices reflected the same.

We have been going here for about 14 years. Everytime we go something is different. The rooms are large but do need a GOOD cleaning. We also had a very old tv and remote that didn't work well. They need to update the tv's. We enjoyed the food and our children loved the outdoor pool. One thing i didn't like at the was the cushions are always wet and moldly.

I went to The Tavern in the resort for dinner, and ordered "Pecan encrusted salmon salad", but found there was a roasted WORM!!! I was so disgusted, but the waitress insisted that it was a pecan! I stopped eating and cut it open with a knife, the texture was obviously different from a roasted pecan. I could even see the little feet and head of the worm! Someone who likes "Bizzar Food" might like it, but I will never ever go back there again!

My husband and I just returned from a weekend at Nemacolin resort. Our experience from the moment we set foot in the resort was poor. Let me briefly summarize - the first night we stayed in the lodge. The bed in our room was so uncomfortable that we both were tossing and turning all night and woke up with sore necks and backs in addition to being completely sleep-deprived. The service at the restaurants left a lot to be desired. We ate dinner at Autumn and both ordered a salad before the main course. The salad cost $12, and what they brought us was just a few sprigs of lettuce that a person could finish with two forkfulls. I had to request more salad because what they brought was insufficient. I also ordered a steak well-done, and instead they brought me a bloody rare portion which I once again had to send back. Not once did the staff apologize or attempt to make things better. I will also warn you that there are hidden fees for everything. For example, I had a massage at the spa ($110 for 45 min), and they automatically charged me an additional $22 "service charge" which was supposed to be for gratuity prior to the service. I don't know about you, but a person needs to earn a tip and not expect to get it up front. I could go on and on about the horrible experience we had. Please DO NOT waste your money on this resort. You will be very disappointed!

should have a much larger tennis program including INDOORS.it would be a hit as nothing like this exists many states around nemacolin.tennis is huge for travelers today.

Nemacolin Woodlands Resort was found to be a very unsuitable experience. The television was not working and the front desk manager did not provide any compensation for this huge inconvenience. Many portions of the property were in disrepair and dirty. Room service was prompt, but the food was unacceptable in quality. Host of other poor management issues and a waste of our time and money.