Benbow Inn, Garberville

My husband and I showed up at 4:20pm on a Friday and were offered the cottage at a reduced price! Pricey restaurant-no chicken?? Otherwise a wonderful time and beautiful scenery. And, I won the checkers game! ha!

My wife and I stopped on a trip covering Berkley, Glenn Ellen, Redwoods and Point Reyes. The only disapointing part of the trip was the BENBOW!!! The staff were not plesaent and were not helpfull. Many of the furnishings needed to be updated. This could be such a great place, too bad it isn't.

We enjoyed everything. This has to be the best location and value of all the Humboldt has to offer. We will be back next year.

I like everything. The people were very nice. The room was very clean. The veiws were breathtaking and the food was supurb. I highly recommend it. The price may be a little more but it is worth it!

Stayed at historic Benbow Inn, room #305, and it was almost satisfactory. Standard King for $135/night for 2 nights (F/S). Tudor-style hotel is impressive upon arrival, but entering the lobby, one is met with musty/dusty and urine odor. Smell permeates whole hotel, incl room. Antique furnishings in lobby nice, with orig woodwork (arches, mouldings, beams, etc). Stucco walls/ceilings gorgeous. Look for subtle designs in ceiling. Original architecture/design in guest rooms incl gorgeous glass doorknobs and painted glass panes over doors. Lobby has games (chess, checkers..) Landscaping is natural, some areas nicely manicured. Back of hotel there is gorgeous lawn facing old stone bridge. Also a comfortable veranda at front of hotel. You can order food/drinks there. Hotel offers free use of bikes. Teatime offered at 3:00 & appetizers at 5:00. Room fairly large, w/sitting area, view of Eel River/mountains/trees. Dark wood antique furniture really nice. Extremely hot this weekend (100F+); room absorbed heat from floors below and from sun as room faces West; A/C did not keep room very cool (also leaked from ceiling). In middle of night (Sat.), was awful stench coming up thru windows (from kitchen below?); Something like bad chicken stock/boiling bones. Bathroom, clean, very cramped; just enough room for semi-working toilet & tub/shower. Bed semi-comfy and pillows too hard. Room pretty clean, but sherry glasses not cleaned well or replaced after use. There is coffee maker; but no cream so had to drink black. Hotel is a little rough around edges, but maybe to be expected considering it was est in ‘20s. Hotel could def use sprucing up to bring it to a more refined level. Needs dusting- old cobwebs everywhere. Room had no TV, and we weren’t aware of that until check-in. Apparently some terrace rooms have TVs. No elevator; be prepared to hike up/down about 3 steep flights of stairs w/luggage. No room service. There was a decanter of Crème Sherry in room, and we were also given a mini bottle of sparkling rosé wine for our special occasion (w/handwritten note from staff). Staff friendliness/efficiency ranged from spectacular to one case of rudeness (older night check-in lady). Rest of staff amazing. So kind, helpful. Espec. restaurant manager. Highly-touted hotel restaurant was disappointment. Dinner $100, even though only ordered 2 entrées and split salad; expensive! Gave us comp demi-tasse cup of cold tomato soup (not fans, left untouched.) Ordered the chicken which was good/moist (though almost cold) served with topping of bitter dry watercress stems. Instead of risotto, asked for “wild foraged mushroom bread pudding”, which sounded interesting. It was awful looking & tasting; resembled congealed food sliced from a can. My companion ordered beef filet (req potatoes instead of seafood topping), but was served wrong side (rec’d seafood in cream sauce). He requested steak med-rare to medium, but steak arrived completely overcooked, grey throughout. Heirloom tomato plate w/olives, 2 crustini bread slices w/dabs of goat cheese- very good. Didn’t eat much of entrées; the very kind manager took notice of our food returning to kitchen at end of meal and came over to make sure we’d enjoyed our meal; we didn’t have heart to tell him we were disappointed. He was an exceptional manager though, so polite, friendly and service-oriented. Breakfast next day ordered very rustic/hearty plain oatmeal and toast; companion ordered 2 pancakes. Satisfactory meal, about $27. Next night ordered shrimp rémoulade; 4 gigantic juicy shrimp served on bed of lettuce, with tart mustard dressing. Very tasty, about $14. In future if we were able to secure terrace room, overlooking back lawn area, with cable TV for something between $90-$150, would probably return. I think the Benbow Inn is a unique place to stay, has lots of potential, and is still prob the best choice in area for a 1-night stay.

We have frequented this hotel for 35 years, and to us it is the perfect ramantic getaway. The food is great although a little expensive. We have stayed in more populated areas with this level of amenities at 3 times the price. I do long for the days of no tv or phones in the rooms but will continue to return every year.

We return every year for a quiet, peaceful weekend in a beautiful setting. We enjoy the relaxed pace, excellent food and the friendly service. We walk along the roads, paths and river. It gives us an opportunity to reconnect with nature. The lawns are perfect for enjoying the sun and playing games. There are few distractions which make it a wonderful getaway!

Food was above average, however, no precautions are taken to keep bees from causing unpleasant experiance and staff not very helpful. Silverfish in room, not pleasant. As a return visitor, I was most distressed by the overabundance of signs of what a paying guest could not do. Not a pleasant or welcoming place, will not return..

A beautiful place to spend a spring, summer or fall day and evening. The Inn is enchanting with beautiful guest rooms and a fantastic dining room and bar. All of this nestled in amongst the giant Redwood with the beautiful Eel River running past it. Sunday brunch is outrageous !!!