Carlton Hotel, Atascadero

Wow! What a wonderful hotel. Had a beautifully appointed room. Five star luxury without the luxury price. And check out the 2nd floor atrium, surrounded on four sides, open to the sky. A very comfortable place for chatting, reading, relaxing. Was on the route, but worth a trip out of the way.

FANTASTIC EASTER BRUNCH. BEAUTIFUL ROOM, STAFF HID EASTER EGGS ON THE PATIO FOR THE KIDS. EVERYTHING WAS FIRST CLASS. WAS TREATED LIKE ROYALTY.

A subtle exterior leads to an increasingly pleasant and luxurious hotel experience. The staff was instantly and consistently friendly and helpful, not to mention competent. The dining room was ready to close in 30 minutes, so we got excellent service and food as well. The room was, in a word, elegant. I hated to make even a tiny "mess." The only things I could say would bring this hotel to PERFECT are rather small, and understandable in some cases. First the towels were not soft, though they were huge. Easy fix. Second the makeup mirror was nice, but there is inadequate makeup lighting; natural light is best, but there was not enough strong light in the bathroom or anywhere else. There was no place to sit for that purpose either, actually; and the counter, though lovely marble and brass, was too wide to use the mirror while standing for any detail work. The shower head, obviously meant to conserve water, would not permit a strong enough flow to rinse shampoo & conditioner; had to use the sink to complete the rinse, and used more water in the attempt as well! It may be just my preference, but I do like a small fridge .. but this is certainly not a complaint. There is too much wonderful about the hotel to keep me from going back at any opportunity! Those who have stayed at the Carlton in even recent years should give it another try; they have apparently adjusted many of their past faults. Keep it in business please! It is the best place in the entire area.

A friend and I came to Carlton after a long busy day, found a table to sit at ordered 2 glasses of red wine, after aprox 10 min waitress informes us their wine shipment didnt come in so my friend ordered something else 5min later I was informed there was no Merlot so we ordered something else. We ordered a Sea Breeze which was something that didnt settle well with me. I requested a Pinot. The glass was stained with water spots and lipstick. I requested another glass the waitress brought back the same glass and said "I polished the spots off" The glass still had lipstick marks. The majority of the foods on the menu is fried, and the waiters were wearing unkept very wrinkled shirts. It's been 11/2 years since I visited the Carlton with poor service, last night was no better. We did check out the rooms and were impressed with the lay out and cleanliness. We would not recommend the hotel because of the poor service.

My husband and I were driving around for hours looking for a hotel. Thankfully they were all full, otherwise we wouldn't have discovered the Carlton Hotel. The room was immaculate and furnished exquisitely. It was the perfect end to a long vacation- taking a nice soak in the jacuzzi tub, then enjoying a glass of wine downstairs in the beautiful lounge. Oh and the beds... to die for! The staff were all very helpful and friendly, and the check in/check out process was a breeze (which can't be said for all hotels). I will definitely plan another trip to the central coast just to stay at this hotel again! I highly recommend the Carlton for anyone looking to have a relaxing getaway.

My husband and I went to The Carlton recently for New Year's eve and had a great time. The whole atmosphere was lively and fun, the food was great and the rooms were increadibly comfortable. The beds were some of the most comfortable I have ever slept in. All of the service staff seemed to be enjoing working there. We will definitely go there again.

My husband and I were looking forward to a quiet week-end in a luxurious hotel. When we checked in, we were given a beautiful room, with crown moldings, gorgeous marble, an enormous bathroom loaded with high end toiletries and plush towels. We thought "this is going to be a romantic week-end!" We went to dinner, came back to sip the wine that they delivered, and then the noise started. They rented rooms around us and below us to high school kids who decided that they needed to party all night long. When I called the front desk to complain, they sent someone up to check out the noise - he walked directly into the room and stood in the middle for about five minutes to confirm that there was noise. I am not sure what good this did because the noise continued for the balance of the night. The next morning, we left to meet our friends for the day. When we returned, we thought that we would finally get some rest. Unfortunately,when we walked into the room at 8:30 p.m., the room had not been cleaned. When I called the Front Desk, they said "Sorry, but the cleaning people have left for the day." So, I got to clean a most expensive room, make our bed, pick up the towels, etc. The next day, when we checked out, they gave us a $40 credit because of the cleaning. We will not be back.

Our first and probably our last visit to the Carlton. Probably picked the wrong day.(Mothers Day) but wanted to take Mom to a special place. The routing of the buffet was a chinese fire drill, no beginning and no end. The prime rib was so tough the carver couldn't cut it. Most of the food had been sitting in the steamer trays for way too long. The restrooms had been left unattended and they overflowed with trash and urine. (sorry). If they knew they were going to be serving so many, they should have assigned someone to keep the place clean. Can't recommend the Carlton.

Typically when "on the road" one has to stay at a Best Western, Holiday Inn, etc. Rooms at those establishments will usually be clean and comfortable but lacking in any luxuries whatsoever. It was quite a treat to find The Carlton. I entered at about 10pm on a Friday night. The lobby was quite attractivem and I could hear music and people having a lot of fun from the restaurant/bar. The staff was extremely attentive, and the check-in procedure took a couple minutes. The room was totally unexpected. I'm guessing that the owners spent some time at some Four Seasons establishments before they renovated The Carlton. The minibar (in an alcove before enterig the bed chamber) was well stocked with a very nice assortment of snacks (nuts, very good chocolates, cheese and crackers, etc.), beverages (both spirits and non-alcoholic), local wine (both red and white) and a coffee maker. The bed was very comfortable with wonderful 400 thread count linen. The rest of the bedroom was very nicely appointed (room safe, iron w/board, wireless access, etc.) It's the type of place you could stay for a week. The bathroom was superior to the bathrooms at most Four Seasons. That's right... SUPERIOR. The layout is exactly the same as the typical Four Seasons bathroom, with one major exception - the bathtub at The Carlton is a very deep jacuzzi tub. A very nice treat after being on the road. The Carlton had two drawbacks. First, room service ends at 10pm. Second, the shower could have been more powerful - they should have gone with Speakman showerheads. Still, I'd gladly stay there again.

We are locals - we make it a point to patronize local places if at all possible. We went to the Carlton many times their first year of business, but as of late, I can say the service is absolutely horrible. They billed themselves as a place above all others, somewhere you could go to get a great meal in a great place with great service. With the exception of the great place (inside that is), the rest is seriously lacking. Case in point: we stopped by on a Sunday morning trying to get breakfast for a party of 4. We were quickly met at the door by a guy who gruffly said that they were serving buffet for $35 bucks a head. You could tell he got asked the "how much" question a lot because we didn't even get a chance to ask the price before he blurted it out. We said that we would like to just eat breakfast and not a buffet thank you, and he curtly replied - "we don't serve regular breakfast today". We were shocked. We travel extensively and never have I ever been to a place that serves buffet and NO breakfast. What a strange thing to eliminate potential customers like that?! Case #2 - we stopped by 2 weeks ago at 9:30 p.m. very hungry and looking to our old favorite Carlton for a cozy dinner. We walked in and the hostess greeted us and then without saying another word, quickly left to go to the kitchen. We were kind of standing there - going - did we miss something? Anyway, no one else came to the desk - and we were ignored for at least 5 minutes while we stood there and stared around (very uncomfortable feeling to say the least. We almost walked out for this treatment - but we were HUNGRY! She comes back, never looked at us, was fixated with something on the desk, then FINALLY she made eye contact again and snidely asked us "yessss, may I help you?". Like, duh? Anyway, we asked to sit down to eat. She asked if we had a reservation. We said no. The ironic thing is, as we parked on the street, we walked along all the huge windows and saw the place was relatively empty. This is a very small town, 9:30 on a Saturday is about the time they roll up the sidewalks around here. In addition to that, in their opening days when they were crazy busy, you NEVER needed a reservation - but I digress..... So, she says "We don't have any tables available". We were thinking - WHAT?? We were incredulous! There were at least 7 empty tables that we could see from the front door. I was going to say something witty, but it became crystal clear that the Carlton couldn't care less about customers and they obviously did not want us sitting down that night - period. We just took that for what it was and promptly left. I don't know what is going on over there lately, but patronizing the Carlton now is not the same experience as when they first opened. If they want to keep that high-dollar investment in business, they would be well advised to invest in employees that understood the real concept of customer service. Any sane business owner knows that great companies are built on this key premise - EPECIALLY in the hospitality industry - yikes. The owners need to wake up, and soon - or that big, beautiful building will be empty before they know it.