Briarhurst Manor

Haven't have there in years. Great for special occasions. It's an institution in town. Food, service and ambiance is superior.

A friend gave me a Groupon for my birthday- I'm not sure if I would have tried it otherwise but I'm so so glad I did! We visited last night and had a truly lovely experience. David warmly greeted us and seated us and checked in on us throughout the evening. He was gentle and attentive and we really appreciated him.Our serve was Tyler L and he was also fantastic- warm and kind and on top of things- great personality. We ended up in a little room all to ourselves, which was really nice. We were surprised it wasn't more crowded but we did get reservations for 5:15 and most people probably like to eat a little later. :) We were there for two hours which was nice and slow but pretty well paced.It's a really pretty place! It was also really clean for such an older building. I want to read up on its history. The menu changes regularly and is not up to date online. There were about five options for each course. I enjoyed my berry mimosa and my husband enjoyed his wine. We also accidentally got a lavender lemonade cocktail which my husband thought was very good too. There was an amuse bouche of a tiny caprese salad. Then we got our soups- they were the perfect temperature but my tomato bisque was too salty for my taste. My husband really liked his lobster bisque. When David noticed I didn't finish my soup he asked if I wanted to try something else- what? I have never heard that before- I said no thank you because I was surprised but I thought that was really thoughtful. There was a three cheese bread and a ciabatta bread and they were warm and came with a pretty slice of wildflower butter! We then got an "intermezzo" of lemon sorbet to "cleanse our palates" which was very tart and also just felt so fancy. My main dish was beef bourguignon and it came out with a flower on the plate- it was gorgeous. I was surprised that it was just meat and not stew but I absolutely loved it- incredible flavor and super tender- wow. It was served over a smashed yellow potato with a side of some kind of squashes. My husband got the land and sea entree and it was shrimp and elk loin with a blueberry sauce which he thought was delicious. He also had the squashes and yellow potato too. Our desserts took quite a while to come out- mine was creme brûlée which was very yummy but a very small portion under the crispy shell. It was served on a chilled slab that said "Happy Birthday" on it! My husband got the cheesecake which had lots of little flowers on it- very pretty and he thought it tasted great. This is the most expensive restaurant I think I've ever been to- I was kind of shocked at the prices. But it's a truly lovely place and a really lovely experience with beautiful and delicious food and excellent service. It would be wonderful for a special occasion!

The Briarhurst Manor has had a long standing reputation (grown up here - 41 years), to be an upscale establishment. I have been for special occasions, dinners,and even a couple weddings. Today was a major disappointment. My husband kindly booked the Mother's Day Brunch for us, our two girls and my mom. He made a reservation in advance after seeing a Facebook post. The post indicated that a menu was coming soon.We had good reason to believe it would be good, but the truth is there was no menu available on their site or advertisements/comments on Facebook. There was also no price indicated.We arrive to no one in the front lobby. After a couple of minutes an unseasoned waitress arrives, and seats us in the "Drawing Room" right off the lobby. It's by far the most drab room in the place, but it's a gamble on where you'll be sat. She fills waters, serves cold coffee (didn't realize it was not included and $4). My mom gets a new cup, and was never asked (until we are signing the check) for a refill.I wish I would have taken a pictures. We get to the buffet and it's in a large banquet area. Ladies/workers are discussing their personal matters as we navigate what seems to be a spread that has been out for hours. All the breads are rock hard, fruits, cheeses and meats have been rummaged through and with several platters of the same varieties. The frittata (which did have good flavor) had probably sat for a long time as it was dry and not very warm. The short ribs were the same, and you had to pick through the beef to find pieces that were not well done. There was sticky grits (thick) with a really yummy shrimp and base, but they only provided a fork to fish out the shrimp, as they continued to just fill the sauce with plain shrimp. In fact you had to search for the right utensils from of items to get what you needed and return it. Rather than noticing the struggle, the women continued with their personal conversation. In general, this was a very practical selection with no real hint of fine dining.I didn't order anything outside of the water, because I was only asked if I wanted coffee initially. I am glad I didn't as it was all additional. As we ate, our table piled with buffet plates. Not one was taken while we ate. Our waitress asked to refill water but would only do one person and quickly leave, while others were running low.When we went back for dessert, there were a few offerings, all similar and extra sweet. I was hopefully what looked like the chocolate soufflé would be good....it was also ROCK hard (not edible).In general, terrible service, but also realize it was a buffet and likely an unseasoned waitress. But, then we get the check....$260. I can expect to pay $59 per person for a high-end buffet on a holiday, even much more, but this wasn't worth half of that! I sat with a table of piled dishes, cold food, no atmosphere and almost no service.For $60/pp I would expect a hot carving station, included juices, coffee, maybe even a mimosa? Not to mention hot fresh food, and some service. Flowers on the tables would have gone a long way too.... weren't even close to that!So while it feels really crummy to leave a bad review on Mother's Day, a tough day for the food service industry in general, I wouldn't want anyone else to swallow a bill like that after more than a lack luster experience. My poor husband spares no expense on a nice meal, and is quick to write a positive review, and he had a really hard time paying this bill!

WARNING - Sad disappointment!Only giving them 1-star for our server who it was't her fault for thE horrible kitchen.We travel and eat all over the world. When we chose to do a fine dining establishment we expect a culinary journey, NOT a nightmare.After 2.5 hrs we had barely gotten appetizers. The lobster bisque was broken and tasted like pizza and the crab cakes were fried so fast and hard they were dark chocolate brown.After another 45-minutes wait for entrees, we asked how much longer and were told only 1 of 3 was ready we decided to leave and take our hunger somewhere else. Even sadder part was we went for a mother's day adventure and such a letdown for such a special occasion. We drove almost 2 hrs for a beyond dismal experience.Be smart, go somewhere else as their kitchen is totally inadequate to handle the only 10 tables that were there over 3 hours.

This is a warning to anyone visiting from out of town hoping to take advantage of the Groupon currently being offered for this restaurant. My husband and I were in town for the weekend and looking for a nice dinner so we made reservations for Saturday night. He made the reservations a few days in advance and then they called us around noon or a little after on Saturday to confirm. Our reservations were for 7:00pm and we were called at 6:00pm for them to tell us they would not be opening at all that night. They offered to move our reservation to the next night however that would be of no use to us as we would be no longer be in town. And now to top things off we're left with a $150 Groupon for a place that we don't even live close to. We were given a run around from Groupon, but was finally able to get a refund thankfully. I can't speak for the food obviously, and I understand issues happen. I don't know if it were a property problem or shortage of staff or whatnot; but if they were having some difficulties with opening for the night it would have been nice to have known Saturday morning instead of an hour before our reservation time. At the time of writing this they also made no announcement of their closing on any of their social media pages which seems odd at this day in age to not have it posted somewhere, especially being for what I would assume would be a busy Saturday night.

Giving this lovely restaurant a 4 tonight.Four of us came by tonight for dinner. One couple had never been here so it was special for them. Jaime the host was very pleasant and Morgan our server was delightful. We ordered crab cakes and charcuterie for the table to start. Both really nice. We all ordered the 5 course meal. Two had the Prawns, one had the Wellington and one had the wild boar. The Boar and Wellington were very good. The Prawns themselves were quite nice but the linguini wasn't done well. We had so much food, we didn't care to ask for replacement pasta but I did mention it to Morgan. Jaime came out to speak with us about the pasta and offered to make it right. He took care of us. So while not a 5 star meal due to the pasta, still a very good meal and excellent service. Thank you Briarhurst Manor. We'll be back.

Had reservations for dinner. Showed up 5 minutes early, one other car in the parking lot (?), went to hostess station, stood for a couple minutes, could hear conversation from inside the dining area, no one came. Rang their bell, no one came, waited a couple more minutes, rang their bell again, crickets. We left and had a wonderful dinner elsewhere.

Service was great but food took a while to come out. Had a a reservation and were seated promptly by a friendly hostess. Server was very friendly and knowledgeable of the menu but we waited almost an hour for entrees. they were delicious but be prepared to wait!

Fantastic experience. Could not recommend higher. What a great setting! We had a personal tour of the historic house that is now the restaurant. Joshua was super knowledgeable about the menu and had great recommendations. We were there for a birthday dinner and we're brought champagne. Amazing experience, amazing food. Highly recommended!

Tonight was a blast. My fiancé is a nissan technician and his Christmas party was held here this year; it was a murder mystery theme. The actors did an amazing job. The staff were very accommodating and helpful to all of our needs. Becky our bar tender was so much fun! We loved her. We could have drank the night away. What a fun night!