Very nice stay at Bernardus Lodge

100   Recommended
Premium Santa Lucia
September 28, 2015 by EXPERT

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Bernardus Lodge & Spa
 Map | 1 Review | 100% Recommended

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Premium Santa Lucia

Liked:
Location
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Premium Santa Lucia

My husband and I just returned from a 3 night weekend stay at Bernardus Lodge, staying because of a wedding nearby. We very much liked the property, and we definitely would stay again if ever we needed or wanted to be back in the Carmel/Carmel Valley area.

FWIW, we had contacted the GM in Nov 2014 to ask if we could bring our 110 lb Rhodesian Ridgeback, Macallan, even though the hotel has a 75 lb limit for pets. The GM gave us permission once we described the many other hotels we'd visited with our boy (e.g. Calistoga Ranch, Bardessono Yountville, Peninsula Beverly Hills, Andaz WeHo, FS San Francisco, US Grant San Diego, etc.). Carmel is famous for being dog friendly, so we simply couldn't imagine going without Macallan.

The property overall is quite beautiful. The entrance (with Macallan in the foreground)

The entry foyer, with reception just to the right (sorry no photo):

The lounge area in the entry lobby:

The bar area:

The Lucia restaurant just across from the bar:

There was an outdoor dining deck, as well, which you can see whenwalking intothe front entry, as well:

Walking through the lobby, you exit the main building and walkout into the actual property center, with the dining/lunch area just outside, and croquet court essentially serving as the focus of the property:

Just above and to the left of that seating/dining section was the gated off pool area, just below the group of room buildings in the backgroud. Sorry I forgot to take a photo of the pool, since we never used it!

The croquet center field:

There is a large area adjacent to the right side of the property (from these views) where they are building the expansion of the hotel. We didn't hear any noise at all, surprisingly, even with our room being only a short distance away. The sign clearly indicates the scope of the expansion:

Check In

Check in was easy and quick. The hotel has on online check in system, and we received an email a day before our arrival asking for various details. A very nice touch IMO. They also havea text message system through which they alert you when your room is ready based on your preference. We asked for 4 pm check in and got a text at 2:30 pm that our room was ready.

Room

Our Premium Santa Lucia room was beatifully decorated but a bit small in its execution for our tastes--especially so with Macallan with us! Still, we liked the room and the privacy it afforded us relative to what we saw of the other rooms adjacent to the pool or croquet court. Certainly, having a higher floor room isn't any guarantee of added privacy IMO at this property. Our room looked out onto the garden, so we felt it might be among the more private feeling accommodations:

We had room #3:

Which was located down this little pathway below. The pathway in the background ends and the main lodge building and entry/valet station is right beyond those trees:

Walking in the door to our room, you find a hallway ending with a crowded living area. The bathroom was on the right side of this hallway as you walk inside (just before the mirror):

The living area again:

The bed was king size and very comfortable and soft. If you like a hard bed, this might not be your favorite:

The high ceilings made for a spacious living area, but the surfeit of furnishings made it a bit crowded for our taste. There was a small wooden table where we typically had room service breakfast in the far corner near the bed, and that was oddly placed IMO. Overall, we found it a bit cramped and didn't think it was the best use of space, but we still liked the overall feel.We didn't use the couch much, but Macallan did. They also set up a dog bed for him:

The bath, however, seemed a bit more spacious (looking in from the hallway door):

From the shower area:

Sincewe found the room to be a bit cramped for us, we did ask if they had any availability for the larger Luxury rooms (625 vs 525 square feet). Unfortunately, they were booked entirely for the next 2 nights, so we weren't able to move. But we did take a look at the Luxury Santa Lucia Room, which definitely felt more spacious:

This Luxury Santa Lucia room was also on the ground floor like our Premium room, but this was in the building at the rear of the propertybehind the pool, with a view onto the pool. We definitely preferred the room size, but we actually preferred our room view better. It's one up and down, depending on what your priority might be. On a return, we would definitely choose the Luxury or Suite rooms, though we'd request to be closer to the front of the property like we wereon this stay.

We did look into the Suite, which can be combined with the Luxury room shown above to make a larger suite. The Suite itself was quite large, and easily would spacious enough for almost any guest.

Views were not particularly impressive otherwise at this property. The supposed view onto the Santa Lucia mountains from our room was negligible, perhaps because we were on the ground floor. Higher floors likely afforded better views, especially if you were behind the pool area or perhaps even the croquet area. But you lack privacy in those if you go outside on your patio/balcony, since everyone in the property can otherwise see you. So I would recommend choosing a room type based more on size and location on property rather with any view in mind.

Dining

We dined twice at Lucia during our stay, and had breakfast in the same space once. We ordered room service breakfast for our final 2 mornings. To sum it up, dining was fantastic. We really loved everything we ordered for all of our meals. There were plenty of choices, but not too many--we understand the new ownership and restaurant management decided to simplify the former Marinus menu a bit when they converted it into Lucia. I'd say they did a bang-up job.

We did order the tasting menu for dinner on our first evening--and it was delicious. Without labels, here are some photos:

The scallop dish below was INCREDIBLE. I ordered it as an entree the next night with my regular dinner because I loved it so much--a special request they managed despite the fact that it wasn't even on the menu that next night! This was perhap the finest scallop dish I've ever had:

Suffice to say, dining at Bernardus is still incredible. Even if we weren't staying here for some reason, we'd take pains to come back for the restaurant alone. And we highly recommend the tasting menu with wine pairings--the pairings were fantastic, as well. The sommelier even offered to substitute one Chardonnay with a white Burgundy she thought we might appreciate more once she realized we really know our wines...and she was right. It was spot on as a pairing which matched beautifully.

Service

Service was fantastic overall. Definitely Four Seasons level of service from start to finish. We had a few minor mistakes (e.g. half our luggage on arrival being forgotten to be delivered) but those were rectified almost immediately. I always say service is as much about fixing a mistake as getting it right the first time, and the hotel staff wins plaudits from us on both. Everyone was incredibly helpful, friendly, authentic, and obviously trying to please--and getting it done. We were very, very pleased. From valets to restaurant servers to bellmen to reception to room service, everyone was wonderful. Kudos.

Location

The location was lovely--a very tranquil part of the Carmel Valley, just a 15 minute drive into Carmel proper. The Bernardus property, itself, is much smaller and more dense than I'd have guessed.

As for Carmel, the town is very cute, with shops and galleries to explore. We managed to walk through the town and all the way down to the beach (perhaps a 10 minute walk from the town center). Suffice to say, the beach is magnificent:

Overall

Overall, we really have to give Bernardus high marks. Despite the room being smaller than we'd prefer, we had a marvelous stay. Despite it being smaller, we still were quite comfortable overall. The food and service were tremendous, and the location is serene.

The true testament: we'd stay here again in a heart beat.

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