My husband and I celebrated our 9th wedding anniversary with our 115 lb Rhodesian Ridgeback, Macallan, by driving up the California Coast for almost 2 weeks. To conclude that trip, we had a 3 night stay at Calistoga Ranch. 

(We previously had 5 nights at the RC Bacara Santa Barbara, 2 nights at Ventana Big Sur, and 2 nights at RC Half Moon Bay. I stayed up north alone with 2 more nights at the St Regis San Francisco, as well.)

For the past several years, we'd enjoyed staying at Bardessono in Yountville, particularly enjoying its walking distance from so many amazing restaurants. For this trip, we decided to try something different and settled on Calistoga Ranch because it's both dog friendly and a luxury Auberge property. My husband had stayed many years ago with his family and had very much enjoyed the stay, as well. 

Calistoga Ranch truly is a beautiful property. It was far more impressive than I expected, actually. My biggest issue with that is its density, though it turned out not to be as much a factor in our stay as I imagined it would be on arrival.

Reception:

They'll let anyone park here.

The gym was open to the outdoors. I wouldn't like that.

From reception, only golf carts were allowed into the rest of the property. The density of lodges was higher than I expected, but it turned out to be less of an issue than I thought it might.

Entrance to the resort wine cave:

The infamous Lakehouse Restaurant (where it all went wrong for me):

Indoor seating:

Bar (which closed way too early at 10 pm):

Spectacular outdoor seating with a view:

Check In

Check in was easy and quick. A very friendly team greeted us and a bellman drove us up to our lodge in one golf cart while another bellman drove our luggage up in a second cart.

Room

I was very impressed with the size of our Bay Forest Spa Lodge. Also, I realized that we had booked only a regular Bay Forest Lodge but had been upgraded to a Spa Lodge. That either had gone unmentioned or unnoticed by my husband at check-in. Who can say? Husbands...

The lovely spa...that we never used. Sigh...

The bedroom unit was a bit small for my taste, but it was nice to have the separation from the living room lodge. Storage and closet space were my biggest issues. 

The outdoor shower looked nice, but the mosquitoes clearly had been advised by @MacMyDay to take their vengeance on me for not marrying him. So we never used it.

The living room lodge was far more spacious and comfortable. 

Awaiting us might have been the most generous welcome amenity I've ever seen. Anywhere.

The density of lodges made me worry we would hear people talking outside or vehicles whizzing by, but I never did. Sound insulation and design were done to a high standard that made that a non-issue.

We had thought that not having a view might be an issue, but it turned out to be a non-issuel, as well. Our elevated position above the road made it feel very private. The Oak Creek Lodges had a road across from them that could leave them a bit exposed, though on average they were much more private than the Bay Forest Lodges. I certainly recommend choosing your lodge carefully so as to not get one that is more exposed.

Service

Service outside the Lakehouse Restaurant was very good, but there were some misses. And some very big fails. 

After booking, I had emailed the concierge to try and arrange some winery visits and a priority reservation for us at Meadowood. Crickets. I never got any response. Fortunately, I was able to book our Meadowood dinner, Auberge du Soleil lunch, and a visit to Dana Estate winery on my own. I later booked our dinners at Solbar and Acacia House.

About 2 weeks before our stay, I reached out again to see if the concierge could put together other winery visits for us and for our friends joining us at the Ranch. To this, I finally got a pretty prompt response. A week later, they sent me a preliminary itinerary for visits. I was pleased. 

Service after our arrival was wonderful. The staff couldn't have been more welcoming, friendly, and engaging. Registration, bellmen, valets, pool attendants, everyone was just great. 

I particularly loved the concierge--she's all class. I wasn't sure who dropped the ball on my initial concierge requests, but she was clearly the one who handled all the arranged details since. 

Then it all went bad. 

We went to the Lakehouse restaurant for breakfast our first morning. Service was very slow. I asked for sweetener for my mocha which never came. After 10 min and my mocha not getting warmer, I reminded the server, who pretended it was coming right up--as if he hadn't forgotten. By the time I got it, my mocha was a barely lukewarm. My waffle was also served barely lukewarm, but we had to get off to our Dana Estate winery visit. So I let it go and didn't complain.

I ended up sharing the breakfast details with another staff member while discussing a horrible dinner at Solbar the night before at their sister Solage resort nearby.

So I wasn't surprised when everyone seemed more attentive on our second morning's breakfast at the Lakehouse. But my Eggs Benedict was served barely lukewarm, almost cool, with cold Hollandaise. So I sent it back. Just 10 minutes later the chef personally delivered a new eggs Benedict with an apology—and with actually raw eggs. It was disgusting. So I left.

In my absence, the restaurant team ultimately presented our friends with a bill that still had charges for our meal, including my eggs Benedict. Wow. They eventually comp’d breakfast for us all only after my husband spoke to the GM on the phone. Really? I was apoplectic. I declared I would not return to that restaurant. Ever.

In the meantime, my husband had finally left and spoken on the phone with the GM, who acknowledged problems and disappointment with her team. Nothing more than platitudes if you ask me. My husband wasn't impresed, either. 

Ultimately, my husband and I had to go into St. Helena for breakfast to a restaurant recommended by the lovely concierge. You might have expected Calistoga Ranch to have called ahead to take care of that bill...but nope. Yet another rmissed serviced opportunity. Fail. 

I finally finished breakfast at 12:15 pm or so. This being the day we had an afternoon winery visit and a 6 pm dinner at Meadowood, I was pretty livid at CR for basically screwing up my day. 

The staff supposedly had already canceled our morning winery appointment the night before after we'd made that request--nice service. But then we learned after our breakfast fiasco that they inadvertently had canceled BOTH our winery appointments. I was pissed.

After all that transpired, however, we decided to just stick with relaxation at the resort. 

Ultimately, my husband heard nothing more. I don't think the resort wouldn't have done anything else but comp the breakfast had I not called and spoken with the Assistant GM. I shared my opinion that they should comp a night for the poor F&B, the pitiful service, and the overall lack of any service recovery throughout. If they want to charge rates of $1000 and up, they need to deliver--and they didn't come close. That they didn't even comp our breakfast in town was laughably poor service, I told him. I asked him to follow up with my husband, since he was the one paying and so I wouldn’t get any more irate.

In the end, the Asst GM stopped by the pool an hr or so later to tell my husband that they would comp us one night, comp our breakfasts yesterday and that morning (duh), comp the pet fee, and arrange transportation for me and our 2 friends to another brunch location tomorrow. (They tried for Auberge du Soleil but it was fully booked; I did check!) They also let us use their Mercedes SUV on promotion to drive to Meadowood for dinner. 

My husband and I felt that was appropriate...but I wonder what they would’ve done had I not followed up. They also extended us and our friends 2 pm checkout—a nice gesture I hadn’t requested since my husband and Macallan were departing early the next day. But a nice gesture regardless. They ended up letting me borrow the Mercedes SUV to brunch the final morning with my friends. 

Ultimately, I am not confident that the resort would have offered the service recovery without my suggesting it. I also am not sure they know what a debacle they have with the Lakehouse restaurant. My other friend's husband had breakfast there the final morning and said it wasn't great again. 

In the end, service was a very mixed bag. I think the team is excellent everywhere but the restaurant. But the team falls to pieces and is a bit of a deer in the headlights when things go awry. And the Lakehouse team needs to be spanked and revamped--stat.

I now understand why we never see the Lakehouse ever mentioned among the better restaurants in the Napa Valley, unlike Solbar at Solage (which also disappointed us) and the Restaurant at Auberge du Soleil (which is a staple lunch visit for us whenever in Napa Valley and again was a fantastic lunch). 

Dining

I think I fully addressed dining in the Service section. It sucks. 

Location

The location and setting are wonderful! It was quite easy to get around the north side of Napa Valley, and it was amazing to feel so secluded at the same time. 

Overall

We really thought Calistoga Ranch was beautiful, and we loved our lodge--despite the lack of closet and storage space in the bedroom unit. 

But the Lakehouse restaurant debacle gives us and should give anyone else serious pause. The initial management response and lack of reasonable service recovery is also troubling. That they ultimatelty came through is a positive, but I can't say I am certain they would take care of us again should we encounter such poor service or F&B. At these rates, that's not a good sign.

Until the management fixes the Lakehouse F&B, I won't even consider a return.