Underwhelming, Overpriced
We visited McMenamins Edgefield as a group trip with friends. I was disappointed.
At $140 per night (excluding tax), I sort of expect something very nice, very special, when I am paying for a room that doesn't include a bathroom. This fell very, very short. The room was cold and drafty, extremely noisy, with a loud heater. The bed was very hard. Bathrooms left a lot to be desired. The men's was a public bathroom (urinals & stalls), with one private bathtub (ewww, who would use that!), one private shower, and a private accessible toilet-sink-shower. This was for our wing. I understand that the women's was three individual private toilet-sink-shower rooms. The bathrooms were in rough shape, but generally pretty clean. I would equate this to camping at a very nice campground that was kept extremely clean. The hotel had a lot of character and charm, but things were showing their age. This had been last renovated nearly three decades ago, and it is showing its age. Proximity to the restaurants and bars was great, and the grounds were very cute. The only true "activities" that were free were the heated pool and the glass blowing shop open during the daytime. Unfortunately, we found ourselves disappointed with the on-campus food. We're foodies, so our standards are a little higher than most, and we generally found ourselves comparing the food quality to mid-level chain restaurants, but priced at the same level as higher-end restaurants that you might find in downtown Portland. Drinks were good, but overpriced. The pool was somewhat nice, although very very crowded at night, with paint peeling off the sides and bottom. C'mon, do some maintenance. The public swimming pool I used as a child, 50 years after it was built, is in better shape than this.
The bottom line is that McMenamins seems to carry a reputation as a high-end establishment. The historic nature of the grounds and the stories that Edgefield carries is awesome, but simply isn't worth what they are charging for rooms. I would have rather visited during the daytime, sampling a drink or two, watching the glass blowing, and returned in to a real hotel with a real bathroom, near a nice restaurant with good food, in Portland, for the evening. Or stopped in on my way to or from the Columbia River Gorge for a quick drink or meal.
As far as anybody reading my review, I probably would have loved this when I was 22 years old, but wouldn't have been able to afford it. I definitely would not visit here with children or pets.
We won't be returning.
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