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Added by Jopie, at 19 September 2016
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12 Reviews
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28 November 2017
My fiance and I chose the Riverbend for our summer 2018 wedding in September 2016 and officially booked them February 2017. From September 2016 to October 2017, they have gone through 3 events planners and new ownership.
The Riverbend cancelled my wedding yesterday via a poorly written EMAIL. They knew for a month that they were cancelling all weddings and continued to take our room reservations and never told us what they were planning on doing. The new owners are foreign investors who are looking to shelter taxes by purchasing here in Canada so they're looking to run a business at minimum effort. No one there speak english because they're only hiring other family from overseas. No one there has run a winery.
When I asked to speak to their manager, they passed me onto their accountant "Al". Al told me that it's due to construction of their coach house which is completely untrue because we don't even need use of the coach house. I found out that the new owners think having weddings there is "too stressful" and when confronted by it, Al said that "there are things we can say" to cover up the real reason why they cancelled all 2018 weddings.
There is nothing in the contract that stipulates grounds for Riverbend to cancel but don't care about what happens to couples who've booked with them nor do they understand Canadian Contract law in the slightest. They haven't called us and won't answer our calls to get an answer from the owners.
Do not go here, they don't care about your stay, they don't care about maintaining the Riverbend, this is purely for tax sheltering from foreign purchasers. The Riverbend is not what it used to be.response / report this review -
17 November 2017
This is my 4th time staying here in the past decade. 5* location and historic Georgian building between the Niagara River and vineyards - trails for walking/biking along the river, its own vineyard (they should offer a tasting of their wines for guests each night!), a walk to Peller or Two Sisters wineries, 3 min drive to Shaw theater, 25 min scenic drive to Niagara Falls. I have enjoyed all the rooms I have had - but prefer the upper floors for quiet. This time I was in the historic side of the inn and overlooking the vast lawn to the Niagara Parkway and the Niagara River beyond. Lovely - the spacious room had a gas fireplace that was a pleasure to enjoy. The room offered a king bed, in-room temp controls, large easily accessed closet with luggage rack, ironing amenities and a safe, comfortable bathroom with sufficient counter space (important!), nice window views, complimentary water and coffee. It needed another light source - the room was dim. It was a comfortable room - though the bathroom was smaller in this one (214 - superior room). Each room is different and some things are a little quirky - like the sloped floor in this bathroom. When you are retrofitting a historic building, this happens and is part of the charm imo. The inn is a little worse for wear at this time - our mattress was old and worn, the bedskirts askew, there was a cobweb on the lampshade, the lace shower curtain had a little dirt on it, the website is not updated regularly, and despite asking the desk when the resto was opened for lunch, we rushed back to have lunch and it was closed.
3.5* rating this time - they need to up their game/service to match the prices they chargeresponse / report this review -
13 October 2017
*Update October 2017, the manager responded to my review on TripAdvisor. Riverbend did not make any effort to make contact or respond to our concerns. I had to put in a dispute with my credit card because the communication was non-existent.
My husband and I booked Riverbend Inn & Vineyard for our wedding in December and within a few months, there was a new wedding coordinator.
From then on, I worked with Samantha and everything seemed as though it was going according to plan, but come our wedding weekend, everything did not go according to plan, starting with our welcome BBQ on Friday. Even though my husband and I compiled a timeline hour by hour of the whole weekend, the weekend was poorly managed. This is the worst customer service we have ever experienced, but the staff was great. The property was beautiful, but unfortunately too many things went wrong.
Friday, August 4th, 2017: We had a welcome BBQ instead of a traditional rehearsal dinner at Riverbend:
• We rented the entire venue for the weekend and we were confused as to why the venue was still open to public (restaurant open during BBQ)-all weekend. We were told the restaurant would be closed. People were in the middle of our pictures, tried to come into our tent, and dined in the restaurant while our events were going on. My son and groomsman had to direct traffic because buses kept coming in
• We rented a tent, but was used by a random wedding. There was no notice on this wedding
• There was no veggie option for the BBQ and this information was listed in a word document with food allergies sent prior to this weekend. My husband had to pay for 2 dinners
• The food quality was poor for the money paid
One of my good friend’s room had no power in his room for the entire weekend. No one was around to rectify this situation
Saturday, August 5, 2017, our wedding date
• Floor plan did not exist
• My husband had to buy own coffee, no extras at all, all we received was 2 chocolate rings and a generic card that said Congratulations from Riverbend in the bridal suite
• Breakfast was late for my husband and his groomsman
• Samantha the wedding coordinator was nowhere to be found and did not say goodbye or congratulations
• No introduction was made to her assistant/bartender who my husband worked with during the wedding
• Left over cake not served at brunch as requested
• No one in charge-woman at desk had no idea. There was never a person in charge that could handle any issues with the hotel or the wedding
• No coffee or tea was served at wedding, not everyone received cake
• Undercooked food was served for some guests
• Late night food should have been in the tent
• Wedding shut down at 11:30PM, should have been 1AM-this matter was discussed, and resolved since we rented the entire property. However, this was done behind our backs and our wedding was cut two hours short due to Samantha’s word.
Sunday, August 6, 2017:
• No one there to coordinate our departure-taking the left over cake, cake stand, ceremony items (sand)
• Samantha was nowhere to be found and could not be reached by her cellphone for the next 5 days.
*My husband and I were midway coming home from the wedding on Sunday and
realized we left the cake. We had to spend the night in Niagara on the lake (August 11-12th) to pick up the cake. When we arrived, a person behind the desk could not find Sam and couldn’t leave her post. Another wedding was going on at the venue. My husband and I waited 45 minutes to retrieve our cake. Again, Samantha did not say congratulations or any other words, or any gestures to express her gratitude. The staff came up to us when they saw us and said congratulations. Overall, I would not book a wedding here or stay at the hotel due to poor management. It is a shame because the property is gorgeous and has enormous potential.response / report this review -
25 September 2017
By far one of the best Inns in the Niagra area. Maybe in North America.
Make sure you check it out when your looking for a stay.response / report this review -
20 September 2017
We booked our wedding for Sept 2017 back in Oct 2016. Through that timeframe we had some doubts about how Riverbend would deliver as we managed to deal with 3 different coordinators during that time. I met the 3rd coordinator, Erin, for the first time during my final meeting (1 week prior to the wedding). Some brides may have freaked out at this, but her and I immediately had a good connection and I felt completely comfortable knowing she'd be taking care of us on our wedding day. Also, after not feeling overly confident with our first coordinator, we had hired our own day-of coordinator to make sure things ran smoothly. I can honestly say, that day was the best of my life! The venue is absolutely breathtaking and all our guests were in awe of the beauty. We lucked out big time by having the best weather we could have possibly hoped for. We had an outdoor ceremony by the gazebo, cocktail hour overlooking the vineyards while us and the bridal party took pictures in the front of the premises (which is also beautiful), and tent reception with the most breathtaking backdrop. Yes, there were some random people on the patio that were watching from afar. But it never felt like they were part of our wedding. Us and our guests were completely in the moment and if anything, I felt proud to have the most beautiful wedding there. We didn't have the entire venue booked so I expected Riverbend to have other guests. Also, we had been told by a number of people (the coordinators, DJ etc.) that NOTL has a bylaw that there is no music allowed outdoors past 11pm. At that point (which was planned), we moved our "after party" including the bar to the coach house and enjoyed our own music there and partied inside and outside of the coach house. Although both the groom and I both thought the food wasn't as good as when we had our tasting, we heard from so many of our guests that it was the best food they've ever had at a wedding. A number of us stayed the night and enjoyed a buffet breakfast we hosted, the next day overlooking the same gorgeous vineyard. We received great service from all of the staff at Riverbend and it felt like an army of people there helping with everything. Every single one of our guests enjoyed the beauty Riverbend has to offer and had only extremely positive things to say about our wedding. Just because things weren't as smooth throughout the planning is the only reason I am not rating this a 5. There is so much potential here and as long as the right things and people fall into place, like it did for us, I believe others could have as much of a magical day as we did.
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15 August 2017
I sadly have to rate this venue at 1 star. It was beautiful in pictures, and in theory was the perfect place for a weekend wedding extravaganza, but the Riverbend was unable to produce anything other then a fabulous backdrop. My very dear friends were under the impression that the ENTIRE venue was rented for their special weekend, with the exception of 1 room, Friday night. Dining, grounds, the whole 9 were supposed to be private. Supposed to be. The staff seemed clueless to any comings and goings of the weekends schedule. Thats my first very important point. I am a professional in the hospitality industry for 17 years and have managed events for the better part of 2 years. The entire staff should have been fully aware of the details pertaining to a wedding (especially a wedding!) that was host to various events over 3 days. Not to mention so many guests were traveling from the US. Completely unprofessional. There was no manager, captain, maitre d, boss steering this operation. Samantha the wedding coordinator did not seem to have any information any time we asked for a situation to be remedied. She was also absent for the better part of the weekend! (Later, after ignoring the bride & grooms calls for 5 days stated she was working a "long shift" sat THE DAY OF THE WEDDING. Note, we didn't see her from pictures in the afternoon on until the evening wedding.) I want to know what sort of operation is being ran when the only person with half knowledge of the event leaves without telling anyone?! She would be fired if she worked for me. At my establishment a simple baptism party management is present from start to finish of the event. Paperwork and instructions are distributed for every server, bartender, host, receptionist, bus person, porter etc. This was so poorly ran I don't have the words to express how unprofessional it came across to guests. The receptionist was very rude and had no point person to guide us towards when we had questions. Probably the reason why they were rude was the lack of instruction once again. To note, the bartenders (a male & female) for the wedding on Saturday were very helpful and kind, but not a substitute for the lack of leadership for once again, a WEDDING. Vendors, like the DJ, that were not employees of the Riverbend, were caught in the middle of this miscommunication "issue" also. The music was supposed to be hours longer, yet the DJ was told that the event had to be wrapped up because of noise laws. Any such rule was not discussed or put in writing to the bride and groom. Imagine booking your wedding, thinking your going to dance the night away with your friends and family, pay a pretty penny to do so, and are then told your wedding is over! Do not book your wedding here. Just take a bus tour, take your pictures, and move on.
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13 August 2017
Got married here in August and have to say they have absolutely horrible service. We booked the entire venue (every room) for the whole weekend and were told that it would be closed to the public. Several times during our rehearsal and wedding day random people were observing our celebration. Random people on the patio during our ceremony. Due to pour communication and coordination our celebration was cut short.
It did not appear as though anyone was in charge the entire weekend. Following the wedding the horrible management has continued with slow responses to our identification that they over billed our bar tab by several thousand dollars.
Overall the property is beautiful, rooms are a little run down and not worth the price. Most of the staff was great! I definitely would not recommend this place for anything other then great pictures!response / report this review -
24 April 2017
Had a nice pre-theatre snack on the very relaxing patio overlooking the vineyards before attending the Shaw Festival's production of Me And My Girl. A great evening. Might stay here sometime in the future.
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13 April 2017
The grounds are beautiful, the inn was very nice from the decor to the state of the building to the size of the room, and the staff are very friendly and helpful. The restaurant service was also very good and the food was excellent.
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22 January 2017
We have stayed at Riverbend three times and each time has been great. The rooms are huge, with a bed, cough, chair, table, desk, and wall unit containing the TV and safe. We had windows on two walls giving a view overlooking the vineyards. Located just outside of the "downtown", it's very dark and quiet at night. Very peaceful and relaxing. On a previous visit the fireplace in the room didn't work. When we told the staff we were immediately moved to another room with a working fireplace. We definitely plan to stay here again.
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02 January 2017
Rooms were a good size and comfortable. The food was good with decent pricing. Dining room service could be better. Front desk was very helpful and we had an excellent time there. Would recommend for older couples .
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26 September 2016
Made a reservation for 3 for yesterday evening at 8pm! When we turned up there was no member of staff. When the waitress with very disheveled hair finally appeared from the kitchen it was obvious that nothing was set up for us. We were then placed on our own at the far end of the restaurant. Talk about feeling segregated!! The bread was freezing! The waiter although very pleasant didn't offer us any wine. He assumed we didn't want any, I did point out that he'd never asked. Soup was very nice. My friend and I ordered a dish of seasonal vegetables to share with our main course. They apparently had been forgotten and appeared when we had finished the meal. The duck was also very nice but overall the dish was lukewarm! We are not averse to paying for quality food and service however this did not provide value for money at all. At those sort of prices they need to up their game! Would we go there again . no! Would we recommend . no!
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