Oberlin Inn

Let’s just say we have had better bruch elsewhere. Food was bland, but we were with some good friends so that helped. Won’t go back.

This tiny town has one main reason to visit– the college. And this one main hotel in the tiny town has only one reason to exist; to accommodate overnight visitors to the college, and they know it. The rooms are one step above motel rooms elsewhere, and the room rates, as noted by other reviewers, are on the high end, considering the accommodations. Unless you want to stay closer to Cleveland and drive the 35 – 40 minutes back and forth to Oberlin, this is it. The good news, they are building this hotel’s replacement right next door (see picture), and adding a «conference center», so, improvement is coming.
P. S., I’m told that the college owns the physical hotel, but farms out the management, so, if you have a problem there, and you’re worried about a management that is less than responsive because they have no competition, talk to the college admissions office. They need to worry about whether people want to come back again and again.

My first visit to Oberlin Inn. I was pleasantly impressed. Food was good, nothing to rave about. I had avacado/​bleu burger. Good size burger, with avacado, bleu cheese & spinach. It was pretty darned good, EXCEPT that it needed some sort of dressing. Maybe their «garlic mayo»! In other words, it was DRY! Anyway, I will definitely visit again. (Don’t get the rueben, my friend ordered it, THE smallest rueben I’ve ever seen!!) French fries were GREAT. Salad bar could be stocked with more selection, Oberlin Inn restaurant needs to keep up, dark green & romaine are «what’s happening»! #satisfiedcustomer

Four generations of family used to go there at least once a year for a holiday meal. It was alright. For some reason I don’t know, we haven’t been there for a few years until my new sister-​in-​law made the reservation.
Now I know why we stopped going there and won’t be back. They suck! This time we were seated in the bar, on the pool table. They put two boards that wobbled and a round table cloth for us to sit at, with the stackable chairs doubled so we could sit at a proper table level! I kid you not.
I think we all had the Easter buffet. The salad was the best thing on it. I’m a potato lover and how can you do those wrong, but they didn’t do them right. The plain boiled red potatoes were the best of the of the main meal. Second after that was the cheesy potato offering that any hillbilly could do much better. The vegetarian offering looked like Kraft macaroni and cheese without the orange coloring. I was told the chicken was very good, but I took a piece of roast beef I took a bite of and didn’t finish. My mother said it was like eating leather. Half of the table complained about the sweet sauces that looked like gravy. I’m not a desert person so I didn’t partake, but everyone else seemed pleased with that.
Horrible. My grandfather was paying $ 30 a plate for that shit and not one of our party of 14 thought it was worth $ 10. Golden Corral is better than that. No one complained because we didn’t want to embarrass Grandpa. If Gramma was still around, there woul be hell to pay. They should be ashamed of themselves.

TL;DR — Don’t stay here if you can help it.
At first I didn’t want to knock the place until I tried it. The outside appearances didn’t seem appealing. I were greeted by the staff who were very helpful and nice though it took a while to get checked in because the same counter seems to be where you pay for the food from the restaurant.
Once I was checked in, I walked to my room and noticed that the hotel had this raunchy, musty smell that you find in very old places. Still not willing write the hotel off because it is old, I hoped that the problems would end there. However, the troubles continued to pile on. First, the door to the room was very sticky, you basically have to slam it shut (so everyone on the floor knows when you are leaving) and apparently all the doors do that because I can hear other tenants leaving. The water fountain’s filter was last changed in 2012, 2 years ago, as was written on the canister itself, and you can definitely tell by the taste of the water which has a moldy flavor. Pulling back the sheets revealed hairs from the former tenant. Luckily there were two beds in the room! Being the only hotel in the region, there were no other rooms available. On top of the décor that seems very old (and cheap) doesn’t help matters considering that the hotel is $ 109 a night! It doesn’t seem very reasonable to me.
Since I am staying here on business, I have to deal with it. Otherwise I would have walked right out and stayed in the next town over at a real hotel.

I took my son to visit the conservatory in December 2014 and had a wonderful experience. There is a shuttle (for a small fee) that picks you up at the airport and drops you off right at the hotel. The rooms were fine, nothing fancy but clean and well kept. Since it was close to the holidays, the hotel was dressed up with sparkling lights and trees, very charming. As was the town itself. You can walk to everything, the art museum is right next door. The only meal we ate at the hotel was breakfast and it was great. The staff couldn’t have been nicer.

This restraint has made a complete 360 last time I stayed in this town I ate here it was some of the worse food you could tell the food was just frozen cheep foods but now wow you can tell the food was made from scratch and it’s good I would eat here over and over again (because I was lazy I came back I’m staying in the hotel)

Sorry, but this inn was not a good experience. No refrigerator in my room. Lumpy pillows. Back breaking mattress. Blankets looked really old and despite it being a non smoking place, I smelled stale cigarette smoke every where, including my bedroom. The room carpet needs to be cleaned or replaced.
Front desk staff were really nice though, and my request for a crib for our baby came right away.

The wait staff are darlings. The front desk staff not so much, customers being the huge inconvenience as they are.

Easily the worst run place I’ve ever stayed! This is what happens when you are the only game in town. Without competition there’s no incentive to get it right. Here’s what I noticed went wrong at the Oberlin Inn this past weekend:
1) The food was not so great. I had a crab cake (one of them about the size of a half dollar) on cole slaw and cucumber salad (not bad, but cucumber was hard to cut with a butter knife). So far so good. Then I had the parmesan and peppercorn pasta (menu item). It literally had no parmesan or peppercorn sauce on it. My guess is that this is one of those places that precooks the pasta (explains why it was soft and kind of cold) and then drops it in hot water before they serve it. They plate it, ladle some sauce over it and send it out. They forgot to ladle the sauce. The waitress (who was very sweet) didn’t know her menu well enough to spot the error (and clearly the cooks didn’t!). I was with a bunch of guests that I was meeting for the first time and didn’t want to be the tool who sent his food back so I was the tool who ate soggy pasta and brussel sprouts instead.
2) The room was poorly set up. No accessible plugs on the side of the room where the desk is. That’s right. Not one single outlet was accessible along the entire two walls adjoining the desk. You could get to an outlet by crawling under the desk and you could get two plugs if you unplugged the lamp while you were down there. Most hotels at half the price of this place use a lamp that has a plug in its base. For the only hotel in a college town not to anticipate the use of cell phones, tablets, laptops or other electronic devices is shameful. On the other wall is a power strip behind the TV. It goes out when you shut out the lights to go to sleep so forget about charging things overnight. (Once you discover this in the morning you will learn to switch the lights off manually at the light rather than using the wall switch. Then when you leave the room you would want to switch them off at the wall so you can find the switch when you enter the dark room.) Of course a well-​managed place would alert you to this.
3) They have secret HBO. — Yup. This was a first. A hotel that provides HBO but doesn’t tell you. If you go to the Oberlin Inn HBO is on Channel 19. The directory of channels they provide you with doesn’t even have a Channel 19 listed! The person who runs this place is flat out doing a terrible job.
4) They come in your room at 5:30 am while you’re sleeping. Yup. Now you’re starting to get why I’m so down on this place! I’m sound asleep at 5:30 am on Sunday morning and I hear my door open. Then after a few seconds I hear «whoops» and then my door closes. Crazy right? I’m usually up pretty early so I generally don’t bother with the «do not disturb» door hangs unless I’m in the shower or something. Still, what makes them think it’s OK to come in without knocking? Every other place on the planet knocks first!
5) The room is drafty as hell. That’s because there is a half inch or more gap under the exterior door (yes, the door that goes out to the parking lot but which can’t be opened from the outside with your key card to make it easy to loan and unload your luggage) which is also probably how all those spiders got in.
6) People can see you naked. Yup again. The blinds don’t close all the way. The window looks out on a parking lot and sidewalk that runs along the row of rooms. People didn’t even have to get out of their cars to see me naked. Maybe that’s why they don’t advertise HBO.
So why did this place get 2 stars instead of 1? The young girl that waited on us the first night was very sweet. She was clearly trying to do a good job. She didn’t know the menu well enough to spot pasta without sauce but probably the person who runs the place never sat the staff down to review the menu items and what they should look like. Probably she is afraid of the cooks (a common problem in poorly managed places). Basically all of the problems with this place come from owners and management who don’t care about doing it right or well. Most of their customers are probably reliant on the University so they stay there because it’s close. They only have to be close to the University, not good at what they do. It’s too bad but it makes for a funny story.

Solid food, good service. The restaurant itself has a lovely view with all the windows it offers.
We had bacon-​wrapped filet mignon, salads, potatoes and mixed vegetables. The bread wasn’t very good this time. This is very standard food, and the restaurant is in a nice location. This is an excellent place to take your grandparents.

It is the only game in town and they have you over a barrel. Making arrangements for a group dinner was arduous. We had to pay the expected bill 4 days ahead of time. No shows meals were eaten by the staff. Breakfast for the group was very slow; it took an hour to prepare the breakfast making us late. Plus the annoyance that they stuck us with someone else breakfast bill on top of our own. How could we eat 2 breakfasts? Someone complained that his room was too cold. He was told «College turns off the heat in June and nothing can be done about it.» Limited parking. And they charge for wifi.

There food is a Blessing. everything done to perfection. You have to try their Sunday Brunch… Gillian and I did one of their Murder Mystery Weekends, and became hooked. I recommend them to my clients…

STILL AVERAGE
Both as a place to stay and as a place to eat (breakfast)). We’ve done both. We went there for breakfast the day after Thanksgiving this year with a large (17) family group and were quite pleased with the results.
The service was understandably slow, but was competent. And, surprise, the food was good, perhaps even above average, which would make it the best meal we’ve ever had there!
3 ½ stars for this effort.

BED BUGS … Enough said. When I confronted the front desk about it they said it was due to the «mexican travelers» they had the week prior. A very non-​Oberlin thing to say.
Do yourself a favor and stay in Elyria (Country Inn and Suites are reliable) or at one of the fantastic local B&B (I’ve only heard great things about the Hallauer House B&B). YES the Oberlin Inn location is golden … It’s not worth paying that premium. As a recent Oberlin grad, my family and friends visited me numerous times throughout my years …
We made the mistake of staying at the Oberlin Inn once — never again. It’s simply cheaper to rent a car and stay in Elyria — PLUS! if you’re visiting your kid at Oberlin, you’re going to want to get off campus — TRUST ME.
Side note: If you haven’t already been there, go to Crocker Park in Westlake for a nice breather. If you’re a wings lover, Ziggy’s in Amherst makes THE BEST wings (and they’re HUGE) — it’s only 10 minutes away South on 58. If you like steak and can afford to splurge a little bit, go to Brasa Grill in Cleveland for a life-​changing all-​you-​can-​eat Brazilian meal and don’t be shy to ask for more helpings.

Daughter found a used nose strip on her sheet, and we were quoted one price over the phone and given a higher price in person. Beware.
Restaurant is pretty good; Michae was the best waitress.

it’s a pity that a place with the cultural cachet of Oberlin College (hello — conservatory, art museum, rock star guests through out the school year) has THIS as the only hotel in town.
What I’m saying is… Pitchers, mentioned by so many alums on this listing, no longer happens at the Inn. They may as well gut it and turn it into a Marriott. Real Talk.

This is the only hotel in Oberlin, so there really isn’t much choice or competition around. I only found out about a nearby bed and breakfast after my stay. Bummer. What it lacks in ambience and character it makes up for in convenience and proximity to the Oberlin campus. It is within walking distance to the main strip of food and shopping and within steps of the Tappan Square. The lobby is welcoming, with lots of bustle and buzzing, and the front desk staff were welcoming and friendly. Ohioans are extremely friendly and helpful. My room was on the third floor and the room was rather plain. This is a no frills hotel, but it has everything you need (ie iron, coffeemaker, phone, alarm clock, TV). The only issue was that the heater was not working in my room, and no one felt compelled to address the issue. And besides the hotel was full. This place served its purpose, a good night’s sleep and a hot shower.

What did Mondays mean for me? $ 3 pitchers of Natty Light or Rolling Rock all… night…long! How can you not love a place with the most awesome male and female bartender duo in town with matching mullets? And yes folks, my picture once, too, graced the wall of this fine establishment, sharing space with so many others before me who came to pay their respects to drunken debauchery.

Pitchers. Pitchers. Pitchers. Pitchers is the only reason I longed to be 21 at Oberlin. I would sneak in regularly — to hang with friends, just waiting — till I would be kicked out. It’s what made days (my junior year) bearable. People would pack in — dribbling out into the hallway — plastic cup in hand. It was always an exciting night. Some nights I would act as cheerleader for Pacman. Others I would try my hand at pool. But most — I was throwing them back (ok one, cause I’m a wimp) — with lame beer games, and amazing company. It never was the same once they started to enforce carding and rose the prices. Once there were rules — Pitchers just wasn’t the same. I miss the drunk and disorderly days!