Simon Kenton Inn

Went for Mother’s Day. Very nice place. Service was great and food was great.
Different atmosphere and if in their area give it a try.

Been here four or five times this year. Food has never ben the strongpoint but the ambiance was worth the trip. Tonight the food was poor and the service almost non existent

I went to SKI for a work dinner and even though I have lived in Dayton for over 25 years, I had never heard of the place. Unfortunately it was dark when we arrived so I didn’t get to see much of the building or grounds. The inside was nice and they had two rooms set up for our group. We had a limited menu and I tried the panko crusted pork chop with mashed potatoes and broccoli. Everything was very good and the pork chop was HUGE! The service was very good as well. I will definitely plan a return trip.

Had Christmas lunch there yesterday. The Inn is beautiful and the service was excellent !!
But the food left a lot to be desired.

Came out for the French Dinner & Wine tasting. Rented a suite for the night. Everything was amazing, I am only rating it a 3 because come to find out the own was hosting this event. She went around to all the tables but never came by ours. I felt if she was going to come out and talk to the small group, she should have spoke or at least done a meet and greet with everyone.

The food at the restaurant is delicious and the owner is great. Do expect slow service. It’s part of the vibe of the place. Everyone is kind but it’s intentionally slower going and provides a relaxed feel because of it. Great beer choices. The rooms while nice lack a little bit of comfort. I could have used an extra blanket. I’m sure the owner would have jumped to bring me one had I asked but it was raining and didn’t want to trouble her.

What a beautiful property!!! The food was excellent. The server seemed a bit off. She was slow and interupted conversation but that should not be a determining factor in trying this place out. Absolutely gorgeous! I met the owner and she was extremely nice. You can tell she puts a ton of work into everything. I would give them 5 stars if we had a better waitress.

I chose the Simon Kenton Inn for my dad’s surprise birthday dinner. I am glad I chose this location for my party.
Amanda was extremely helpful with answering my questions and helping me throughout the planning process. She ended up getting sick and was unable to be there the day of the party but the event still occurred as planned. Theresa made sure all went well. Billy was our server for the day and he did s fantastic job. The entire staff was extremely nice! Even the guests commented on how everyone was so nice and cordial.
The food was delicious. I highly recommend the beef brisket. It was excellent! The restaurant is quaint and has a nice atmosphere. Most of my guests from Springfield mentioned that they had never been to SKI but have plans to return for dinner or to have their own vent. I highly encourage anyone who is looking to plan an event to look at the Simon Kenton Inn as a venue.
All in all I have no complaints. Thank you for making my event wonderful!!!

Highly disappointing due to the Poor customer service and attitude of owner.
Great interaction with the staff members though– they were very friendly, understanding.
I booked a room months ago for the caretakers cottage (most expensive room on the property) for myself and 3 of my bridesmaids to stay the night before my wedding and get ready in it the morning of my wedding. I was getting married at a different venue (because I have heard that the food isn’t great for weddings there).
3 days before my wedding I called to confirm and make sure everything was in place and find out check In and out time, etc. — - I was notified that I would Absolutely NOT be able to take ANY pictures outside. Not even for 15 minutes (!!) in a different (!!) area of another bridal party having a wedding there at 4:30, then I was told the wedding was at 2:30… Ironic how all of a sudden the time moved up. Also she (owner) informed me that they charge $ 500 to take wedding photos on their grounds! She even threatened me with canceling the room or kicking my photographer off the grounds. 1) this is outrageously priced 2) not listed on the website anywhere about not being able to take pictures and 3) this was the whole reason we had planned on staying there– so I could get a few photos on the grounds prior to the wedding. We would have been completed with our 15 minutes of photos and out of there prior to any of the other party’s guests arriving and would’ve made sure to not be in their way at all.
Overall, this has been an extremely disappointing experience with the owner of the simon kenton inn and it has caused anxiety and a major kink in all of my plans at 3 days prior to my wedding as well as adding more people to contact to change locations. (videographer, photographer, hair and makeup, limo driver)
Save yourself the hassle and time and work with another company that understands the importance of customer service and appreciates your business.

I took my sister there for the Mother’s Day Buffett the staff was all very pleasant and the food was really good, I would and will definitely go back again, I wish I would of went sooner.

I feel really bad for the people involved in the wedding in the other review. Terrible!
We stopped there for Sunday brunch today and were very pleased. The brunch was $ 12 per person which I consider reasonable based on my experiences of brunches.
The selection included sausage, bacon, scrambled eggs, various yeast breads and quick breads, real butter, fresh fruit chopped and mixed together, tossed salad comprised of greens (not iceberg), golden grape tomatoes, cooked squash, cut up roasted potatoes, pulled pork with small buns and sauce and some kind of salmon. I am sure I missed a few items. All quite tasty and nicely presented. The iced tea was freshly brewed and the water was fine. I did not have coffee but the others at the table did and I did not hear any complaints.
The dessert table was separate and had a variety of about six items: brownies (no nuts), raspberry pie, chocolate layer cake and coconut layer cake, all either homemade or someone locally made them. In other words, not factory-​produced. All very nice. The size of each was on the small side which I feel was appropriate since we had feasted on quite a lot of food.
We had good service and the waitress promptly refilled our water glasses and cleared our plates without us having to ask.
The surroundings were very pleasant especially if you like original historical surroundings.
I would definitely go back.

I read the review that was posted in 2012 regarding Simon Kenton Inn and was really surprised with the lengthy berating that was given to the staff. Especially from the perspective of a wedding GUEST.
I had my wedding and reception this past December at Simon Kenton Inn. Although, my (now) husband and I live in Georgia we decided to plan a winter wedding at Simon Kenton because we both grew up in Springfield, and most of our family still live there. From the moment I started planning I received gracious attention and service beyond what I had expected. Planning an out of state wedding in a small town is no easy task, but the staff at Simon Kenton made my whole experience seamless. Anytime I had a question or concern my email or phone call was returned immediately. I don’t think I ever waited more than 5 hours to hear back from the owner or banquet manager throughout my entire planning process.
On the day of my wedding everything was coordinated for me, so I at no point had to hassle with any of my vendors. I didn’t even see my florist! Everything was delivered how it was supposed to be and I didn’t have to double check details, it was all taken care of by the banquet manager. I had specific wine ordered for our toast that had to be special ordered, I wasn’t even charged anything additional for this request.
The banquet servers were all super professional, very attentive and kind to my guests. I heard sooo many positive things about the service and staff from my friends and family, I was SO pleased!
At one point my husband’s 10 year old cousin vomited near our gift table. One of the banquet staff (Jamie) rushed so quickly to clean it up that no one else at the reception even noticed! I wouldn’t have even known that had I not seen Jamie on her hands and knees scrubbing the floor near the table, looking up and smiling at me. I pulled her aside later and asked what happened, figuring someone had just spilled a drink. She told me she was cleaning up puke. I couldn’t believe it! I work in an Urgent Care center, and never in my life have I seen a crisis averted so gracefully.
My husband and I also stayed in the inn for 3 nights. We both teared up when we had to leave. It was such a wonderful experience! We were taken care of in a way I had never experienced in the hospitality industry. I highly recommend Simon Kenton Inn. Its an important historical property with wonderful staff, food, atmosphere and décor.

Quick Tip: Wedding. Staff «steals» full drinks if you leave them alone for a few minutes to dance.
Full Review:
Oh my gosh. Where do I even begin?
I guess I can begin the good things about this place since there aren’t many. For starters, it is a beautiful little inn on a nice bit of land. Picturesque, if you will. When we first arrived for my cousin’s wedding I thought it would make the perfect filming location for many different things. I still believe that because it LOOKS great.
Now for the bad. After the appeal of its appearance faded we were left with poor service, bad food and a lackluster visit. My mother and I helped with a lot of stuff and were lucky enough to experience everything from the catering to the restaurant/​bar to the room treatments.
Let me just go in order. The wedding took place on a Sunday so nothing else was going on. The staff failed to set up the tables and chairs prior to the ceremony so nothing at the reception was decorated and half the tables were missing chairs. They claimed to not have enough chairs but for a place that claims they can cater to parties of 300+, a wedding of about 120 people should not have been an issue.
Before and during the ceremony, no beverages were provided. Not even filtered drinking water. They had one measly pitcher of rusty (i.e. blood taste) water hidden in the back of the reception area. It was 90 degrees and sunny on that day. They could have at least provided clean tasting drinking water for the guests.
The rusty water was everywhere. At the reception, in the restaurant, in the rooms. Apparently they serve well water from their personal well. I personally find that to be disgusting and even if everything else was perfect, I don’t think I could forgive the poor quality of the drinking water.
At the reception, the catering staff failed miserably. The drinks were never poured the same person to person. The food trays were not replenished quickly and instead many guests didn’t even get to eat because they gave up waiting for the food to arrive. The wedding cake and backup sheet cake were poorly attended to. After the main wedding cake was gone, my mom had to ASK them to bring out the sheet cake for the rest of the guests. People were literally waiting to get a piece and the staff were just looking at them.
Once the reception got going, those at my table got up to take a few pictures. When we returned, all of our FULL drinks had been cleared from the table. We had left our stuff on the seats and table. It should have pretty obvious we were coming back… not to mention the fact that our drinks were full.
My brother insisted that it wasn’t a big deal since the drinks were free but I reminded him that the drinks are NOT free. Our cousin and her family were paying for every drop of alcohol served. So if they clear 20 full glasses from the tables and then those people have to go get new drinks, they get to charge the bride/​groom for another bottle or so of liquor. Whether due to poor training or shady business practice, I found it to be unacceptable.
Since the reception only had appetizers which were poorly served, we had dinner at the onsite restaurant.
Our server was the same guy who was clearing tables at the reception. His apron was covered in food and he didn’t really seem to know what he was talking about. He tried to describe the specials and kept saying, «It’s this kind of, um, like…» and couldn’t really describe it. Yeah, I’ll have that, um, like, whatever you just described. After he took our orders he did not come back to our table for 40 minutes. LITERALLY. We timed it. He didn’t even stop by to refill the few empty blood water glasses or ask if we wanted more soda/​wine/​etc. At minute 40 he appeared and asked my dad if it was okay to subsitute the peas/​carrots for the corn side because they were out of corn. Really? It took him 40 minutes to realize that a side was unavailable?
The food was terrible. The service terrible. It was just a bad dinner.
For breakfast the next morning, we drove back to the inn. Our server, who seemed to have NOTHING else to do but wait on us since it was a Monday morning, did not seem to care that we didn’t have enough food in our «buffet» and that the coffee was burnt. We had to ask her to make a fresh pot. When that arrived, it was the only thing I consumed. So I had a cold, heart-​shaped hard-​boiled egg and a piece of cold bacon and LOTS of coffee from the fresh pot. Worth $ 8? I would have preferred to just get coffee from Starbucks and save $ 3.
This inn has so much potential given the location and layout of the land but the shoddy service, bad food and terrible blood-​flavored water make it unbearable.

Expensive. And salads don’t come with the pricey meal. I had the Eggplant Napoleon which was very tasty. Sauce was a little sweet for me but the dish was still good. Prime rib is excellent. Salmon is also excellent. Sit on the patio if the weather is conducive. Some of the tables in the dining room make you feel like you are sitting in a hallway with all of the foot traffic that goes by. Very charming place and was a nice evening even though the staff should have kicked out the loud drunk in the restaurant. If I wanted to sit and listen to someone’s drunken mouth I could have gone to Denny’s and spent a lot less money!