The Blackthorne Inn

Came here as a surprise for my birthday, planned by my fiancé. I was very surprised and happy to see what/​where she had planned. She rented one of the cabins, with a jacuzzi and fireplace. Perfect.
After a short nap, we went to eat at the restaurant in the main building. Server was great. Friendly, attentive, etc. then, the food came. Food was good, but not great. Caesar salad had an «off taste», but still ok. Shrimp and grits were good, but way too tomatoey and spicier than told. Fiancé couldn’t eat it all because of heartburn. I got the lamb leg special. Meehhhh. It was good, not great. A bit salty. Still, server was very nice and attentive.
We then moved on downstairs to the pub, where live music was being played. We snagged the couch and enjoyed the music, fireplace, and very good service. We had just gotten engaged, and it was my birthday, and our server took care of us.
Now, a few (1) negative. The inn provides logs for the fireplaces. Very nice touch except for one thing. The logs were still green, meaning still had moisture, meaning our fire lasted all of 10 min. Please, id be happier with dry kindling than a truck full of fresh wood.

You cannot beat the atmosphere. It is a beautiful place with lovely people serving you. Food was delicious. I had such a great night! A refreshing change of pace.

Stayed overnight at the Inn. Very cozy room. Would definitely do it again.
Went to the pub for dinner, it was a ton of fun. There was live music that was perfect for the small space and the age of the patrons.
Food was good, especially the homemade chips. Bartender was friendly.

Tom and I dined here tonight for our many years anniversary. We had to book an early bird reservation — not because of our geriatric state, but because we have tickets for a play at 7:30. Truth be told I would happily eat dinner at 5pm every night if convenient!
The menu was limited due to recovery from a recent fire, but they had some dinner items and some interesting specials and soups. We started with a pheasant pâté which was served cutely with cornichons, chopped red onion, a red onion relish and grainy mustard with little toasts. Good, maybe not great, the pâté was very bland. I had a creamy chicken soup with orzo — delicious. Tom had a rum butternut soup which he loved. For entrees he had the mixed grill over risotto — sausage, lamb, and pork tenderloin with mushrooms and red wine Demi glacé. I had a steak and calves liver pie in puff pastry — delicious. Other entrée selections included lamb chops, manicotti, stuffed panfried quail, 5 oz filet. His entrée was $ 28 and mine was $ 17. The wine list was typical for the area and reasonably priced. Portions were generous. The service was EXCELLENT, our waiter was very pleasant and attentive. The atmosphere is lovely — wood burning fireplace and we enjoyed the view of farmland and a pretty pond from our window table. We were offered complimentary champagne and dessert due to our anniversary but were too full and had to run. Total tab before tip $ 116, including 2 glasses of wine and a gimlet, appetizer, soups, split Caesar salad, entrees, and coffee. Great deal, great experience. Looking forward to going back when they get their full dinner menu in place. Recommend. BTW the pub is lovely too.

Bravo for the small plate addition to the menu! Six of us had a wonderful meal Friday in one of the recently restored private dinning rooms. The Blackthorne is better than ever.

Closed for renovation
Whaaaa??? Please open again soon this is my favorite date night spot!

This was our first visit. Donna was absolutely wonderfully helpful reserving our room and dinner plans. Dorey our server was very sweet and patient with us. Unfortunately the food was mediocre at best. We were so disappointed as we had heard great things about the food! We went to the pub after to listen to the «live music» as advertised on their site to find no music and a rude and absent staff. We really had such high expectations of our visit to this establishment. It really has great potential…

Weekend joint. Go to the pub for live music on Fri and Sat nights. Old stone building: historic country vibe. Eat the Irish nachos, grab a cold Guinness, and soak it in. This is the nightlife speed that I like.

Great service. Good food. Nice view while you are eating. My husband had the ribeye and thoroughly enjoyed it. I liked my linguini and clams. Wish they had a bigger menu. The prices were not bad. Overall a good dinner experience.

Got married here in 1997 when it was the 1763 Inn, thinking about going this weekend for our 17^th anniversary! Loved it back then. can’t wait to show our 4 boys!

Booked it for a romantic getaway with my husband and we both loved it. We would definitely come back. We stayed at the Wexford cabin. Certain aspects of the cabin could use updating but overall it was a fabulous experience. We didn’t eat at the restaurant but had a couple of drinks. The food that we saw in other tables looked delicious.

After a beautiful ride through Northern Virginia, Jen and I checked in for a long weekend celebrating our 1-​year anniversary. Everyone at the inn was wonderful and the room was comfortable. Thanks for a wonderful time.

If you like authentic style Irish pubs, this out of the way Inn, restaurant and bar my be for you. Located between Middleburg and Upperville on Route 50, hunt country central.
Service was great, appetizers good, the turkey club I head was okay, the others I was with who had more traditional fare seem to really enjoy theirs.

Very nice place with and extremely friendly and attentive staff. I just wish the food would have lived up to that.
We had a waitress that did a wonderful job. never let our glasses get empty and made me feel like she wanted us to be there.
I had the cottage pie which was overcooked and completely under seasoned. I told the waitress the problem and she was very concerned. Management on the other hand could have cared less what I thought.
The waitress came back to the table with desert and told us the manager didn’t have anything to say but she was bringing us desert because the manager wouldn’t remove the bad item from my check.
Wow… I didn’t ask… all I wanted to hear is we will do better next time…

So before I purchase a deal or plan to go somewhere, I almost always look up reviews and try to check it out first. (I bought a LivingSocial deal.) Blackthorne had some reviews online that looked promising. I checked out Unilocal and Trip Advisor. I perused their website as well. To try to get a better sense of their rooms and whatnot, I looked allover online. I was excited about this much-​needed weekend getaway outside of the city.
When I made the reservation, they only had one room available, the Galway. That right there sounded promising (that all their rooms were booked full) but worrisome that I was getting the unwanted room. When we arrived, check in was easy, Donna was nice and we were quickly on our way to our room. We went in and were immediately put off. While the room was fairly clean, aside from a few stinkbugs and a sad looking loveseat couch, I’m just not sure how they can advertise and even rent it for the advertised price. The room had a slanted roof, so if you are considered even slightly tall, you will have issues. There are several random steps that are unmarked through the room. My boyfriend tripped up and down them a few times. He’s only 5’7″ and the top of his head almost skimmed the doorway to the bathroom. We both felt like tall giants in there, or elves.
The bathroom was very minimal and quite lackluster. The worst part of all was that what they advertise as «Queen bed, Jacuzzi & shower, flat screen satellite TV, deck» for $ 190 a night was an outdated Jacuzzi-​like tub with an old shower head in it. It was a partially-​enclosed space with a shower curtain on two sides, one that opened to the bedroom and bed and the other to the bathroom/​toilet. There was no privacy when in the bathroom. Whoever was in the room was going to hear anything you did in the bathroom. There is a bathroom door, but with the tub open on the other side with only a curtain for privacy, it doesn’t help. Needless to say, they don’t volunteer this information at any point in the reservation nor check in process. Luckily my boyfriend and I aren’t prudes, so we were okay, but the tub was so outdated and dark inside, that it creeped me out and I refrained from showering but only once the whole time (weekend) I was there. It was miserable and gross, and to make matters worse, the shower and sink water smelled atrocious!
Speaking of water, we had dinner in the Wolfe Tone Pub the first night. We had a $ 25 off coupon and free welcome drinks. Promising right? While they were very busy (there’s nothing else to do in the area) I ordered Magner’s on tap, but it tasted terrible. I guess that’s what I get for getting cider on tap. Not many people order cider and it probably just sits around. My bf had a Guinness and I think he enjoyed it. We shared fish and chips and chicken pot pie. The pot pie was yummy, with a side salad that had a good dressing but lacked enough of it to cover it. The fish in the fish and chips did not taste very fresh, which was sad since it had a nice batter and I had read reviews of how good it was. After that we were apprehensive about dinner in their nice restaurant and our complimentary breakfasts.
We had breakfast the next morning and the food was okay. It was a generous breakfast but nothing fantastic. The drinking water that they serve at the Pub/​breakfast and in the nice Restaurant is not fit to drink. It tastes terrible!!! I am a water fiend, but I am not picky. I don’t care if its tap or bottled, but I couldn’t get past their water. It tasted like straight metal pipe. I’d liken it to biting my tongue and drinking water together. It was such a metallic and unsavory taste. We went ahead and had dinner at the nice restaurant there but checked out the menu and with our past luck, decided to just order Caesar salads. It was advertised with hard-​boiled egg. It came with a quarter of a boiled egg… oh well.
Everyone was nice throughout the whole weekend. So I can’t fault that. I just didn’t care for the quality of the place. The grounds are fun to explore and we even played Frisbee outside for a bit. I enjoyed the shared deck off of our room. When the sun was out it was nice to sit out and read. There were two guinea hens running around, and a cat, which was fun to see.
We could hear our neighbors a bit and also, since our room was located in a shack shared with another equally unimpressive room (I would imagine), we could hear all the guests of the Pub stagger out and leave at night when the live bands concluded. I’m hopeful that they have better rooms and cabins on the property but I won’t be back again.

Had a wonderful dinner with great food and a decent beer selection. The service was good and the ambiance was great. This restaurant is located in the center of a very wealthy section of Virginia away from any large cities so it has a very hunters lodge /​gentrified feel to it. A very nice place to eat.

Outdoor patio seating, beautiful views, good fish & chips… and beer! What more could one ask for on a pleasant Sunday afternoon? Lower prices (obviously), a few more choices on the menu, and a slightly happier staff is all I could suggest if I had to think of something.

What a neat place!
We just happened to drive by and the place looked very nice, a beautiful patio that overlooks a small lake. It would have been the perfect setting to go for a romantic dinner with my better half.
Unfortunately, it was a Saturday, we didn’t have any reservations and we ended up eating at the bar instead of the main dining room.
Since we ended up in the bar I thought that bar food was appropriate and ordered the fish and chips which was excellent. My coworkers ordered Bangers and Mash which apparently was quite good as well. Due to the peer pressure we all opted for dessert, Bread Pudding also very good.
The restaurant serves excellent food in a very nice setting and next time I am in the area I will make reservations and eat a proper meal in the dining room or outside.

Gorgeous old-​fashioned pub with stone walls and a stone patio. Would go there again in 10 seconds for a drink but would never try a bite of food there again. An Irish pub that can’t make good fries (er — chips)? No thank you. And my not-​so-​Irish chicken club — a) they forgot the avocado (the second best part, next to the bacon) and b) the chicken was a triange. A freakin’ triangle. A bite of this sandwich told me one thing — the Sysco truck makes it out to Upperville, VA.

You can’t beat this setting or atmosphere. It’s Irish traditon in hunt country. We stop by often since the combination of Irish hospitality, frequent live music and good food is a welcome change in the Virginia hunt country. The place used to be a German restraunt for years that was purchased by an Irish restaraunter six years ago. He and his family of sisters, wife and occasionally kids can all be seen adding a family touch to the Dining Experience.
I’ve ended a busy Paddy’s Day here for the past four years it it’s always the highlight of a multiple-​stop day. Lots of friendly locals, good food and interesting conversation. Plus there are guest cottages if you’ve enjoyed too many Guiness to make it home.