Mountain Lake Lodge

Our family enjoyed an early Thanksgiving/Christmas together. We had everything we needed—space, activities, quiet times and all the dishes and kitchen accessories to make all our meals for 13 people!

We truly enjoyed our last minute trip to Mountain Lake! We went during the week so had the experience of the quiet and beauty of the resort and surrounding areas. Staff was amazing! My room was clean and comfortable! Firewood was a bit too green to burn. But overall a wonderful trip!

We came to Mountain Lake Lodge to celebrate a 60th birthday with our daughters, traveling from Florida and Maryland. Unfortunately, the experience did not meet our expectations. The resort is very limited. There is only one main restaurant that serves breakfast, lunch, and dinner. The café offers very little—just a few muffins, some coffee, and chips. The Tavern bar also has restricted hours, and while the drinks were okay, they were definitely overpriced. We also had an issue at the Tavern. I ordered what I believed to be potato chips, but they arrived as waffle-style fries, which I did not want. Even after explaining the misunderstanding, we were still charged for it. Where is the courtesy? For the 60th birthday dinner, we ate at The Harvest Restaurant. The meal was extremely disappointing: $65 for one very small steak, a scoop of mashed potatoes, and a few uneven pieces of asparagus. We were given only a $10 discount, which did not feel like a fair adjustment for the quality and value. Customer service was inconsistent. The front desk gentleman who checked us in was great and very welcoming. However, a front desk lady we dealt with later was rude and not helpful. The café employee was pleasant, but the restaurant manager did not seem willing to address our dining concerns in a meaningful way. Another bar near Salt Pond has limited hours as well. Because of the resort limitations, we ended up spending a lot of time off property in Blacksburg (about 20 minutes away), where we enjoyed wineries, breweries, and some local shops. Just be aware that getting in and out takes about 15 minutes of driving on very windy roads. Wi-Fi was also very spotty throughout our stay. We stayed in the Chestnut Lodge. While it was cozy, the mattresses had visible mold, which is completely unacceptable. I plan to request 1–2 nights refunded through Hotels.com. The Dirty Dancing theme around the property is cute, and we enjoyed completing the scavenger hunt. However, the reward was a postcard showing a canoe and a lake—even though there is no lake here anymore. That felt misleading. The Christmas lights were nice, but overall, the resort should be doing better. We were really looking forward to this special celebration and were disappointed after traveling so far. Mountain Lake Lodge has potential, but improvements are needed in food quality, cleanliness, courtesy, and overall guest experience.

Very understaffed and disappointed in the experience. Told upon checkin that we did not need reservations for dinner only to arrive at 6 and be told that we could not be seated until 7:30. The reason was that one person had not shown up. When we asked for a glass of wine at lunch, we were told that they did not have a bartender until 3 (later changed to 4) and that no one could serve the wine. We had dinner in the Tavern with an extremely overworked bartender who tried to serve food, make drinks and rush around in a frantic way that made you feel as though you would like to get up and help him. Our room was at 62 degrees and our attempt to increase the temperature with the therostat did not work, called for assistance and even the person who came to help didn't know what to do and called in more assistance. The wood for the fireplace was not seasoned wood, so the fire lasted only as long as the firestarters were burning and then a pitiful small flame until it finally burned itself out. We left before going to breakfast for fear it would only be another disappointing experience. It left me thinking what my father always said, i.e., "if one pony stops the show, it wasn't much of a show". Won't be back!

This was our second annual trip to this venue and it will be our last. When we arrived, we realized that we had been given another cabin, but we were fine with that because it was essentially the same floorplan. Upon arrival, we asked about our golf cart and were told we had not reserved one. When we insisted, the clerk looked into this and realized that, oh, wait, we had not only reserved, but paid in full for a golf cart. Well, now they didn't have one available. She spoke with another manager who came up with a solution. We were given a filthy, dirty, gas-powered golf cart that spewed fumes to all its passengers. But it got us up the hill to our cabin, so we took it. We made reservations for dinner at the Lodge that night. We arrived a bit early and had a drink at the bar. We then went to dinner. We waited about 20 minutes to get our 2nd round of drinks and appetizers, being told that bar staff was busy. My husband got up and went to the bar and saw 3 customers sitting at the bar. (BUSY???) But since there is no other venue on this mountaintop, we ordered our dinners. Two of the dinners (hamburgers) came out within about 20 minutes. The other four of us waited for one hour and 40 minutes for our dinners. We were told the kitchen was "slammed." There were not a dozen people in the entire restaurant. The entire lodge and surrounding cabins are being neglected. We were told that the chef who just got there a week earlier, had quit. There is no management of this facility. I think staff cares, but it's not enough to keep the place running properly. So, after paying over $1,500 for a cabin for the weekend, we feel we got a bad deal. None of the 6 of us who went on this mini vacation would ever go back to Mountain Lake Lodge. Save your money--Motel 6 is a better option.

So easy to get around and participate in all events. We watched the movie did trivia, dance class and all the evening entertainment.

My wife and I booked a Dirty Dancing weekend at Mountain Lake Lodge and had the "time of our lives." The weekend was perfect, activities were fun, dance parties were great, food was good, service was excellent and friendly, lodge and property are beautiful, and some amazing hikes to see the Fall colors. We would highly recommend for any fans of the movie!

Dirty dancing weekend was amazing! Loved the activities and setting. Rooms were aged but nothing terrible. Shower was updated and nice.

Over all we enjoyed our stay, but the facility and grounds need some repair/updating. Resort is on top of a mountain so the setting was great. Food was good, but service was slow. Lots of hiking trails in the area.

Great food and scenery from the Harvest restaurant and the whole facility was clean and very nice. Staff were super friendly and helpful! A very nice upscale romantic getaway destination to relax and get in tune with nature and your Dirty Dancing fix!