I feel compelled to write a quick message to you regarding my recent stay at your Inn. I have been contemplating this message ever since we pulled away in our car last Sunday for home and have had a very hard time coming up with the words to express the experience that my girlfriend Lorna and I had when we visited. So I will start with a few words that immediately come to mind and will continue from there. Warm and inviting, fresh, clean and very professional. Meticulous thought to detail, expert execution in all areas, absolutely flawless and superb! By now you are probably gathering that we had such a terrific time staying with you for the weekend! It was the perfect respite from the hectic city environment to which we are accustomed. From the moment we were greeted and guided to our room I knew we were in for a treat. The front desk staff was excellent and very welcoming. The room was beautifully designed, spotless and comfortable. And when we sat down for our first meal at Brasserie Pip, I knew that we were in for something truly special. We are foodie, bar diners, generally speaking. We like to order an item at a time, whatever happens to catch our eye, chit chat with the bar staff and have a comfortable meal at the bars in most restaurants we frequent. Although we had made a table reservation at Brasserie Pip, the maître de was so polite and accommodating when we changed our minds to eat at the bar. The bartender, Dawn, was so sweet, very easy going and professional and such a delight to talk to. And the food was, to say the least, delicious, simply amazing. We struck up a conversation with your talented Chef, Tyler, when we had finished dinner. He paid a visit after I had asked Dawn to send our regards for the food, especially the braised short rib and the frise’ salad with lardons and a perfectly fried egg! During the conversation we talked a little shop (I used to own a restaurant called Kloe in lower Manhattan and Lorna is the head bartender at Five Napkin Burger in the theater district) and mentioned that we would be dining in the main dining room the next night. Chef Tyler asked if it would be okay if he came up with a tasting that featured some of the local fare and his signature dishes. We happily accepted, said our goodbyes and headed back to our beautiful room to a bottle of wine and excited expectations for what we were to experience the next evening. I won’t get into too many specifics but let’s just say this was one of those dining experiences that you simply don’t forget. The service was crisp, attentive, warm and friendly. The menu, separated for us by Chef Tyler according to our individual taste, was on par with anything I have experienced in Manhattan, from Eleven Madison Park to Bouley to Scalini Fedeli. Your Chef obviously has an amazing command of his kitchen based on execution alone. But more importantly, he projects a thoughtfulness and an inventive and perfectly appropriate take on modern new American food. The dishes were adventurous at times, the flavors were homey, rustic, fresh and always perfectly balanced and matched both the season and the local ingredients exceptionally well. It was the kind of meal that keeps people coming back, even if coming back means two hours from NYC. So, to end, as we remember our stay with you fondly all I can say is Bravo! We have already recommended you to close friends and colleagues. And… we will be seeing you again. Please feel free to use any of this email, in total or part, as you see fit. I would gladly be quoted anywhere as a fan in any capacity. Thank you so much for an extraordinary experience. To you and your entire staff. Many regards, Nathan & Lorna

My wife and I have been here previously, and we enjoyed it enough the first time to come back again with some friends. Everything we liked about it the first time was the same, and there were some very nice additions -- like a newly constructed guest house with rooms that had most of the 19th-Century charm of the main house and all of the convenience and modernity of a 21st-Century property. Another great addition is their chef (Tyler Anderson). We ate at the Inn all three nights that we were there, and each meal was special in it's own way. Our first night there was Valentine's Day, and dinner was a prix fixe meal in their brasserie. It was much better than a typical prix fixe dinner. During dinner, Ian Phillips, one of the owners, stopped by the table to chat with us. (I should point out that no one in our party had ever met Mr. Phillips before, so he was just touring the room and making sure his guests were happy.) When he found out we were going to be eating at the Inn the next night (in the main dining room), he told us that the menu there would be the same as what we were having that night. His solution: he called over his chef, and arranged for us to have a special tasting menu the next night. The next day's dinner was one of the finest dining experiences any of us had ever had. Each course was wonderful, and each somehow managed to outdo the ones that had preceded it. If I have any complaint, it was that I didn't leave enough room to finish my dessert. Our final dinner was a casual affair at the brasserie. Mr. Phillips had suggested we try the chicken, and we took him up on his suggestion. He was right. It was a simple meal, but each bite was amazing. The wine list is very good also, but I'll leave the details of that to someone else. The same goes for breakfast, but enough about the food. It's time to talk about the staff, which apparently has learned a great deal from Mr. Phillips. We didn't have to ask for much, because most of what we needed (or even just wanted) was presented to us as a matter of course. And the few things we did have to ask for were delivered promptly and graciously. Do I have anything negative to say? Not really. Ivoryton in February is not a hotbed of activity, but it's a nice place to relax, and there's enough to do in town and nearby if you get tired of sitting in front of the fireplace.