Reluctant Panther Inn

Can’t say enough good things about the Inn. We stayed for 3 nights for a family wedding. The rooms are gorgeous, well appointed, comfortable and clean. The staff was extremely accommodating. We’ll certainly be back in the future.

The most wonderful experience! We visited for our 15^th wedding anniversary and were surprised with a complimentary upgrade to the Three Sisters Suite. Beautiful suite, delicious food, very accommodating, and courteous staff. A must for luxury loving travelers!

Stayed at the panther for my finance’s 30^th birthday. The best hotel experience we have ever had! Beautiful, huge, quiet room with a double sided fireplace — chocolate covered strawberries brought to our room to celebrate the occasion. Breakfast was also brought up to us the next morning, delicious! Can’t say enough about our stay, we will FOR SURE be back soon!

One of the best dishes I’ve ever tasted was the pork belly. I’ve had pork belly 100+ times. This one is better than a David Chang pork bun.

Huge comfortable rooms, luxe bedding, towels and toiletries, and amazing food. You get what you pay for — very nice stay.

The beds are TOO high if you are at all height challenged and the jacuzzi tub
which is a nice IDEA is a danger-​you can’t get in without origami of the body
and even with a stepstool, it’s treacherous. The design of the room and
the amenities are great but that bathtub and bed made the experience
a dangerous one for me. Doesn’t anyone else complain?
Free breakfast was great and the foliage lovely, but… too dangerous for me.

A group of us (24) had dinner here on a Tuesday evening. Very nice setting and solid service. Since it was a large party we had a fixed options. I selected the shrimp starter which had three large and flavorful grilled shrimp. My entrée was the grilled scallops with pork belly, very enjoyable. My girlfriend had the filet and is was ok. They handled the group well. I would like to go back with a smaller party to explore the menu.

Downgrading my review. I feel like the upkeep is lacking as of lately. The carpet in our room was worn and had burn marks from the wood fireplace. The walls could use a fresh coat of paint. And the tub jets could use a more thorough cleaning as well as some fresh grout in the tub. At breakfast I also noticed many chips in the dishware. I guess I just expect more from an upscale place.

Stayed here for 4 days last weekend and had one major complaint. The weather. It was ridiculously cold. However, after meeting the staff of the Reluctant Panther, I am sure if they could have done something about it, they would have. Chris was awesome and went out of her way to make sure that our stay was an excellent experience. Our room was in one of the side cottages and was quite comfortable, warm and clean. The inn itself was well furnished and quite comfortable. Would have preferd a plethora of wood burning fireplaces in the common areas and our room but hey, you can’t have everything but aside from that and the weather there’s absolutely nothing even remotely negative I can say. The place was great. Now on to the restaurant…
I eat out a lot. I eat out at least 500 times a year. That means I know food and I know service. Dinner was exceptional. We had the 7 course tasting menu and wine pairs. It was simply delicious but the true standout was Tim, our waiter. His service, in a word, was exceptional. We also enjoyed his company quite a bit. Great guy. Great place. Great dinner. Highly recommended. We will be back.

The inn itself was beautiful. The staff very nice and helpful. However… Limited menu, with not a lot of options. Food was nothing to mention… No flavor at all, in any of the dishes. I was with a table of 4 and we all got different dishes (gnocchi, short ribs, duck and fettuccini). Short ribs were ice cold and not tender at all. Gnocchi and fettuccini had zero flavor and the portions were the size equal to about a cup and a half. Prices were excessive for what they served. Would not return and would not recommend.

Wonderful dinner in a romantic setting. Desert was over the top. Kudos for cocktails as well.

Quaint setting, luxurious décor, but from another era. Really good traditional french-​inspired gastronomy. Not too many surprises but satisfying and very pleasant.

Hands down, 5-​star experience.
The manfriend and I spent a fantastic weekend at the Panther. It didn’t hurt that we were upgraded to a junior suite, but I think the experience would’ve been just as nice in a standard room. All of the staff, from the front desk receptionist to the bartender (who stayed late so we could have an after-​dinner cocktail), were welcoming and professional. The amenities you might expect from a classy Inn are all there, plus personal touches like a handwritten letter of welcome from the manager. We came to town for the Land Rover driving experience and intended to stay at the Equinox, but so glad that chance directed us here instead.
Thanks for a great time, RP — we look forward to checking out your sister Inn in Newport!

What a nice surprise to find this fine dinning restaurant in the middle of Vermont. Quiet, romantic place with two nice fireplaces. Service is excellent with a fine wine list. BF and I both had the wild mushroom soup to start which was beyond believably rich and tasty. We then shared the short rib special and filet. Both were cooked perfectly. Opted out of dessert but had a pot of tea with honey. Would go back if I was ever in the area again.

Top notch dining. Everyone’s meal was perfect and the service impeccable — and the vast wine list has some nice things in the lower end if you’re cheap like me!
One thing you should know that it will feel somewhat fancy-​schmantzy when you walk in. Having said that, our party was lively and a wee bit loud but we did not feel out of place — in fact, I think the waiter was happy to serve a table that was having a good time.
Seasonal menu, but if you’re there this fall have the venison — and the cheese plate app is a good value.

We were up in VT for the Cheese Trail last Fall (Oct ’11). Its totally legit and Wifey and I would highly recommend, but that’s another review.
We had our one «nice dinner» here on a Saturday night and had no problems getting a reservation on Open Table. Its a white tablecloth and big-​leather chair type of place — seems like you could do a romantic dinner as easily as a business meeting. They had a fireplace which was a nice touch.
Direct quote from my Little Woman about the food (she had the gnocci w/​fig compote and slices of roasted butternut squash):
«How can I possibly describe how good this dish was. If it wasn’t considered inappropriate to lick the dish and all the utensils that touched the dish or sleep with the chef just to ensure I got the recipe, I would have done it.»
Direct quote from me:
«I’d like to speak with the chef please… Yes, privately.»
Food was excellent. Apparently the menu changes according to the seasons, but I had the halibut and pork belly with potatoes and wild mushrooms. Everything was perfectly cooked and well seasoned.
We skipped dessert in lieu of the cheese plate and house smoked carpacccio. Good balance all around. Nothing says «dessert» like rare red meat.
Service was on par. Prompt seating, coherent waitstaff — all good.
Wine menu was extensive and averaged about 10 per glass. Total bill came out to 160, which for fine dining was a pretty good value to me.
We would go again if I didn’t have this damn restraining order…

Review for restaurant only.
Very, very good food. Seared fois gras was excellent. Mixed greens salad had baby beets and walnuts, which we enjoyed very much. Filet mignon was tender and came with fried mashed potatoes and baby broccoli. The baby broccoli was easy to eat, and had a fresh, light taste. The cider donuts dessert was fluffy and loose, coated with brown sugar and a touch of cinnamon.

We stayed two nights at the Inn and had dinner at the restaurant one night. All were excellent.
First, the inn. We were in the Blue Bonnet room. It was large, clean and pretty. The bathroom was amazing (although the jacuzzi tub went a little haywire and turned itself back on half an hour after it was last used… the innkeeper told us how to disable it). The only drawback with this room is that it is on the first floor and its windows look onto the sidewalk and the patio outside the restaurant. Not such an issue in winter when there’s little foot traffic, but it would be a privacy challenge in nicer weather.
The food at the restaurant was delicious and the service very attentive (if not a little too fast!). The donut dessert is a MUST.

This review is for the formal restaurant only.
Divya and I ate here last Friday evening. We strolled down from the Inn at Manchester (will be sure to write a review for that soon…5 stars in case you are wondering) and sat outside on the patio. The host and the waiters/​waitresses were all on point. The food was excellent. The atmosphere was amazing out on the terrace with a flowing stream 10 yards away.
It is expensive, but its well worth it. By far the best meal we had in Vermont this last weekend.

We had dinner at the dining room of the Reluctant Panther, and it was the best meal we had on our trip. They’ve won the Wine Spectator Award of Excellence for the last three years and we still can’t figure out why they were a glaring omission on the Equinox’s restaurant list.
The Inn is beautiful and we were greeted at the dining room by a well dressed maitre d that took our coats and whisked us away to a cozy table by the fireplace. It was a very nice room and we got excited for some fine dining. The menu looked great and there were many tempting options. There was a nice prix fix that we saw many tables take advantage of. We decided to go a la carte. They amused us with a five spice seared ahi that packed so much flavor into a tiny bite. We were stoked by this unexpected treat and eagerly looked forward to the rest of our meal. Our starters were arugula salad with goat cheese and candied nuts, and wild mushroom risotto. The salad was perfectly presented and very fresh with local ingredients. Risotto was good and rich and each variety of mushroom added another level of flavor to this scrumptious dish. For our entrees, I had the zinfandel braised short ribs over Parmesan gnocchi and Kris had the halibut. We loved both of these. They had a very nice cheese cart that we passed on for dessert and opted for the sticky toffee cake. That was fantastic and a wise move on our part.
The Reluctant Panther would hold its own in Chicago. We had a fantastic meal here. It was our only meal around that felt like fine dining. But, expect to pay for it or maybe do the prix fix just to try this excellent restaurant.