The Briars Resort & Conference Centre Reviews

Omg service was terrible. We stopped at thr Briars for dessert and coffee. Waitress Julia was beyond terrible. Brought cold coffee and no spoons ,she brought cake and no forks, no napkins. It went on and on like that. Disaster.

This is a very special place full of history and fun. The room was very clean, service very professional.

Quiet. Peaceful. Lake view from the patio. Professional staff. Excellent food.

Needs some serious renovations. The room smelt horrible and the beds are so lousy and old. Would not recommend. there are way better options in the area

Thoroughly enjoyed our stay. Staff were super professional and accomodating. I recommend. Also has one of the best saunas that I have tried i the last few years.

Romantic setting. Beautiful when covered in snow. Warm and welcoming staff.

Pleasant dining great food and service was prompt despite being busy.

Great meals. Both the buffet and the bar area serve food. Gourmet menu, reasonable price, nice staff. But I have safety concerns for fire hazards. The building is old and the passageways downstairs are narrow and easy to get turned around in. Other than that I would rate it 5 stars.

Went to the Briars for a long weekend wedding celebration.
Staff were friendly and accommodating, rooms are clean and bright.
Rooms have very nice toiletries, good quality coffee and tea.
Buffet breakfast was fabulous, unfortunately, hot items not more then room temperature.
They certainly go out of their way to give you a wonderful selection of food items.
I would recommend this hotel/inn for a memorable getaway or important celebration.
I was surprised to be charged $1.00 at checkout for using MasterCard to pay the bill.

This is a great spot off the beaten track. The food, service and accommodation is as would expect. It was memorable and reasonably priced. We'll be back.

Fabulous massage and mani/pedi. It's the staff that makes this place.

This historical place is starting to show it's age. If you buy a spa package, you will be expected to eat lunch in your robe in the Drinkwater lounge, which is a public restaurant. I am not comfortable doing that so I booked to have lunch first so I can stay dressed. I preferred it when lunch was in the tower.

Great location on the lake. Great venue for events and vacations.

Wonderful experience. Lovely clean rooms & amenities. Five star customer service. Highly recommend.

The resort and grounds are cool and you could spend days just exploring the grounds. The spa was great as well.

Excellent facility and service. Truly relaxing and amazing site.

Charming resort with so much to do and see, Food fantastic, service excellent and everything I hoped for. Thanks Briars.

Great food, service, and spa. But the resort is in dire need of renovations

Beautiful courtyard to eat in, and great service. Prices are reasonable for what you get. The ginger beer drink with mint was delicious!

This place is so nice. I was not expecting this. I was in awe the whole time.

Great atmosphere and staff was great. Overall very positive experience.

Went to celebrate my husbands birthday with the Christmas lunch. Dreadful.....waited nearly 15 minutes before asked if we wanted a drink. My husband ordered cider, sorry don't have that. He then ordered Richards red, sorry don't have that. He then ordered a glass of merlot, sorry merlot only comes in bottles. He then ordered sweet red vermouth, they brought white dry vermouth and took it away when he said he could not drink it. Then he ordered a cup of tea. Success, they have tea! Then we stood in a line with 200 people and waited and waited to get to hot food. Badly set up should have been serving both sides. Then the turkey tray was empty and we waited, again. Then gave up and had pork. Returned to dining area to be badly entertained by a very loud piano player. You couldn't hear yourself think where we were sitting. Tea was tepid to start with and nobody offered to refill the teapots. Eventually we attracted somebodies attention who went and found our waitress. There were quite a lot of staff in the dining room but they were all just standing around chatting. After our meal, again we eventually attracted someone's attention to get our bill. Then the pianist decided to break into song, it was terrible. Very very disappointed and very apologetic to our guests as we thought we would enjoy a special celebratory Christmas lunch. Never again!!!

We had a great lunch. The burgers were delicious, beers were reasonably priced, the view was lovely and our waitress was phenomenal!

We went to the Briars as a getaway and it was so relaxing . We did a couple Swedish massage and it was amazing. Mind you it was $300. I also did an hour pedi ($75) that was fantastic. Props to Lindsay she was amazing !!! We stayed 2 nights and all meals were included. Some meals were buffet style and some were not. The buffet wasn't that great but the rest of the food was amazing . The staff are beyond amazing. They are all nice with big smiles. There are many amenities. Winter time they have cross country skiing, skating, sledding and much more. Our favorite was sitting in the tower and coloring. The decor was okay. I'd personally change it especially the wallpapers. Furniture is fairly new and clean. Again mind you that for 2 nights it was $1,000+(not including spa and pedi) something so not that cheap but for what you get you can justify it .

Loved the message I received! Michelle (RMT) was excellent. She saw my husband a few days ago and he also had a great experience. Very knowledgeable. The spa was welcoming, cozy, and clean. The staff were professional and friendly.

Beautiful lake, beautiful property, beautiful manor. Customer service could have been better. We didn't sleep well due to noisy air conditioner that made random buzzing noises that kept us awake. Front desk said someone would look into it, but nothing happened. We paid $1000 for two nights, and couldn't get help while struggling with luggage through doors.

Great atmosphere and great staff, I felt like a king.

Food amazing.
Place is clean and quant.
A great weekend getaway.

Enjoyed a massage at the Briars recently and was definitely impressed with the service. I found the massage itself to be one of the best I ve ever had in my life. Overall the experience was pampering and professional. I loved the robe they have you change into beforehand and the atmosphere of the spa is just beautiful.

One thing I would have preferred is the soft music they play in the room to be just a touch louder. Since it is soft music, there were times where it was so quiet that the room was just silent for a minute or so. But other than that I d highly recommend this spa. It s beautiful!

The property is well maintained, lots of space, we enjoyed the pool, there is an indoor and outdoor pool. It wasn't busy at all. The lake is across the street which was very convenient. The rooms are very outdated and there is an awkward smell, almost moldy. The property is not accessible, we had a stroller and there aren't any ramps or elevators to the rooms. Also, when checking out, there was an unknown charge on my room which I told the front desk was not mine but she would not let it go. Eventually, after like 20 minutes of investigating said it was a mistake. This was very inconvenient for us, we were hoping to check out quickly and get on the road. I asked several times if this could be dealt with after as my husband and infant were waiting in the car for me. Be sure to keep your receipts. I think someone had used our room number for their own lunch. Be careful.

Excellent escape to ski or swim , beautiful resort very classy

Beautiful location. Lovely staff. Food is terrible.

Lovely spa, however I was really disappointed with the resort.

From the pictures posted on their site compared to in person was a huge difference. I felt it was in desperate need of an update. Our room looked like it was the 80th, the couch sure felt like it, super lumpy. The towels we're so thin, bedding didn't have a comforter.

At our first meal I asked my server what she would recommend between two dishes. She told me she can't eat at the restaurant because they don't offer a staff discount and she's a student. So the chef doesn't offer the wait staff samples of the dishes to try?? I did appreciate the staff throughout the resort, all we're very kind.

I definitely will not be back based on cost for we got.

The history; I want to go back in the summer but this was a quick staycation that I quite enjoyed

I am responding to the Briars Management Review. I called last week again to inquire about the follow up and you still have not had a call back. Very poor.
I work in the Health Care Arena and trust me I can identity if a person is wearing a mask or not. Your staff person behind the desk was wearing a mask however the lady whom we interacted was NOT.
Yes a dessert /glass of wine was offered however you were not prepared in any manner to receive your scheduled guests. The manner in how we are dealt with was not appropriate, off hand and very unprofessional and as I said before "it was a take it or leave it approach was most upsetting. We will not be back unless there is new owners/management that knows how to welcome guest and treat them with respect. We have shared and continue to share our experience I never usually write a review and would not have, if the management had received my call or called me back. Very poor service from the bottom to the top.

Love this place but it really needs some refreshing. Old smell in the hotel. Food is great in drink Waters lounge and the spa is amazing.

It really needs to be revamped, I do like heritage but the carpets and the pool , as well as the sauna area need some TLC. No change rooms, went with some girlfriends and we had to take turns using the washroom to change into our robes. The massage therapist was fantastic.

Hello! Recently, Mark and I had the pleasure of staying at The Divot Cottage which is part of The Briars.
The cottage was just lovely and very well appointed. The location was second to none with the lake and beach right out the front patio doors. The waves lulled us to sleep at night which was lovely! The only complaint about the cottage is that we asked for a queen or a king bed and ended up with twin beds pushed together. This indeed created a "divot" and it was difficult to snuggle up together with that join in the middle of the bed. A word to the wise, if you're expecting to get a large bed, you will not, at least not at The Divot Cottage. That was quite disappointing really. Ahhhhhh....first world problems huh?
Our last night there was quite odd as the power suddenly went out! In any event, within moments of our call to the desk, someone came to investigate but said he was not well enough versed to discover the problem and then called the manager to look into it for us. We were quite pleased with how quickly the power was restored and we give credit for their professionalism in the matter.

The breakfast offered a lot of options but, the french toast was thin and rubbery and just not the best.
The eggs were nice and light but, breakfast was not exceptional. We were quite impressed with dinner though ( a la carte) and there was a lot to choose from. The wait staff was quite pleasant and Germaine in particular took very good care of us.

The Briars itself is a lovely escape all in all. And for us, the cottage was a fun, private getaway.

Enjoy your stay!

Martha

What a fantastic place to visit during the winter! We loved everything about our stay - the facilities, the food, the nature around and great customer service. Resort supplied us with snow shoes and we had a great time enjoying the walks around the resort. Five stars.

This place is an institution and often used for wedding receptions. Great grounds to enjoy and a great spot for outside events. The kitchen is competent if not spectacular and did not disappoint. The room decor is somewhat dated but that fits into the over all charm of the place. It s a bit remote located in a rural area outside if Toronto is its a bit of a drive

Pleasant staff, rooms are cozy, and the beds were really comfortable.

Tbe Briars is in a lovely location by the water. It has quite a bit of charm. The Manager and the staff were very helpful although the it seemed to be short staffed for breakfast and I wasn't impressed with the level of service. It would be nice if they would upgrade their pool and hot tub to a salt water solution. The pool and sauna we're atypical of a hotel setting, not a spa setting. There fitness facilities need some serious upgrading. The equipment was old and the facility was unappealing.

Fantastic relaxing evening listening to live music and having dinner with friends.

Definitely top notch service & food, room's
5 . Fantastic for couples and families, groups

Went for a wedding. Great location. Really good food. Great service/staff.

Great place, beautiful grounds right on Lake Simcoe, just a little over an hour away from Toronto. Thoroughly enjoyed our stay and will return.

Comfortable bed and great service. Fantastic food. I had the duck and it was delicious and very moist.

Beautiful location, very clean and tranquil. Dinner was delicious. Looking forward to a return visit.

Great place. But a bit outdated and they have many rules that they insist you obey.

For several years now I have attended an over night stay Christmas party held by my husbands company at the Briars. And every year it's an awesome experience. We are usually in the leacock wing of the resort. And my husband and I always head there early to enjoy the pool there and walk around the grounds as well. The food is amazing. The only thing everyone in our party complains about is they need a new DJ, the 2 we have experienced always seems to fail at knowing what kinda music to play and when and how to transition to different songs. Other then that I love going to the briars every year.

A spa getaway at The Briars is a wonderful experience. Knowledgeable and friendly staff greet you. The pampering begins the moment you step inside. Shannon is lovely and guides you to your own private change room. The massage therapists are equally as wonderful providing you with a relaxing experience. If you get the opportunity, complete your day with a manicure and pedicure from Jennifer. With her attention to detail and a relaxed attitude she is simply a delight!

The rooms were little dated but everything was well kept. The pool, hot tub, sauna were great! The games room and pool table were a huge bonus! Food was really good and all the staff were so friendly.

Went in to ask about the dining and received top notch service. Very warm setting inside and out.

Went for lunch and got some very nice Cajun dusted wings on special with a mushroom soup, just incredible. Great service. Got a pool membership and the facilities are very clean and nice.

Came here for a company retreat. And everything was amazing during time there

I enjoyed staying at this resort as part of a work related retreat. Food and atmosphere were excellent. Rich history on the Sibbald family was well interpreted.

Came for our anniversary. Room a bit dated, but grounds beautiful and food fantastic. Lake view is great. Easy drive just north of Toronto. Enjoyed the pool and walking the trails.

Thoroughly enjoyable experience, staff professional and friendly. The Briars is an oasis of country tranquility one hour from Toronto.

Well I purchased a wag jag which was quite expensive....but its for a anniversary so thought ...why not....I called in the middle of the week to make a reservation and they told me to call in the morning that there was no staff at the desk at that time. I called just now and spoke to Ricardo, and didn't even say that I had a wag jag certificate....and that I wished to make a reservation....only to be told that he was too busy and would need to call me back...LOL...too busy to take a reservation...what is there staff doing at 9am in the morning that they cant even take a reservation. I was annoyed and probaly Ricardo coulsd sense that in my tone...so then he said what days was I interested in for the reservation....so I said I thought you were to busy....So he didn't know what to say....so I said call me back when your not busy....Goodbye...do you think I'm going to book at this place if they not even courteous and professional about taking a reservation.....now I will get a refund for my wagjag....

One of Georgina's gems. Great place to play for a day or stay, great staff, spa, golfing, restaurant and cottages. We have been in the community since 1991 as are experts as award winning realtors. Great community to live, work and play.

the staff were friendly and attentive. the food was OK

was at a wedding here it was great and the staff was too!

Such a quaint and tranquil place for a get away. Hope to stay here again soon for longer.

Came here for a wedding. Other than the grounds being pretty, it's nothing to write home about. Dated on the inside, at dinner, some people had microscopic pieces of meat and others had large portions, same with the sides so no consistency. No serving of more than one drink at a time so me with a bad knee couldn't even have my husband bring me a drink when he went for his, had to go up and down myself. Just blah.

Server was good but didn't seem to be much communication between cooks and wait staff

The staff are delightful and the grounds are beautiful! Most importantly, the food was top notch and delicious!

Was at Briar's for wedding. Staff was professional and efficient. Enjoyed the venue greatly.

Sister had her wedding and reception here. Looks like a nice place. Bit on the expensive side.

Thus place is an amazing place to go if you want to go to a nice little resort. I went for a corporate function with my work and it was a very comfortable stay. The staff here are also super nice. I would recommend coming here for all who want to stay at a comfy place. The rooms were nice and the beds were snug and cozy. The food was tasty