Saddleback Inn at Lake Arrowhead

My wife and I needed a getaway weekend and decided to try the Saddleback Inn. Our visit was simply amazing. The setting in the midst of beautiful native trees made our cabin very private. The grounds were clean and the landscaping was beautiful and well maintained. Our room, cabin 37, was very comfortable. The bed was great and the bathroom had a very large and comfortable soaking tub. The staff was very friendly and the restaurant was a wonderful dining experience. Roger, our waiter, offered recommendations for dinner that were excellent. Jasmine, the bartender, was fun and made delicious drinks. It is a beautiful walk to Lake Arrowhead Village where there are many shopping opportunities. The Saddleback and grounds are absolutely gorgeous and we highly recommend. My only disappointment was that we needed to leave for home.

This is our 4th time coming here .. we love it more every time. I always book the king Cottages with the rollaway beds for me and my boys .. the cottages are clean spacious and it has everything we need for the weekend.. the restaurant is also another reason we book this place ! The food is amazing!!!!!! A must tray when in arrowhead zz

We wanted to explore Big Bear and Lake Arrowhead for some time, so we booked Friday/Saturday in the smaller less commercial Lake Arrowhead. The reviews and self-description of Saddleback convinced me to give it a go, even though it was among the most expensive in town. Easy reservation online, and the reception staff was very professional and thorough. Well done there. Plenty of on-property parking, close to the rooms. The cottage was cute. And outdated. Perspective: For 6-Benjamins for the weekend, everything should be approaching 1st class, right? The interiors were more Budget-6 than a typical noTellHotel. The lighting is just terrible: Only 3 little lamps with low wattage lightbulbs and shades past their prime. Certainly not enough to read by. The window shades should have been replaced 20-years ago. The bed was comfortable, but the pillows were just worn out and lumpy. The sofa (pull out 2nd bed) was so stained that we immediately covered with an extra sheet. Ugh. The bathroom was above average, with a large jacuzzi tub (next to a sign asking us to reduce our use of water). The "decoration" was a collection of 4 small framed photos of the lake long ago. OK, we get it. Nice to have a mini-fridge, but where is the microwave? Where is the coffee pot? The "free WiFi" (paid by 2-Jackson Resort Fee) was marginal occasionally. Our connection often dropped, and when present was weak. We had to use our 2-bar cellular phones as our hotspot. Not nice. All that, we do praise the location: Close to the Village Center, and co-located with a 24x7 711 store. That was useful because the "Free Breakfast" of coffee and pastry didn't open until after 8am. The setup was well done. No microwave but good 4-slot toaster. A big winner for Saddleback is the SB Grill. Our meal there was simply fantastic. Highest praise to the chef. (So good, you better make reservations or you won't be having dinner there!) Everything was superb and reasonably priced. Overall, I would recommend another place to stay, but come to Saddleback for dinner.

I choose to stay here because of good reviews but I was incredibly disappointed. I checked in to Rm 15 after a day of mountain biking exhausted at around 8pm and the temperature in the room was upwards of 85 degrees! The central AC was not working. I should have asked to change rooms then but I was tired and they had a floor AC and a window unit so I turned both of those on in good faith. Sadly, the floor unit sounded like it was struggling and though they helped some, I fell asleep exhausted, and when I woke a couple hours later the room was still not cool. Another issue is one of the blinds was missing the adjustment rod so it would not shut and that let in a lot of light from the street. A lot. The mini fridge was not on either when I got in the room. Not a huge deal but for a $200+ room it would be nice to have a cold fridge with a water in it or to put my water in to keep cool. The WiFi was also not working. It didn’t show up initially and then went in and out a few times while I was using it. On top of these issues the room is very outdated, the sheets were starchy, and the hallways smell musty. The “free breakfast” doesn’t start until 8am (this was a weekday and I was up at 7am hungry!) and is surprisingly sub par for what you pay for a room. It is Motel 6 quality. I’ve had much better at chain motels. These are issues I would expect from a cheap hotel not a 3 star inn/resort (they charge a $20 resort fee - for what I don’t know because there are no amenities). My biggest issue was if they are putting someone in a room they should make sure the temp is working and comfortable. I shared these concerns with the staff in the morning and posted this review later that day. Two days later the owner called me and offered to refund me and comp me a free night IF I take my review down. I said I couldn't do that but may be able to edit it. He said he would refund me if I gave them at least a 4 star review. I thought about it and contacted him back to let him know that I am declining and just want them to do what is right and fix the issues.

I would go again, but if you have mobility issues you may want to pick another hotel. Room was clean. An issue with the shower was resolved immediately. It is also in walking distance to Lake Arrowhead Village.

I posted a previous review after just one day of my 3 day stay. I need to update my review as I have checked out. I will start with the great stuff. The whole place is rustic and historic while being elegantly appointed and visually updated...hardwood floors, flat-screen TVs etc. Beyond beautiful and the location and vibe of the property is amazing. Also the restaurant that is affiliated with the Inn...Saddleback Grill....is beyond delicious and beautiful. Attention to detail with ambiance and the staff service makes it one of the best dining experiences I have ever had in the area. Now the bad stuff. It rained solidly for one of the nights we stayed but the window panes and under the front door leaked...a lot. We put towels everywhere to soak it up, but still found parts of luggage unfortunately in a flood zone that got wet ...which we found out the next day. The downstairs heating system was on point, but somehow the upstairs thermostat....even off, with the fan and air conditioning on, still really needed us to open all of the windows upstairs. When it's not raining I'm sure opening the windows will help out. But the rain will come in even if it's all shut. Another thing, our room was supposed to have 2 roll away beds for the kids. Our room only had one and it was upstairs??? Pain in the butt to drag down the stairs. The second bed was sent over promptly after we called the office. Buuuuttt....after we got it we noticed a random hairclip attached to the bottom springs. Ewww. Which takes me to the next discrepancy. The house cleaning staff. I don't know, overwhelmed, underpaid??? Our room had hairs in the tub....lots...leaves and debris? around the room, spiders in the tub and. webs on the front porch of the room. There was also bizarre pen writing on the upstairs blanket. I have a picture. Next...the front porch light was out, the downstairs sink handles leaked when on, there are cracks in the bathroom floors, the place is very poorly maintained and cleaned. BUT...if you are in the area, definitely eat at the Saddleback Grill. Bring cleaning and sanitizing things for your room. All that being said....the location, beauty of the historic place, beautiful rooms and restaurant....I would definitely stay here again. It's so wonderful that I hope they fix everything, but my family had such a wonderful time in spite of the lacking issues that we would come back. Bring cleaning supplies.

Very friendly staff, nice stay and no issues what so ever. Good location , walking distance to the village.

On booking it looked like my husband and myself were going to spend a couple of nights in a cosy cabin. The cabin did have a nice gas fire but that is where the cosy atmosphere ended. Despite booking for 2 people the cabin only had 1 office type chair meaning we had to take turns sitting on the chair. However as it was not even a soft chair it was more comfortable to sit on the floor watching TV. The heating system worked great in the bedroom but there was no heating in the bathroom. with the temperature outside below zero the bathroom floor was cold as ice. On the positive side the bed was very comfortable. But the bed was beside the door to outside and the cold winter wind was blowing under the door all night making that side of the bed cold. We resorted to putting folded up towels along the bottom of the door. It was such a pity that the cabin did not live up to the "cosy" atmosphere as otherwise we enjoyed our stay. The staff were lovely and we really enjoyed the 4-6pm happy hour. Great atmosphere in the bar

Rustic cabins walking distance to the village. Karen at the front desk was incredibly helpful and friendly.