Nemacolin Woodlands Resort: Farmington, Pennsylvania

There are a lot of spas that get a lot of hype from the big publications or even word of mouth hype on a grassroots local level.  If any of you are like me and my business partner, you have fallen for these traps and left a "reputable" spa reeled robbed rather than relaxed.  This is the first post of our hype v fab series and we hope you find it to be honest, useful and educational.
The Resort:
Nemacolin Woodlands Resort is a Pittsburgh and surrounding area staple, it is a name that is often dropped within Pittsburgh society circles and among professionals who are able to afford to stay at the Forbes Five Star Resort or the AAA Five Diamond Falling Rock Boutique Hotel (on property) and indulge in the spa.
Our recent stay was in the "Chateau" which is their showcase main hotel modeled after the Ritz-Carlton in Paris.  Our room was fantastic, huge and opulent complete with powder room, living and dining room, walk-in closet and huge master bath and we were able to check in and head up to it immediately which was an added bonus.  Once settled in we headed to lunch, this is a subject that could use much improvement.  To our surprise, only two restaurants on property were open for lunch on a Saturday.  One was in another hotel on property and would have required us to take a shuttle (ummm, no thanks.  Unless the shuttle is a town car) the other, The Tavern, was within walking distance so we chose it.

The bedroom

Living room looking into bedroom

Dining room and powder room

Dining room

Master bath

Master bath

Lunch:
This was our second dining experience at The Tavern and our first was barely acceptable so we didn't have high hopes but we were starving from the drive in.  Last time we ate there we were unfortunately seated next to a table of children...not exactly on the spa day itinerary   The menu is exactly what you think it would be based on the name, fried food, things smothered in cheese, loads of French fries and other various comfort foods.  After much deliberation we were able to find some somewhat healthy options (grilled salmon salad, turkey sandwich) and they do have sparkling water so we will survive.  Overall the food was edible but average from a menu that's hard to find healthy options from...not spa food but on the bright side, our server was fantastic.  I would also like to add that the spa has no in house food option.  The only thing they have inside the spa is a food counter inside the gym with barely healthy items in the case so if you want to eat a healthy, relaxing, quiet lunch in your robe, you'd better brown bag it....oh but where will you sit? Hmmmm...  

The spa food counter inside the gym

The spa food counter inside the gym

Hope you're not hungry...

The spa food counter inside the gym

The Spa:
This is our second trip to Nemacolin's spa within the past 6 months so obviously there are numerous things we like about it (one being the wooden boxes in each treatment room for your jewelry) but if I'm being honest there are a few key things that need to be improved.  First thing, where is the relaxation room?  After being greeted by a woman reminiscent of one of my high school cafeteria lunch ladies barking "slipper size" as if we were being given prison attire, we were escorted to our lockers.  We change and then are ushered off the the waiting area off of the ladies locker room.  The room is small to medium sized, there is tea and water available and a bowl of apples, that was it.  I will give them credit for fresh crispy apples and high end good quality Mighty Leaf Tea which is one of my favorites.  The challenge with the room is that it is not at all conducive to relaxation, it feels like a dumping ground or holding cell.  It gets loud in there because it seems that people attending the spa here are never knowledgeable about spa etiquette and tend to yap and laugh loudly as if they were in a bar, not a spa.  The waiting area on the top floor is great, there is a fireplace and it's very spacious.  It also seems that people lounging up there tend to have better manners, the challenge is that this serene waiting area is on the "facial floor" and it seems that you can only be there once you've had or are going to have a facial after another service.  The downstairs waiting area is also great, this is my personal favorite floor and it also happens to be the massage and body treatment level.  This area is modern zen and quiet, I wish they would build a relaxation room down there with big signs that say NO TALKING.
The Services:
I love massages and I have to say that the hot stone massage that I had on this trip was one of the best that I've had.  My therapist was knowledgeable  polite and very professional and I enjoyed the massage so much that I would actually request him on a future visit.  I also had one of their signature and exclusive services, the full body Aroma Paraffin .  You wouldn't know this but I have a love of paraffin treatments so the concept of covering my body in it was amazing.  My therapist was nice, he performed it just fine but I feel like it could have been amazing rather than just good or nice.  The last time we were there I had the Woodlands full body Paraffin and it was vastly superior, I should have stuck with that although it wouldn't have fixed the mediocre therapist. Lastly was my facial and this is another area where improvement needs to take place.  I feel that a spa on the Forbes Four Star level would be using better products than Dermalogica.  While they also offer the 3x NewBeauty award winning Jan Marini line, I was shocked to see all of the parabens in it and became very disappointed.  My Moonstone facial was adequate, she did miss a huge blemish on my cheek...the rest was just, okay...it felt rushed and robotic.  My partner, on the other hand, liked her facial and her LumiLift add on but shared my disappointment with the product lines.
Dinner:
I'm going to open big with dinner....Dinner was AMAZING!  Absolutely, positively, amazing.  We ate at their signature Fine Dining restaurant Lautrec  which has been awarded both the Forbes Five-Star and AAA Five-Diamond awards for 2012.  Lautrec is only one of 20 restaurants in the world to hold both a Forbes Five Star and AAA Five Diamond award simultaneously.  Dinner was magical, from the champagne and caviar cart at the beginning to the delicious bread to the 4 course meal and lastly the truffle cart that comes after dessert for one last little treat.  Oh but it's still not over, they then bring you gift boxes of Lautrec truffles to take with you and personalized menus.  We felt like we were in Manhattan not in the Laurel Highlands, the service was spot on, everything was cooked to perfection, portions were perfect, I can go on and on and on.

Overview:

While it may appear that I'm being hard on this award winning resort spa, it's only because they have not truly reached what they are capable of.  Please, get a fabulous gourmet spa restaurant actually inside the spa so ladies can lunch with their besties on something super healthy and tasty while in their fluffy robe in-between services.  Get an official relaxation room and give people the option to wait there for their treatments so that their zen isn't ruined by both a company convention spa day and a bachelorette party like ours was (can you imagine the noise, whew). Invest in better product lines, you don't walk into Saks and see Nine West shoes so you shouldn't walk into a Four Star spa and see average spa products, especially ones that contain loads of harmful parabens.  Overall I would absolutely go back, just for the hot stone massage and to dine at Lautrec alone and I sincerely hope the spa steps up their game and works out some of these minor kinks to be what I know it can be and should be.