Name: Hotel Kenney Rideau
Address: 59 Kenneys Rd, Gananoque, Gananoque, Gananoque, K0G1E0, Canada
Rating: 7

Smoking areas

Gift shop

Television in lobby

No elevators

Reception desk

General

Breakfast

Restaurant

Snack bar

Meals

Free Wi-Fi

Internet

Multi-language staff

Languages Spoken

Parking

Pets Not Allowed

Pets

Location

At the hotel

Kingston/Norman Rogers Airport

Hotel Kenney Rideau

Gananoque

Although the hotel is a work in progress, we were delighted with our 2-night stay to celebrate our anniversary. The staff were incredible, the food was very good and the view of the Jones Falls Locks  - complete with vessels going up and down - cinched the experience. The only “room for improvement” was the room itself. The most important bits were covered - comfortable bed and pillows and a newly remodelled bathroom (complete with nightlight). However, the flooring, windows and window coverings all need to be replaced. A work in progress.

A “Destination” Hotel on the Rideau Canal

We were boating the Rideau Canal and stopped here for the evening.

After check-in, we went for happy hour/supper. OMG, they had the friendliest waitresses. Just listening to them at other table brought smiles to our faces.

We had the Blue Cod fish and chips and the pork souvlaki. Both meals were excellent, the French fries were amazing and we overheard other tables commenting on them as well.

Then we shared a peach cobbler for dessert which was also delicious.

After a great sleep in our comfortable bed, we enjoyed a great breakfast which was included with our room. The eggs, sausage or bacon, toast and potatoes were a great start to the day. 

Maybe the best thing we could say is that we would gladly stay here again.

Great place to stay and eat !

Great brunch buffet. Lots of choice and food was fresh and delicious.  Service was great! Restaurant is clean with an amazing view overlooking Jones Falls lock.
Have also been there for dinner and is was equally great.
Jeff and Cor have done a great job bring Hotel Kenney back to life.

Great brunch; fantastic view

New owners have done wonders in the past couple years.  Nothing but good things to say about our overnight stay, dinner and the complementary breakfast.  We were a bit unsure about the dining situation - there is so much more available than what is noted on their website.  But there is a full dinner menu and on the weekend an amazing brunch which was included with the room.  

A delightful overnight stay

Went for dinner…waitress and hostess were very friendly.  Dinner was delicious and drinks were great too!  View of the boats and locks are definitely worth the trip!  Would highly recommend if you haven’t been before.

Excellent Dinner with Top Notch Service

We ate at Kennedy's 3 years ago during the peak summer period and found the place busy with boats and tourists milling around.
Last week we drove in to have another look at the locks and were shocked to find the entire place a ghost town.
Kennedy's was closed, looked run down and the businesses across the street were also deserted.
We actually parked our RV in the middle of the road and ate lunch, not a sole, boat or cottager in site for 2 hours.
We later found out the place is up for sale .... good luck.
We packed up and left saying "what happened" it feels like we just left the Twilight zone.

What happened, it's a ghost town!

Hotel Kenney is closed for the 2019 (per their website and a sign on the front door).  The hotel is for sale for $2.75 million.   We have stayed at Hotel Kenney since the 1970's.  We stopped a few years ago due to the lack of upkeep and maintenance.  That situation has caught up with the hotel.  We stopped by to see how it looked and were surprised at how badly the property has been maintained.  Hopefully someone will do a complete renovation and bring this property back to life.  Just look at the response to the renovation at the Opinicon.

Hotel Kenney Is Closed for the 2019 Season and is for Sale

Having read previous reviews on this Hotel I was prepared to be disappointed in the upkeep of the buildings but ready to enjoy a nice meal and thus was the case.  There is a tiredness to the outside with peeling paint, rusting eavestroughs, and rotting wood.  However step inside the main building and it is a step back in time.  We did not linger in the lounge area but it looked very comfortable.  The dining room was bright, clean and chairs were comfortable.  Our party of six all seemed to enjoy their meals, albeit the service was a tad slow.  But this time of year staffing issues arise and there were only two servers for a large amount of diners.  Hopefully the owners will heed previous reviews about the accommodations and update rooms and services as this historic place is a gem in terms of ambiance and location.

Lovely venue, good meal

We were three couples traveling up the Rideau Canal by boat and choose to spend our first night at Hotel Kenney’s docks. Dinner reservation was made for 7pm and we arrived sharply and were seated immediately. Our waitress was very pleasant and explained the dinner specials to us. Shortly after we ordered our food which consisted of a couple of steaks, club sandwich, hot turkey sandwich, liver an onions and a chicken. A few salads were ordered as appetizers. Now this is where the experience took a dive for the worst. It was well over an hour before we received the salads (and only after prompting the staff) and another hour to receive our meals. The mains did not arrive until 9 pm. The food for the most part was good however the club sandwich was cold and soggy. What made matters worst and prompted me to write this review is that about 45 minutes after we sat down the hotel owner sat down next to us with his party and were immediately served their meal. They sat next to us, ate their meals,drank their wine played their card tricks (another story) and could only notice that we were still sitting awaiting our meals. (Besides the owner’s party no other customers were left seated). To make matters worst when we engaged the owner in small talk he never even bothered to inquire about our dining experience making it obvious that he didn’t care about his customers. He even commented on how he had been loosing loads of cash over the past ten years. 
Overall average food, friendly staff especially our waitress who was overwhelmed. Not recommended. 

Dinner

It's just a catch. For convenience I can't answer so well that we were looking forward to leaving. Very, very ordinary and I'm through. Luckily I was in good company. And most of all we were received by the manager of the place with a beast air, we asked to see her the next day to tell her about our disappointment no return call... sorry!!!

Hotel Kenney Rideau

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