Castle in the Clouds has a restaurant!
 

I haven't been there in years! The carriage house, which used to be just a cafe is now a full restaurant with really good food! the best part about it is you can sit on the patio and look out over lake Winnipesaukee during your lunch. Amazing view! Apparently you can just go up to the restaurant for lunch without paying the fee at the gate for the castle tours. I really recommend it because the food is amazing and the view is gorgeous.

Wow,Foxy....I didn't know that and I'm right here in town.Will definately get up there for lunch....do you know the hours??

Menu
 

Here is a link to their menu.

http://castleintheclouds.org/images/CastleCafe.pdf

What's up with the Ho Chi Minh Sirloin Nuggets?:confused:

huh
 

I didn't realize they'd opened anything up there, either. And quagmire, I thought you were joking until I read the menu. :laugh:

I'm just getting a blank pape...wonder why it won't open for me>

aha
 

I'm just getting a blank pape...wonder why it won't open for me>

Probably because they changed the name to asian sirloin nuggets. It's amazing the power of the forum.

Lol!
 

Holy smokes, they did change it!:D

Can you get it to open yet, Sam? It's not the speediest site. I can save it and email it to you if you want.

Price of admission?
 

What does it cost to get up to the restaurant?

Do you have Acrobet Reader? The menu is a PDF file. If you do have it, it may be an out dated version?

I have opened it several times with out any problem.

George

WINNOCTURN

new management
 

It's my understanding that Lynn Seeley, long-time former owner of The Woodshed, has some kind of role in the Castle restaurant these days. Maybe just overseeing things (I certainly don't think she's managing it day-to-day), but the improvement is obvious.

I guess they thought better than to leave the name of a murderer like Ho on their menu:) Who in the world would use that man's name in a menu ? I keep forgetting though that NH is more & more like Vermont & Massahusetts these days than it use to be back in the day......

hours
 

I think the hours are 11:30am till 3:30pm

I thought it strange
 

Why on earth would they name a dish after an enemy of the USA? I'm glad they changed it. What next? A Sadam sandwich? Or a maybe a Castro quiche? I couldn't help thinking Jane Fonda was part owner.

A simple reading of history would tell the people who named a dish after Ho that he was a psychotic killer like Stalin & Mao who under the lie of land-reform slaughtered hundreds of thousands of his own people. Many that escaped went to the south & fought against this beast. I'm afraid history is another lost subject in our school systems. I'm happy that they changed the name of the dish.......lol, shows the power of capitalism:)

Thanks 2by2...I'd appreciate the e-mail. Still getting a blank page (must be my AOL)

It's on the way, Sam. I only wish I'd saved it before the Ho Chi Minh removal! :)

Do you still have to pay admission to get past the gate?

link
 

Here's the link to their website. You can contact them to find out.

oops
 

Forgot to include the link.
http://www.castleintheclouds.org/index.html

Cafe info
 

I called. You do not have to pay at the gate to go to the restaurant. Just tell them your going to the restaurant. Also they are open this weekend Sat-Mon and next weekend. Starting June 7th, its every day. They are open from 11:30am-3:30pm. If you decide to do the tour, you can get tickets at the restaurant.

Dave M

back road
 

take the road before the castle entrance up past the water co.just go thru the gate and park in the lot.we go hiking and park by the trout pond all the time

Cocktails and Jazz at the Castle
 

There's now a cocktail hour on the patio every Thursday night with a jazz band playing (runs through early September, I think)....we went just this past Thursday and it was awesome - it was a gorgeous night (low-mid 70s and sunny - super clear views of the lake). The jazz band was excellent - and they do requests as well.

Do you still have to pay admission to get past the gate?

As someone else stated the answer is No and the reason being is it is under Lakes Region Conservation Trust as are a few other areas in the Lakes Region. From everything I have read and understand all the areas are free to a certain point. They can charge you to tour the castle but not to enter the grounds. Another area in the trust is on Ossipee Mt Rd that you can hike up and view the Mts from. It is privately owned land but they can not stop you from going on it. It has beautiful views of Squam Lake and the Sandwich Range.

Thursday
 

According to their website, its $10 for cocktail hour.

Dave M

$10 it is...
 

Yes - it's $10 a person to attend the jazz/cocktail event out on the patio...I also meant to mention that they serve light appetizers during that time.

hey guys!!!
i looked it up and asked the owner a bunch of things this weekend.
The carriage house is open for lunch from 11:30 till 3, you can come up the main entrance and tell them you are only having lunch and not have to pay the entrance fee.
on thursday nights there is a jazz night from 5:30 till 8 pm. the cover fee is $10 to pay for the live band. there is now a dinner menu with a few meals and there is a full bar.

Coming from Wolfeboro, that's the second entrance, and is a two-lane road.

The trout pond is a lot of fun, with critter-food available from tiny vending machines right at the dock. If you toss a piece towards the tail end of a waiting duck, you can see that the fish are much faster at grabbing it!

The fish (rainbow trout) are much larger than you'll find in Lake Winnipesaukee.

I've made two trips to the restaurant since this thread opened. My first review—at a different site—wasn't very complimentary. (Really slow service, and an average meal).

The second lunch, just two weeks later, found the "Lucknow Burger" to be delicious and the service "inspired".

In deference to one of my guests, I described a smoker to a bus-girl of someone smoking on the outdoor staircase. The smoke had wafted through the tables indoors. Glancing up, I glimpsed a sour look from an eves-dropper.

I had just described the Cook! :eek: :emb:

But hooray, I don't recall anybody smoking at the outdoor tables. :)

Food is great!
 

Went up for the tour and lunch yesterday and had a terrific lunch with friends and a tour of this beautiful location. The person at the gate said it didn't matter if you were just there for lunch or not, it's still $10/person to get in. The lunch fare is very good with ample portions and low cost. Several under $10, so considering the location it's a very reasonable place to have lunch, even with the $10 cover.....especially on the balcony overlooking the entire Lakes Region.

I've been there with guests for a half dozen terrific lunches over the summer. At no time did we pay a fee to go to the cafe. The Ossipee Park Rd entrance doesn't even have a gate!

Thanks
 

Yep, that's the exit road and entrance road to the water co. and pond and hiking trails. Wasn't sure you could go up to the parking lot from there. Thanks for the clarification Lucky2Bhere.

Do they still have a brewery on site?

The LuckNow beer was.... uh.... an experience. :eek: (I'm a beer fanatic; love the stuff... but couldn't dig that brew....)

Lol, LuckNow was TERRIBLE:) Funny thing, the brewer was very talented, but all the brews he made lacked something when he brewed up there. That brewer use to be at the old Winni brew-pub in downtown Laconia before they became Stone Coast and he did a great nut brown ale.
________
FT500

Careful, as stated I think your going up the exit, don't want a head-on. :eek: Beautiful site or not $10.00 is ridiculous just to get through the gate on your way to the restaurant (to spend more money.) Would you spend $5.00 to park at Peppers? If people stopped going cause of the $10.00 and let them know that they'd drop the fee like a bad habit.

the woman at the gate knows nothing, I know you DO NOT need to pay the $10 to go to the restaurant (that is for the castle tours). You are not even supposed to need to pay the $5 grounds fee, but there is some confusion because the $5 grounds fee is for the main entrance driveway (waterfall, view etc.) and the rest of the grounds, excluding the castle. personally, i think it is best to just drive up the C.G.Roxane bottling plant entrance (there is a sign that says castle bus tours under the bottling plant sign). You will be able to come to the restaurant fee free.

The back entrance is two-way, but under construction right now so be careful because it is narrow at a few points.

Castle Cafe and Patio Get Rave Reviews
 

The spectacular views from the Castle Patio are now matched by the wonderful, reasonably priced food coming from Bill Schulte's kitchen. That's almost exactly what the Boston Globe said last month. The Cafe and Patio are open through the fall foliage season, through Oct 18, for lunch only--from 11:30 am. to 3:30 pm. It's a great treat--and if you are going for lunch only, there is no Castle admission fee except during special event days (then if you want to see the Castle, you can buy tickets that help with the operation and restoration). It's a great place to take friends--a great place to show them a beautiful panorama of our state. The menu is posted on the Castle's website, www.castleintheclouds.org. I want to disclose that I volunteer at the Castle, but if you go up and sample the views, foliage, and food, I predict that you'll add a positive comment to this site.

Update on the Castle food
 

Just some quick information.

Folk-rock singer-songwriter Chrissy Coughlin will be at the Carriage House with her four piece band on Sept 25, 5:30-7:30. Admission is $15 per person. There will be a variety of food available in a supper-club style concert.

The 3rd Annual Fall Foliage Festival is Oct 5th, 10 am-4:30 pm. Note--there will be a $10 admission to get anywhere on the grounds that day, including for people just wanting to go to the cafe and patio.