Address: | 315 S Bradford St, North Andover, MA 01845, USA |
Phone: | +1 978-682-6332 |
Site: | smolakfarms.com |
Rating: | 4.1 |
Working: | 7AM–5PM 7AM–5PM 7AM–5PM 7AM–5PM 7AM–5PM 7AM–5PM 7AM–5PM |
A
A Private User
In total, we paid over $300 for a VERY disappointing time. When I called to book the party, I was told one thing and the morning we showed up, it was a totally different scene. On top of everything, after the fact, I tried to get in touch with someone at the farm to talk about this and there has been absolutely no response. Heres what happened: 1. Told us to show up at 8:45 for the 9:00 am party. 10 toddlers plus parents (inc. 3 pregnant women) are left waiting out in pretty chilly October weather not really sure if we are in the right place. When I went into ask, the staff was pretty dismissive and told me to go back outside to wait. Just after 9 am, a young girl comes out, who is obviously not that interested in being there. Doesnt say hi to anyone inc. the kids or my daughter whose birthday were celebrating. On the way to the barn for the party, she tells me at least it wasnt raining as the hayride would be wet and boring rather than just boring. Nice. 2. We go into the barn for the Barnyard Bash. No heat so its pretty cold. The kids noses are red and we stand around waiting for this girl to get the party going. On the table, the three pizzas we ordered when I booked the party are already there. The young girl who is hosting asks me if we just want to eat now. I say no, its only 9 am. She gives me attitude as she tells me that theyll just get cold. I asked her to bring them back to the staff office which is heated. She doesnt. 3. Then the young girl sort of leads over to this bean bag toss thing. I told the woman on the phone the kids were two years old and asked if the games were age appropriate. I was told there were be two trained staff members to sing age-appropriate songs and play games. No songs and one crappy bean bag toss that none of the kids understood. 4. We go out to pick pumpkins (which I had to pay extra for) and then we decorate them. After about 10 minutes, the young girl says so are they finished? We pick up our stuff and head over to the pizza, ice-cream, and cake. Its now about 9:30 am. 5. As the kids are eating the ice-cream, the young girl walks over to the table and literally plunks the cake on the table. She looks at me and says, "We cant light this because of all the hay in here".. Ummm, ok, considering for a two year old, at least my two year old, this is the biggest part of her happy happy, the unlit candle and the unceremonious way she just laid the cake on the table before we could sing Happy Birthday was sad. We all proceed to sing Happy Birthday while my daughter is sort of engaged but not really. No real lead up. No real celebration. 6. Then the hayride. That was fun. But if it was raining, yeah, would have been bad. So at least it was sunny and cold, not rainy and cold. 7. We get back from the hayride and the girl tells us to take our stuff as we leave with our little bags of grain to feed the animals. "Cause this is the end of the party" she says. I ask if we can come back after we feed the animals. She says "No". So my husband goes to get the car to pack up our things while we head over to feed the animals. The girl points us in the general direction of the animals and leaves without saying anything until about 15 minutes later when she comes back with my bill. If you want to break this down to dollars, we got absolutely no value for the $328 we paid. But beyond that, this is supposed to be a family oriented farm. This was supposed to be a big day for a little girl. The lack of celebration and the lack of games or songs or any sense of this being a birthday was really disappointing. It didnt even last the two hours which was promised. Take it from me, youll be sadly disappointed with Smolak Farms service and your kids will be let down. At least my daughter is only 2 so she wont have a cold, boring memory of this birthday party.
SE
Seacoast View
Well, i did my homework and went to Yelp and InsiderPages prior to going here but basically I didnt listen. I read the terrible Birthday party reviews but since we were going for the kids to pick pumpkins from "the patch" I didnt think the reviews applied.... and I couldnt have been more wrong!! We got there about 11am on a Sunday and already the field was filling with cars. We found "the pumpkin patch" (a yard with about 200 pumpkins) spread out on the small "patch" area. Since it was the beginning of the day i was expecting more choices but we all found "our" pumpkin and went to the cashier. I thought 60 cents per pound seemed high but I didnt realize how OVERPRICED it was and that this was only phase one of the Smolak Farm scam... and i do mean scam in every sense of the word. Six medium/large (but not giant by any means) pumpkins were over $78.00!! Few local supermarkets are more pricey than Whole Foods and yesterday i saw pumpkins at Whole Foods that were every bit as large as the ones we bought at Smolak Farms that were TWO for $12 (some of the ones we bought at Smolak were OVER $14 EACH)!!!! Market Basket is selling large pumpkins for 29 cents per pound which is about the going price.. NOT 60 CENTS!! ESPECIALLY since the farmer, the distributor AND the retailer all need to make a profit from the retail store pumpkins. The hay rides are $4 per person (no discount for children) for a very short hay ride; $5 for six donuts (that admittedly are delicious BUT made with cheap corn syrup, not real sugar) but all this was not nearly as upsetting as paying $7 EACH for two carving kits (i saw the EXACT same kit last night at Target for ONE DOLLAR each!!!!!!) Im not sure who owns Smolak Farms and how they sleep at night but i can assure you they sleep in luxury. In 2 hours four adults and two kids spent $150 and we did NOT eat or drink anything!! (well, i guess we did eat the cheap corn syrup donuts.. but nothing else). This place is a scam in every sense of the word!!
KR
Krista Miller
It is difficult for me to leave a negative review because the owners truly are wonderful. However, hopefully if they are as nice as I think they are they will listen to reviews and make some changes. Cost: This is the most expensive apple-picking places I have seen. It is $20 for a 1/2 peck bag, $35 for a full peck. That is about $10 more (for the full peck) than other local places. In addition, they charge you for every other little thing (hayrides, animal/kids area) whereas other farms have these things and more available for free. Crowds: Extremely crowded! They do a poor job managing lines in their store. There is a long line of traffic getting in, and parking can be challenging. Store: Very limited selection of items for purchase. They do not have a true farm store. You can buy cider, cider donuts, and apples, and a few other random items. I have been at other farms that have far more. Lines were ridiculous, resulting in a wait of about 25 minutes just to buy a half dozen cider donuts and a bottle of water. Apples: We went picking on what we later found out was the last day of picking. We had looked in advance on their website, where it stated there were "still plenty of apples." When we got there, they gladly sold us a bag, but we soon found that not a single apple remained on the trees. For $35 we were left with filling our bag with apples from the ground, picking through partially rotted apples to find the few rare good ones. We considered bringing our bag back and asking for a refund, but the kids were having a good time. In my opinion they need to be more honest with people about what the "picking" is like, and discount the apples if theyre getting that close to the end. Positives: Attractive property, excellent cider donuts, Treadwells ice cream (excellent!). In summary: overpriced, crowded, not honest about apple picking conditions, excellent ice cream and donuts.