Candle Lite Inn & Guest House

So, we had booked a room at the Rams head hotel, changed ferry reservations etc etc to stay there. On our way there, the front desk little girl called to say she was very sorry but they overbooked and we were basically out of luck!!!???!! Talked to the manager who was very sorry but no room at the inn. She would find us a comparable room on the island, if we wanted. We had no choice as we needed a place to stay.||She called us back saying we could have the honeymoon suite at the Candlelite inn.||Sounds nice enough, so we agreed. WE had little or no choice.||When we arrived( couldn't check in til 3, no idea why as the place was deserted) we felt like we were at the Bates Hotel. Remember Psycho?||Tiny room with a big old bed. The TV got about 5 channels. No bottles of water. No place to put anything in the bathroom. Not a chair to sit on. AC definitely wasn't working and we were sweating all night.Breakfast was store muffins and keurig coffee. Never saw another person, or caretaker. It was really weird actually. If you went for your honeymoon, you would be divorced shortly after.||The only positive thing I can say is they did have a wine opener.

The Candle Lite Inn offers a wonderful, well appointed guest room/bathroom. The beds and pillows are very comfortable (which is not always easy to find). The white bed linens were crisp and oh, so comfortable. The bath towels were soft, and the shower water pressure was perfect! It is nestled mid-island an easy drive to either ferry and all that the island has to offer. Waking up to the birds chirping, enjoying a cup of coffee, and other breakfast treats made the morning quite pleasant. The breakfast selection would satisfy anyone's tastes. The owner of the inn is on call for anything you might need. It was certainly a 5-star b&b for us. This will be a regular return for us.

We stayed two nights with friends of ours. Beautiful little Victorian House on Shelter Island. Bedrooms decent size. All baths private but across hall from bedrooms. Doors between rooms very thin so can hear a lot. Decent price as compared to most other places. No frills. No maid service. There was no host the entire weekend. No hot breakfast. Continental breakfast was a bit of a bust. No one could figure out how to make the stove work so we couldn’t cook for ourselves. Water pressure low and no fans (it was warm).

A fine old house which also serves as a hairdressing salon. We had a quiet and pleasant stay. Our room was attractively decorated but rather cramped and lacked certain small conveniences, such as facial tissues. The bathroom was spacious but had no tub. The unusually steep staircase might be a challenge for an elderly person. There was a comfortable lounge downstairs with TV, and a simple self-service breakfast was available in a sunny room. A charming place to stay with reasonable prices.

The positive reviews here must have been written by friends of the owner. My wife and I arrived on Shelter Island for a wedding, and for the expensive pricing expected a pretty nice inn. Yikes! We stayed in the ‘Honeymoon Cottage’, which appeared to be a converted garage or shed. It was extraordinarily barren, with harsh overhead lighting that gave it all the romance of a laundry room. No employees were working anywhere in the main house or property upon arrival, and there was no note of welcome in the room. Not even a bottle of water. We’d committed to a two night stay, and never saw the owner or other employees the whole time. Never received maid service either, so we made our own bed and tidied up ourselves. The breakfast in the main house consisted of a Keurig maker and some convenience store muffins. It was really, really bad. Do not stay here!!

Our experience at the Candlelite was quite different than what we expected for a $300/night B&B. Upon arrival, we weren’t greeted by anyone; instead our room key was left in an envelope taped to the office door. We quickly grabbed our stuff and went upstairs to our room. We found the bathroom across the hall - with only 2 towels and no one to ask for more. We were initially concerned about the AC which left the 2nd floor at about 80 mid day, but was fine (~70) once the sun set and it cooled off outside. We stayed 2 nights and were left clean towels the morning of the second day. The “breakfast” was store bought pound cake, some toast, a few muffins from Costco, and a Keurig for coffee (with a note we found funny saying it was only to be used for breakfast!). During our entire stay, we never met anyone who owned or ran the place. We did come across someone from the hair salon on the 1st floor who wasn’t very nice. Lastly, I get this is an old Victorian home, but it could use some better cleaning of the common areas- there were bugs (dead and alive) all along the front porch and inside in the hall by the front door, as well as trapped in between the windows in the bathroom. We also found a bird’s nest over the front door (but no baby birds). If all you are looking for is a clean bed, this will suffice (bed definitely felt clean) but just to be clear it doesn’t provide much more for the price tag.

A sweet, well cared for Inn where you will feel at ease and welcomed. Shelter Island is about getting out and being with the people on the island so you won't find a lot of miscellaneous amenities here. You will, however, have all the basics you need and very friendly inn keepers. Vine Street Cafe is just around the corner for a finer dining experience or head to The Islander for a casual meal. Both locations offer fresh ingredients. Note that Candlelight requires 2-night stay and that many places on the island are cash only. We stayed here in the fall but come back to SI 2-3 times a year. We prefer the off season but the restaurants have limited days of operation so come with a plan.

The lovely old Victorian could be something nice if the owner(s) had a clue about the hospitality business. This place provides a bed to sleep in and that's about it. Breakfast is no frills, help yourself to supermarket bread, muffins, and boxed cereal. And that's ok, we get it. But certainly we can expect to receive basic services: clean towels, sheets changed, bath and floors cleaned, right? Not at this place. We had booked three nights beginning on a Sunday. On Monday we left our room early to roam around the Island. We returned around 1 pm to find our room had not been made up. Confident that our room would be cleaned a little later we did not call the owner, John. At 4:30 pm having found that the room was untouched, we called the owners "emergency" phone number and left a detailed message explaining the situation and the fact that we were scheduled for dinner at 7:30 and needed fresh towels and our room to be cleaned. Six-fifteen pm and still no word from John. We sent an email and finally received a response that "the housekeeper had an emergency" and he would be right over with towels. He finally arrived with towels at 7:05 pm. He said he would make up the room once we left for dinner. Upon our return, the only thing that had been done was that the comforter was pulled up on the bed. The bath and floors had not been cleaned, the sheets had not been changed. When we emailed John that we were leaving early because of the lack of service he agreed to not charge us for the final night of the booking. However, he would not take responsibility for the poor service, instead choosing to accuse us of leaving early for reasons other than 'not receiving clean towels' and of not being forthcoming with him.

A very lovely clean bed and breakfast. Nice and friendly owner. My room was small but had everything we needed.