Midway, Utah Blue Boar Inn Review

“Every person who walks through that door is important.”

This is the philosophy of Jay Neiderhauser, innkeeper of the Blue Boar Inn in Midway, Utah. This is a beautiful bed and breakfast and restaurant tucked away in the quaint Utah town of Midway. Forrest and I had the wonderful opportunity to review this beautiful inn a few weeks ago, and I can honestly say, we did feel like we were very important from the moment we walked in. It was one of the neatest experiences I’ve really had in a very long time.

Beyond dining on some of the most delicious food I’ve ever eaten, and staying in a beautiful, meticulously decorated room, we had a really neat experience to sit down with Jay and hear some wonderful stories about his life and time as the inn keeper at the Blue Boar Inn. He lived an incredible life, and the time he took to talk with us was so neat.

The Inn

Why a Blue Boar? That’s what I was wondering when we first heard about this bed and breakfast. Jay told us that the owners of the Inn, John and Marva Warnock, named it after Howard Pyle’s children’s novel – The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood. The inn took on the theme of literary classics as all the rooms were created with an author of classic novels in mind.

John and Marva purchased an existing lodge back in 1999, but it doesn’t really resembled what it was at all when they purchased it. They transformed it into a beautiful European-style chateau, and after the winter olympics put it on the map back in 2002, it’s created quite a name for itself. The moment you walk in, it feels like you are in a fairy tale! I loved feeling like we were somewhere so unique and far away from our home, even though we were only about 40 minutes away.

The Blue Boar really prides itself in the awards it has received. It is Utah’s highest rated bed and breakfast (for good reason!), has won the AAA Four Diamond award for the past 12 years, and many, many “Best of State” Awards. The Best of State awards are very competitive, and the Blue Boar has been named the Best Bed and Breakfast for 10 years, Best Inn nine years, Best European Dining for 11, Best Brunch nine years, and Best Executive Chef for five years total. Jay told us that whenever they hire someone new, he takes them to see this display of rewards, and he tells them, “This is what it’s all about!” Employees are expected to be highly professional, kind, and accommodating, and they really are. From the moment we walked in, we were treated with so much respect and kindness. We loved everyone we interacted with!

Something I loved seeing was Jay’s collection of Olympic pins from 2002. He told us story after story about many of them — how he traded for them, who sent them to him, and which ones were very unique. I think this is one of the coolest displays I’ve ever seen!

Something I thought was pretty cool is that for every meal, the table setting themes are completely different. The flowers, the table clothes, the plates…there is just so much thought put into all the details. I think that’s what impressed me most about the Inn.

Not only are the rooms and dining amazing, but the entire atmosphere of the Inn. There’s a beautiful library with tons of books guests can read, a lovely outside area where you can relax and go on walks, and a balcony that would be so fun to sit at and visit with one another, or perhaps drink a cup of hot chocolate. I just couldn’t get over how beautiful the entire Inn was!

Oh, and I have to mention the elevator. It was the coolest thing. It was very old fashioned. You just opened a door and got on a platform, and it pulled you up to the next floor. I loved how the inside walls were painted with Jack and Beanstalk in mind!

Rooms

All of the rooms at the Blue Boar Inn are unique from one another. They are all based off of famous authors, such as William Shakespeare and Jane Austen. Each room is decorated to represent that particular authors personality, writing style, and life. Because of this, the experience you have in one room really can’t be duplicated in another. They ahve twelve rooms, and they are all so unique.  We toured several of the rooms while we were there, and I was impressed with how unique each room had been decorated. Here are a few of the ones we toured:

We actually stayed in the Lewis Carroll room, which was beautiful. It had a beautiful, comfortable bed, a large bathroom with jetted tub, and the cutest little balcony. I felt like we were in Europe!

The rest of the rooms were beautiful! I really liked the Elizabeth Barrett/Robert Browning room. The bed was really high in it — some people need the assistance of a little ladder to get in it!

You can see all the available rooms here, as well as their prices. I was told they sometimes have a deal where all the rooms are the same price, so I’d be on the look out for that if you are hoping to stay in one of the pricier rooms! Be sure to like their Facebook page to stay up to date with their current deals!

Food

Now, for the part I’ve been most excited to share with you all — the food. The Blue Boar restaurant truly has some of the most delicious and unique foods I’ve ever tasted. It was an experience from the first bite to the last. There’s definitely a reason why they’ve won so many “Best of State” awards. Chef Eric May only uses the best and most fresh ingredients. Many of them have organic ingredients, and herbs from the Inn’s own garden are often incorporated in them. Most of the dishes are created with traditional European cooking methods, which is pretty darn cool if you ask me!

They offer breakfast, lunch, and dinner menu options, and you can eat in the formal dining room, the outdoor patio, or appetizers in the Truffle Hollow, which is their pub.

Since we dined at the Blue Boar for both breakfast and dinner, I’ll start with the breakfast. I think it’s important to note that anyone can eat at the restaurant, not just guests of the hotel. If you do stay at the hotel, breakfast is included with the price of the room. However, even if you aren’t staying there, we found the prices for the breakfasts to be very reasonable.

Breakfast

There are a variety of different options on the breakfast menu. They have several juice options (I got freshly squeezed orange juice, and Forrest got grapefruit juice), as well as an assortment of sweet and savory entrees.

When I saw this Southwest burrito on the menu, I knew immediately what I was going to get.

I just can’t say enough good things about it. It had a nice, spicy flavor to it, and all the ingredients worked really well together. It was filled with scrambled eggs, chorizo, a queso ranchero sauce, chile Colorado, and Mexican rice. The meal definitely ended too quickly. I think what I liked the most, was that the cheese wasn’t gooey and overpowering. I’m not a huge fan of cheese, so the fact that it wasn’t overwhelming made the burrito even better.

Forrest got the cinnamon toast brioche with sausage. We loved the presentation of it – right down to the pretty silver cup with the maple syrup!

The sausage was high quality (definitely not the kind you get from IHOP!), and the French toast had just enough cinnamon in it to make it better than just regular cinnamon toast. I think Forrest’s favorite part was definitely the maple syrup. You can’t beat pure maple syrup!

Dinner

Where do I even begin with describing our dinner? We were served an amazing three course meal. All of the items on the menu were obviously very carefully planned and created, and they went along with the time of year we were there. We were there right as they were about to start their Oktoberfest menu, so I don’t know if these would still be available. But whatever they have, you’ll definitely leave feeling satisfied.

The price of the dinner was quite expensive, but it was delicious. I think this would be a great place for an anniversary, birthday, or honeymoon, when you might be willing to splurge a little bit more. And, despite how fancy this place was, they had a great kid’s menu, which we appreciated, since Jack was with us!

Without further adieu…our dinner!

My first course:

For my first course, I chose a Sauteed Shrimp dish – it was made with juicy shrimp, manchego cheese, and risotto. I think one word that would describe this dish was rich. It had so many delicious flavors in it, and it is possibly my favorite thing I ate that night. I had never had manchego cheese before, but it had a very unique flavor to the meal. It reminded me a little bit of a chowder.

For my second course, I couldn’t resist ordering the french onion soup! I love a good french onion soup. It came out piping hot, but I didn’t eat all of it….because I was kind of full from the first course. Obviously, I’m not used to eating more than one course. Still, it was pretty good. I think it could have done to have a touch less cheese, but I tend to not love tons of cheese, so that’s probably just me. It did have great flavor though.

My final course was something very different — a sweet potato lasagna. When I saw this on the menu, I was very intrigued. I really love sweet potatoes, so I decided to try it out. Sadly, I was really full at this point, but it didn’t stop me from eating part of it. It really was a very unique idea – I had never seen anything like this before on a menu. The sweet potatoes acted as the noodles, and it was layered with portabellas, roasted red bell peppers, mozzarella, pesto, and tomato sauce. It was a very savory dish that was very filling. My only wish is that it had some meat in it (what can I say, I love meat!), but it was a great vegetarian dish — probably the best vegetarian dish I’ve ever had!

Forrest had a couple different dishes than me, but I think he would very disappointed if I didn’t mention his main course – herb garlic shrimp and polenta. Being the good Southern boy he is, he couldn’t resist ordering a fancy version of a dish he had often growing up, shrimp and grits. What impressed him most about this dish was the fried soft boiled egg, which is pictured below. I’m being 100% honest when I say that he has not stopped talking about this. He literally tells everyone about it. He thought it was such a clever idea, and that it tasted absolutely delicious with the shrimp and polenta. He felt like that really showed what an awesome chef they have at Blue Boar Inn.

We decided to skip dessert, because we were so full (especially since we probably ate one too many cookies at the front desk.) However, I did want to mention how yummy the bread was that they served us!  I love good bread, and this was definitely top notch.

Overview & Final Thoughts

Location:

4 out of 5

Not only is the Blue Boar Inn located in a charming town, but it’s so secluded. It’s in the outskirts of town, which makes it feel even more exclusive. The only reason I put a 4 out of 5 is because it was a little “out there”, and we had to drive to the next city over to really find a good store. However, if you are looking for a place just to get away, this is definitely it.

Amenities:

5 out 5

I actually didn’t realize until we were almost done with our stay that the Blue Boar has arranged with a nearby resort for Blue Boar residents to use their pool and other amenities, which I think is pretty cool! I wasn’t sure if there was a place to get ice, but that wasn’t really a big deal. We were greeted with delicious chocolates, a rose, robes, and fancy water, and they really had just about everything we needed, including wireless internet!

Rooms:

5 out of 5

I can’t think of any complaints for the rooms! They are beautiful and comfortable. Definitely very magical!

Food

5 out of 5

I know I’m giving 5 out of 5’s on everything….but really, they deserve it. The food was the BEST I’ve ever had, and that ‘s how Forrest felt too. And while I sometimes am overly enthusiastic about things, Forrest isn’t, so you know it’s good when he raves about it.

Family Friendliness:

3 out of 5

I mean, this is supposed to be a romantic getaway, so it’s probably not a place you are going to want to go on a big family vacation to. With that said, we did bring Jack, and I was impressed with the kid’s menu, and that there was a pull out bed in our room. Everyone was so nice to Jack, too!

Staff:

5 out of 5

No complaints! They all went above and beyond to make sure we had the best experience ever.

Price

3 out of 5

The price is probably the only downside of this place. It is very pricey, and it’s definitely not something we’d be able to afford on a regular basis. However, it is worth it in my opinion. The value of this place? Definitely 5 out of 5.