AAA announces RI’s diamond restaurants and hotels

Ocean House in Westerly and its Coast restaurant have both earned the prestigious Five Diamond rating from AAA Northeast. Four Rhode Island restaurants and 12 hotels received the notable Four Diamond designation.

The list was released Wednesday by the auto club. Just 0.4 percent of the nearly 27,000 AAA Diamond lodgings and 0.2 percent of 30,000 restaurants in North America achieve Five Diamonds, the highest designation.

Independent inspectors, who are employees of AAA’s national office, visit each property each year and base the Diamond ratings on inspection criteria. For the Five Diamond properties, the designation is reviewed by a rating committee before it is finalized.

Three of the Four Diamond restaurants are in Newport hotels. They are Cara in The Chanler on Cliff Walk, the Dining Room at Castle Hill and Vanderbilt Grill in the Vanderbilt, an Auberge Resort. Gracie’s in Providence, owned by Ellen Slattery, is the only freestanding restaurant on the list.

Both the Chanler and Vanderbilt also made the Four Diamond lodging list as did the Cliffside Inn, Forty 1 North, Gurney’s Newport Resort & Marina, Hydrangea House Inn and Newport Marriott, all in Newport. Also on the list is Point Pleasant Inn & Resort, Bristol; Hotel Providence and Renaissance Providence Downtown Hotel; and Watch Hill Inn and The Weekapaug Inn, both in Westerly.

The Rhode Island properties will receive their awards at a luncheon at the Ocean House on March 26.

gciampa@providencejournal.com

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