Miller’s Big Red Farms

I previously rated this place 5 stars.
Last season we went and the experience was miserable. I was told donuts would be ready in ’30 minutes’. I waited in line, got to the front and was told ‘another hour’. I came back in an hour and was told ‘probably another hour’. We left. No donuts. Who the heck goes to a cider mill and leaves without donuts? Service was BAD, staff was RUDE. I know they were busy but if you can’t handle your traffic for the day then you need to fix your business so it can.
Back to the ‘Organic’ Al Mar Orchard, even though its an hour drive there is never a wait, the apples are amazing right off the tree and everything is organic. I am done with Romeo Based Orchards.

Wow was this place a bummer… And a rip off. I always go to this cider mill with my kids and end up leaving and going somewhere else, forgetting how lousy it is. First, we got ripped off. Two adults, three kids that are older and one baby and the lady charged us $ 37 to ride out to the orchard and get a little bit of junky apples. THIRTY SEVEN DOLLARS for probably twenty small apples. The variety just plain sucked — golden delicious, Ida red and Granny Smith apples that were all small and not very impressive with not much to choose from. People were getting so tired of waiting for the wagon that they started walking to the orchard themselves. We got ripped off, the old lady working the line was just making up her own prices. The line took soooooo long that my kids were just becoming pretty disinterested with the whole thing, and everyone in line was complaining — but t was easy to see why it took so long when you got your turn and realized the old lady working was senile. After that, we went and waited for nearly two hours in line for $ 30 plain donuts and cider. We proceeded to take the kids to see the petting zoo and hay tower where they wanted an additional $ 10 per person — that means SIXTY DOLLARS for us to take our four kids for a half hour of entertainment. At that point, we said NO and left. Went down the street to Rochester cider mill where they had an even better hay pyramid with built in slides and petting zoo for FREE and our kids loved it. Skip this place and take your business to Rochester Cider Mill where you won’t get price gauged and taken advantage of. My advice to Millers: if you’re not confident enough in selling your product where you can’t offer free activities for the kids, at least make a reasonable one price admission for everything with clearly posted signs to help people out. Your cider mill is extremely disorganized and there are not very clear posted signs on the cost of activities. I’m sure the old lady loves that because she can get away with charging whatever she feels like. Your donuts are good, the only reason for a star at all!

We drove to your cider mill yesterday.
We waited for donuts for 1hr. We were told they were still not ready.
I was wondering if you want to give us something for our trouble.
I will have find another place to go.

New management in the last few years! This place has been saved! There is nothing this amazing place doesn’t have! From the petting zoo, to animal rides, hay rides, pumpkin patch and apple picking, my son loved the bouncy houses and we loved the market place! The hot dogs, cider and slushies, fudge and pie were amazing too! Best of all was the corn on a stick! The place was clean and all the people were friendly and helpful. We will definitely be back next weekend! Can’t wait till the winery and restaurant are open!

This place is the best. I have been going here for almost 25 years now. I have always loved there donuts and cider in the fall. My daughter loves going here now to pick pumpkins. the hay ride is the best. Always a great selection on pumpkins out in the fields. I almost agree with the other reviews on how expensive it has gotten, but when you think of it everything has. The times are a changing. lol
But I will keep going every year

My mom and I go here every year to pick apples and I think we get more disappointed as the years go on.
We were surprised when we bought a bag to go apple picking that they now charge $ 5/​person for a hayride to the orchard! The orchard is right out back and within walking distance… That is pretty ridiculous. To get your $ 5 worth, they now take you on a tractor ride in a different direction so I guess you feel like your $ 5 was well spent. Next year we will probably go to Blake’s. They are making so much money already… really, $ 5? There was a family in front of us and it cost them $ 50 just to pick ONE bag of apples! Also, the kids they have working there are not knowledgeable on the different types of apples and their locations. They were asking me and my mom where we got certain apples! (And there are signs in front of the trees…)
I ordered a cup of cider that was listed for $ 2.00 and they charged me $ 2.50! I guess they charge whatever they feel like there? For $ 1.75 I can get a larger cup of Cider at Blake’s.
If you are looking for an orchard with activities for your kids I would choose Blake’s or Westview over Miller’s Big Red.

Very expensive, as several people mentioned. This place is more like a carnival than an apple orchard. Don’t go if you actually want to pick your own apples… we walked out when we saw that they charged a flat $ 5 per person just to get in. I guess if you are just going to entertain your kids for awhile it is a good deal. Otherwise, skip it and go down the road to Stony Creek Orchard. They do not charge per person there. You actually just pay for the apples you pick.

We went to Miller’s last year (end of summer) because we were in the area– It was a nice place with a petting zoo– their market items were awesome. We just made a trip back 2 weeks ago for a fresh pie and was impressed with how much they have put into the place… I asked one of the workers about the updates and found out they are under new ownership. They have a petting zoo, u-​pick, awesome baked goods all freshly made and a number of organic items. From what I heard they are still making improvements and could possibly be adding some cool features. Our kids had a great time, we left with good food. I look forward to seeing what is to come. Just a few things we noticed was landscaping changes (which was great because it was not all dirt and dust– very green), The market area changed, a pavilion where they sell food and you can sit and eat with your family. They had 15 types of apples, the Zucchini Bread, Pies and Donuts are the best– that is why we took the hike back this year!

We came there by chance and found very delicious hot sider and well baked donuts. I consider that mill to be very nice place to spend your time with family and friends

100% rotten tomatoes for upick. Waste of time. They refunded is our money without hassle. Not much else to say — when you go apple picking, you want to pick apples. We didn’t see a single one that was edible.

Small orchard, and very few good apples to pick. Lots and lots of apples with blemishes, but that’s not really what you want to see. Also, no dogs allowed. I’m not sure if this is standard practice at u-​pick places, but it was a disappointment for us.

My family (wife and two young — under three — kids) recenlty went to Millers Big Red Apple Orchard to buy a few pumpkins. We decided to come here instead of the grocery store because we wanted the kids to get the experience of visitng a pumpkin patch and seeing where the pumpkins come from.
We went on a Monday afternoon (not very busy) and were suprised that they wanted us to pay $ 5 per person to gain access to the pumpkin patch. Maybe I am naïve about pumpkin picking, but I thought paying $ 20 before buying the pumpkins was rediculous. We would have received some of that money back had we purchased four pumpkins, but we were so turned off by the experience that we went to a nearby orchard and picked our pumpkins for free (just had to pay for the pumpkins themselves).
Millers Big Red Apple Orchard looked like a beautiful place, but I think some of their prices are out of line with other orchards.

This place has gone downhill– apples and baked goods are still fine, but like the poster before me said, they charge $ 5 per person for an anemic petting zoo and they have a «how tall are you now» orchard-​themed thing that parents can take pictures of their children next to that used to be outside the petting zoo area, but is now inside the petting zoo area so you have to pay the $ 5 PP. Understand it costs them $$ for animal feed, vet appointments, etc. but I think $ 1 PP would more than pay for that– and yeah, the carnival like stuff entertains kids but is just another way they price gauge the parents. Stick with Blake’s and Westview Orchards are our preferred orchards these days.

This was place made for a nice little outing for our family. We went late on a Saturday afternoon, too late to go out for pick your own apples. But we still found plenty to do.
There is a petting zoo, but it costs $ 5 per person to walk in (yes parents, that’s right … even if you have no intention of actually petting an animal, you will have to pay for yourselves too and not just your child). There really aren’t many animals you can pet in the zoo though — a couple of bunnies, a couple of pigs, a llama, a handful of goats, and the rest are fowl of some sort — chickens, ducks, turkeys. There was a hay «mountain» that was included in the price of the petting zoo which my son really loved. It’s basically a pyramid made out of hay bales but kids were crawling all over it and having a great time.
There are a number of kid-​related activities to try out — several bouncing apparatuses, the requisite bungee jump, and a couple of carnival rides. There were also some huge inflatable balls that your kid can crawl into and then you can roll them all around the lawn (this also cost $ 5 for 5 min.). And that right there is why I can’t give this place a higher rating. I want to, I really want to, but they nickel and dime you to death here. Each ride/​child attraction is exorbitantly priced. Every single activity/​ride your child will wish to take part in is no less than $ 5, so if they did everything you could easily end up spending $ 50 per child on that alone.
Another thing worth noting is cleanliness — it’s obvious they try, but when we were there they were completely out of hand soap and sanitizer around the petting/​animal area and empty bottles of soap littered the entire area by the hand-​washing station. Ditto used paper towels. Also, the sink area was a mess with what appeared to be chewed/​left over food items smeared around. (On the other hand, the ladies restroom inside the snack area was spotless). The animal pens weren’t dirty with feces, but they were pretty stark — not much hay (packed dirt/​mud in the stalls), and empty ice cream cone cups littered each animal stall (I can only imagine they were being used to hold the animal feed which could be purchased from dispensers in the «zoo»). I’m not sure how healthy that is for the animals …
On a more positive note, there is an excellent variety of food stuffs for sale — fudge (delicious), donuts, cider, roasted ears of corn, sausages, pies, jellies, etc. There are some reasonably priced gourds and pumpkins (we visited recently, in the fall) as well as other produce you’d typically find at a farmer’s market. The staff is also very helpful and friendly.
The place was packed, and we did have a very nice time. Unfortunately, my son left disappointed because I refused to pay for him to take part in more than 3 or 4 of the activities (and this didn’t include the cost of the food items we bought before we left). I realize they’re in business to make money, but I really think they should consider charging an admission cover charge for families, or selling different levels of «packages» which could include/​exclude certain exhibits and activities.