Probably the best kayaking you can find in short distance from Pittsfield area for great value. This lake was perfectly size for a 1 hour excursion, probably could've taken 2 hours or more to explore it. The staff are super friendly and knowledgeable, the lake was clean and calm around this time in August. They have 2 huge adorable dogs who wait at the door. Parking on gravel lot is limited but usually open. They offer a host of other water activities as well. read more

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This was a highlight of our summer trip to the Berkshires last summer! Very helpful staff, great pontoon boat options, fantastic lake! Can't wait to return! read more

We have been going to Onota Boat Livery for the last four years and have always been treated to a wonderful experience. The boats are clean, the lake is perfect for a day out on the water and the staff is warm and welcoming.!!! see ya next time... read more

Staff are super friendly and helpful. We got great information on sites to see while kayaking on Lake Onota.

We were so happy with our rental from Onota Boat Livery. Everyone was very helpful, friendly, courteous, and patient. The boat we rented was in excellent condition! It was a perfect day on the lake made possible with the help of this great business. New owners have made sure to mind the little details and are especially wonderful with customer service. Will definitely rent here again! read more

Very pleasant and professional experience! We should have reserved earlier, but were thrilled to learn they could squeeze us in for a 2-hour pontoon boat rental on a recent HOT Friday afternoon. Service was top-notch, and friendly. The boat was brand-new and they gave us a very thorough overview of the boat features and do's and don'ts while on the lake. Overall, we had a great day and can't wait to do it again! read more

Bought my boat from Tom at Onota , love my boat love my tan .. The boat shop has all your needs . read more

Onota Boat Livery - Thanks Tom and all the guys at Onota for keeping us smiling - Boating Near Me - Pittsfield, Massachusetts

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Very friendly service and helpful staff. Good price for an hour plus out on a kayak and Onota lake is absolutely beautiful.

Our guess is that this is a family owned business and it's run just as you may expect. Everyone is friendly, attentive, and outgoing there which left us feeling like we were the only customers, even though the place was pretty busy. It's old fashioned (paper orders/receipts) but the quality of service is 21st century. We took out a peddle boat for an hour and we wanted to extend our time and they accommodated us. Best part was, they didn't charge us for the additional 30 minutes. We wanted to pay, but it's gestures like that make us want to go back even more to give our business and encourage friends to do so too. We didn't explore the shop too much, but it seems that all your boating and fishing needs can be addressed right there in the store. The prices are affordable too. Check this one out. read more

My wife and I were there on a whim over the weekend trying to rent a kayak. Everything was awesome. I was very impressed with the amount of fishing gear they have (I even spotted a VCR) and the expertise they can provide. There were some people buying rods and they took the time to properly show them how to handle the reel and went over all the basics and made sure that these people felt comfortable using the rods. Everyone was super friendly and we had a genuinely great experience. read more

The staff was very patient with giving us all the options. There was no up-sell and we had a great time on the lake.

Great service, really nice Pontoon boat and very nice views from the lake. Highly recommended. Just follow the instructions and map and all no issues. read more

Wonderful experience!! They were very helpful and informative. We went fishing on Lake Onota and row boated for 4 hours for $60... they helped us set up our line and advised us on the best places to fish, lounge (at the nearby park which you can dock right at!), and where to spot bald eagles which we did!! Such a good experience. Would definitely come back when I'm in the Berkshires area again! read more

I'm not sure if the lady I spoke with on the morning we were supposed to rent our boat was just in a terrible mood that day, or if she is always short and rude with customers. I work in the tourism industry and know what its like to speak with people all day, but I am certainly never rude with people who want to spend lots of money at my business. Let me back up. My family was staying at a vacation rental an hour from where our parents live in Canaan, NY this past August. There were 12 adults (my parents and their 6 children who are all in the 20s and up along with some significant others) and 4 small children. My 25 year old brother called the Onota Boat Livery in July to prepare and spoke with a man about renting a boat for a few hours while we spent the day at a park on Onota Lake. He informed my brother that we would not need a reservation and to just call the morning that we wanted to rent. He also let my brother know that we would not be able to fit the entire family on the boat at one time, but we could switch on an off so that everyone could participate and have fun. That sounded perfect since most of us were bound to get sun burnt anyway staying on the boat for too long. The morning we were headed to the park he called and spoke to a woman on the phone. She was extremely rude. When my brother told her how many people we had total in the group she replied that they do not allow us to switch who is on the boat, that we have to stay on the boat for the entire time, and that she would not rent to us. When I heard this, I was confused, and assumed my brother had not explained it correctly to her that we were a family and had small children in the group, so I called. I explained our situation and how we had children in the group that would love to go out on the boat but couldn't stay out for more than an hour. We wouldn't mind docking at the nearby park (which it says in another review you can dock at) to switch people. She replied that was not allowed. I explained that we could pull back in to their shop to switch (which is what people do where I work) and she replied very nastily that they do not want that much traffic coming in and out of their office and that it is not allowed. Weird, we would only be switching one time, but ok. She hung up on me when I asked her if there was somewhere else I could rent from that would allow us to all be on the boat at one time or another. My assumption is that she thought we were some "group of kids" looking to go out and have "a good time". Bummer lady. You lost a good amount of money that day, and a lot of good customers since we were referred to you by various friends and family members who will all not be using your shop anymore. We did not end up renting a boat and instead went to Burbank Park on the East end of the lake. It was beautiful, clean, had lots of shade, and plenty of grass to lay out blankets and set up a volleyball net. Burbank Park was great and I highly recommend you spend your day at the park instead. read more

Very bad experience! Would never visit again. Here are some specifics. -- Very little parking. -- No bathrooms on site. There is one in the store but that is for employees only. -- The staff struggled with handling a large group that was ahead of us. It wasn't that large, about 3-4 families. -- The owner seems unfriendly. If you loiter around the parking lot for more than a couple of minutes, he comes around with a rather large menacing looking dog and asks what we were doing there. Would never visit again. read more

The sun kept coming in and out and we were not sure if we should rent a boat. We decided we would rent a boat for 2 hours This was all too easy. They gave us the lowdown.Super nice people.Hubby got a three day license. We rented a boat with 5HP. The lake is so peaceful. Hubby did not catch anything. We did not care. It was a lovely few hours. read more

Great experience. We were a group of 7, and they showed us where the best places to go swimming and fishing. Service was great, they prepped our rental, gave us a briefing and we were on our way in minutes. Would highly recommend! read more

Brought my boat in for a new axle on the trailer and a depth finder needed to be rewired. Was told it would be about 1-2 weeks and cost around 6-700. Owner said he would call me if he needed to replace the hubs, which would obviously increase the price. That never happened, but the hubs sure got replaced! Ended up costing over a thousand. Cool. They had the boat for 4 weeks. They cut the wires to my trolling motor and left them on the floor of the compartment, without repairing them. Rewired the depth finder which now works when it wants to. Had to take the boat off of the trailer to do the axle and instead of using one of the TWO drain plugs sitting right there, they stuffed a sock into the drainhole. That's what you want. Somehow managed to break the mount that monitors speed for the boat that is on the back. When called to ask about said issues, the owner was extremely rude, claimed he couldn't find the work order(yet knew everything that was done) and claimed his employees never touched the trolling motor wires,(even though the depth finder was wired to the trolling battery) nor broke anything. Said I broke the mount on the back, cut the trolling motor wires, and that I must have put the sock in the drainhole. Why would I do any of those things to my own boat? Labor price is pretty steep at 100/hr. Was told by many not to bring my boat here because of rude owners and shady work, but tried to give a local establishment some business. After this experience I'll definitely be going elsewhere. read more

Extremely poor, unfriendly service that is biased and tailored to cater to only certain types of customers. They were not interested in renting to our group even though it was a large one that would have netted them a significant chunk of business for the day. Tough to swallow in this day and age. I hope others read this review and avoid this place. read more

We were a large group and met with incredible rudeness. First, it was "You are going to take all our boats" which is very strange, since I would suppose they are in business to have all their boats go out. And then it was "don't all of you come into the office" - as if we would. Just the presumption and the rudeness with which it was delivered really galls me. In the end, we decided to just drop the plan and do something else. This is a ridiculous place to even try. We also sensed racial undertones. Avoid this like the plague. read more

Wow. I went in person once and the people there were so friendly and helpful. Just talked to someone on the phone who was so incredibly rude, it took me by surprise. I had a few questions about winterizing a boat and an outboard motor but the way she spoke to me and the tone she used I don't think I want to bring my boat there. It's all about customer service lady. All I had were a few questions, no reason to be mean. read more

Onota Boat Livery is the only location in central Berkshire County with a marina and summer dock space, and the location is beautiful. However, their customer service is horrendous and the business is more interested in selling you a boat than they are providing a family-oriented boating environment. If you are thinking about summer dockage, you will go on a waiting list indefinitely unless you buy an over-priced boat through them. Try if you must, but I would recommend against this location. It 's just not worth it. read more

The owners were one of the most unfriendliest couple we ever met. From the moment we arrived at the location, it seemed they were not interested in our business. The equipment were also of questionable quality. If you are looking for a pleasant boating experience with your family, stay away from here. The only reason I even have a single star is because will not allow me to post a review with no stars! read more

Thank you Onota Boat Livery for being so rude and unprofessional. Our family planned on extending our trip for one more day if we could get a pontoon boat rental for 3-4 hours on Sunday of Labor Day Weekend. We called Onota at around 11am and asked what time they closed, and if we needed a reservation? The woman said 5pm and no reservation required. We booked our hotel for another day and stopped to pick up lunch for the boat ride. We were heading over when a woman from Onota called. She said we have not had any business this morning and will be closing in 15 minutes or at 12 pm. I explained that we just booked our hotel room for another day based on getting a rental with Onota and were on our way over. The woman became very rude and said, "well, unbook the room, we're not staying open." I reminded her that we called less than 1 hour ago to confirm the time and said we would be there within the hour. She was curt and said, I don't care, we are closing as we had no business today and I even gave you a courtesy call to let you know. I nicely tried to explain that a "courtesy call" is the least you could have done since we relied on your word and rearranged our plans based on what you told us only 45 minutes earlier. She became more irate and said too bad and hung up the phone. So why did we give Onota 4 stars? Because had they not been so unprofessional and rude, we would not have discovered U-Drive Rent a Boat, also in Pittsfield. The couple who run it could not be friendlier. They genuinely want you to have a great experience and enjoy your day. And no, this is not a paid review, and we sincerely recommend you avoid Onota at all costs. Read all the bad reviews which were buried by Onota's paid Yelp account. The negative reviews outnumber the good ones by a 4 to 1 ratio. Steer clear and go where your business will be appreciated, and the proprietors understand the value of keeping their word and acting professionally. read more

Memorial Day weekend our boat had a close encounter with a rock which took a couple of nice chunks out of the propeller. We stopped in here to see if they could help us out and while they didn't have an exact match for our propeller the owners spent over an hour helping us find something that would work. We also bought a nice detailed map of the lake and we're able to get back out there and enjoy our long fishing weekend. read more

I rented a kayak from here yesterday. I was with my sister and our collective six children. The owner of the shop is a horrible, grouchy old man. I am surprised he is still in business with his aloof, arrogant, rude demeanor. We spent a total of $300 in his shop in 10 minutes, while he scolded our children and looked as if he'd have a coronary that children were in his shop. It started the minute we walked in as he told each child to shut the door. My boys actually are avid fishermen and very versed on all the equipment. After taking one tandem kayak to a nearby public beach (5 minutes by car), we found ourselves stuck in a horrible thunderstorm. I called the owner of the shop and asked him if he could pick up his kayak. He first told me if I left his kayak abandoned I would have to buy it. It was thundering and lightening out. He then told me I would have to "pay someone" to get it back to him. Really? REALLY? I am a professional and highly educated. He was just a plain old jerk.. After serious confrontation, and a demand to come get his kayak, he finally ceased. Please, please, please, do NOT use this company. This man doesn't deserve to be in business He is unpleasant and miserable. There are other gorgeous lakes in The Berkshires and other boat rentals. You can try Arcadia. They delivery to Stockbridge Bowl no questions asked, and they pick up their equipment. Lake Pontoosuc and Laurel Lake are two other choices. Please shop around! read more

Unless they change their ways, do not rent a pontoon boat. Our family rented a boat from them, we were told we needed a cash deposit which we had no problem with. Once on the boat, we decided to anchor for lunch. My sister was holding the anchor by the rope when the knot came undone and the anchor dropped into the water. The anchor was in no way properly secured to the rope (luckily, it did not loosen up and land on her foot). We then decided to swim. My mother does not swim well and preferred to have a life preserver on. The real fun began when we got back on shore. When we returned to the dock we were told that we had to pay for the lost anchor. We were told that it was "common sense that we check that the anchor was properly secured to the rope". We were also charged for paint chipped from the propeller because they claimed that we sailed in shallow water and hit bottom (apparently, they spray paint the propeller after each use). They have disengaged the option to raise the motor so if you do drift into shallower water (because your anchor was not secured and subsequently lost), you are out of luck. We do not think we were in shallow water and were mindful of the the bouys, but can not prove otherwise. The gentleman that loaded us up recommended that we explore one of the coves, when we got back, sure enough, they complained that we sailed into the cove. They also complained that my mother used the life preserver. In discussing the issues, the older gentleman felt the need to make condescending, snarky comments that were uncalled for. When being charged 100's of dollars, you would expect that the equipment is in proper working order, but this was not the case here. Had we needed the anchor for an emergency, we would have been in a precarious position. To be fair, we accepted responsibility for half the cost of the lost anchor, but the older gentleman wanted nothing to do with this and believed it was all our fault. One of the employees made a comment that they don't like to accept credit cards because "what happens is people leave here and cancel the charges". One can not help but to read between the lines (requiring a cash deposit, people canceling the charges). We have rented pontoon boats many times in the past and never had an experience such as this. It left quite a bad taste in our mouths. The lake is beautiful, but I can not recommend this business without forewarning. read more