We stayed at the 1785 Inn for two nights in March of 2005.
Cons: We booked a "large private room with a view." The room did have the view, but not much else. It was certainly not large. The bed was so hard, we dreaded going to sleep the second night. The carpeting was worn, the wallpaper and window paint was peeling off in certain places; there were a couple of spider webs.
Previous reviewers were right - the water pressure was bad, and the shower curtain had a weird smell. When I tried to adjust water temperature, the water heater made very loud noise. The hallways of the inn are very "tired" looking, with large cracks in certain walls.
There was no blowdrier in the bathroom (but we received it after asking the innkeepers). Also, because there was no phone in the room, and the inn is fairly large, anytime we needed something, we had to go all the way down to the restaurant and try to locate the innkeepers there.
Another thing we did not like was that they added a $4 automatic "gratuity" to the breakfast bill. Isn't gratuity a voluntary thing by its very nature? Apparently not at the 1785 Inn. The breakfast was fine.

Pros: The lock on our room (Room 17) was fine, and it was nice to have individual heat control. The inn offers a winter "stay and ski" special, providing all guests with free cross-country passes. We used these for one day. We liked the restaurant, which is very famous in the area. Our server (and somewhat of a maitre'd), Al, was extremely friendly. We got a table we requested. The food was good and the dessert was very good. It is not cheap, however.
The living room with a fireplace was good too. We watched a movie there after dining at the inn's restaurant.

Overall, I agree with other reviewers - eat here, but stay somewhere else. We would not stay there again.

We recently stayed at this hotel, and for $200/night (with a 2 night minimum!) it was absolutely NOT worth the money.

The room was in ill repair, the door barely locked and the shower is pitiful! The water was either scalding hot or freezing cold and it barely came out of the shower head.

The room was noisy and had little charm. This area has many other hotels, so your money is better spent elsewhere.

We heard these complaints from another couple while chatting with them in the bar. So it wasn't just our room.

This hotel has clearly not been maintained over the years, and the owners really need to put some money into it if they expect to remain competitive in the North Conway area.

We would absolutely not stay there again if it was free.

The food was excellent. Better than most Boston & NY restaurants that I've eaten at.

The staff was very friendly.

The inn itself is ok, a little run-down. The door locks were not very good, it was a little loud, there were some large cracks in the walls, old carpets, and the shower was terrible - a garden hose hooked up to the sink would have been better. We paid $120/night, which I thought was a lot for what we got.

On the plus side, the garden was very nice. My wife loved the flowers. Oh, and the bar is good.

One thing that really, really annoyed us: breakfast was "included", but they tacked an automatic $4 service charge for the breakfast onto our final bill. They also did this for the bar bill. Really, really tacky. (When we signed the check at breakfast, there was no place for a tip.) Yea, I know, it's not a lot of money, but I really don't like being nickle & dimed ... It's annoying and next time I'll choose to stay somewhere else.

So, eat here, but don't stay here. There are plenty of other B&Bs/Inns in the area.

Gorgeous Inn with a friendly staff, great location, and excellent food.