Sorrento Hotel

Sorrento Hotel Review

If you're the type who owns a smoking jacket, names aged Scotch as your poison, or often just wants to pretend you're on the set of a period piece, look no further. Built in 1909, the Sorrento was designed to look like an Italian villa, with a dramatic circular driveway surrounding a palm-fringed fountain. The hotel is in between Downtown and Capitol Hill and convenient to both. Though its immediate area is not terribly attractive (a lot of hospital buildings nearby), walking a few blocks north takes you along tree-lined streets to the excellent Frye Art Museum. The rich wood-paneled lobby and adjacent Fireside Room—a perfect spot for a martini on a rainy night—are visions of old-world elegance. Guest rooms are as light as the common areas are dark and contemporary, with only a few tasseled pillows and antique furnishings to tie them to the decor downstairs. The largest are the corner suites. Italian marble bathrooms gleam, and day-of-the-week rugs in the elevators show that even those oft-neglected spaces get a daily once-over. The Hunt Club serves excellent Pacific Northwest dishes. Keep in mind that this property is a short hike uphill from the center of Downtown.