Who eats at hotel restaurants?
 

Besides people staying IN the hotel or people with huge expense accounts?

I have always wondered who goes to these usually outrageously priced eateries? They are usually very fancy and formal it seems to me. I look at their menus when I stay in a four star hotel and wonder who would pay these prices?

I would much prefer to drive or take a taxi and go to a local eatery than stay in the hotel and pay outrageous prices. I can see if you have been working a convention and your real tired and want to order room service, that is one thing. But to purposely eat in a fancy hotel at such an expensive place, who does this???

Your first sentence (message...) answers your own question.

If you build it and have good food, then maybe throw in a top notch view...they will come, locals too. I speak from experience! ;)

Some hotels have GREAT restaurants, some have lousey ones. I'm unlikely to eat in the hotel restaurant for more than 1 breakfast and 1 dinner. I've worked in hotels with restaurants very popular with the locals, and some that were so bad it was hard to attract vermin.

It's room service I can't understand. Too often it's below-par of the food & service in the restaurant, hot items not hot enough, cold items warm, served with a number of disposable items and portion-control/takeout type condiments and other extras. I'll take the hotels bar & restaurant over room service anytime ... (unless I'm philandering!)

I think it is a cop-out to eat at the hotel restaurant in the hotel they are staying in. Going down the elevator for "fine dining" is for lazy people who don't want to find a real restaurant with real local character.

Here's a vote for lazy people who have been marathon traveling and dining and finally just want a quick salad and to go to bed! Why bother to trash people who opt to eat in the hotel restaurant, when sometimes the object of the game is NOT to find the perfect local restaurant with the most memorable cuisine, esp. if you've been eating rich for the last 3-7 days.

One other "excuse" for hotel eating -- aside from those hotel restaurants that actually ARE 4-star -- on holidays when absolutely nowhere else is open. Have had more than one such dinner on Xmas or T'giving, when for various reasons there was not going to be a home-cooked meal.

Better hotels have learned in the past few years to have "destination" restaurants on premise or risk losing customers. Most often this is done by hiring a reknown chef to recreate one of his restaurants on site.

There are so many instances of this I can't begin to name them. I will often go to them whether a hotel guest or not. The good thing is that the hotel can often float a restaurant long enough for it to build a following. That is very difficult in todays restaurant business.

Brazilian Court: Cafe Boulud
Ritz Orlando: Norman's
JW Marriott Orlando: Primo
Dolphin: Blue Zoo (Todd English)
Mandarin in Miami: Azul (probably best restaurant in Miami)

Lots more destination restaurants that are not celebrity driven:
Oystercatchers at the Hyatt in Tampa
comes to my mind as it is a favorite of many in Tampa and for me as well.

I can't decide if your question is trollish or your don't travel much.

To assume that restaurants in hotels can't be good to great, is ridiculous. There are some fantastic places in the major hotels in the major cities. Just look at Vegas. Many, many 5* restaurants in all the major hotels.
Maestro at the Ritz-Carlton in Tyson Corner, VA, or Jer-Ne in Marina del rRay, CA, could hold it's own with the best in the country. Avenues at the Peninsula in Chicago is another one. Some Hiltons and Hyatts have great restaurants. I could go on and on.

If you are talking about the average pub style restaurant in a nice hotel, then yes, it may be somewhat overpriced, but you pay for the convinience. Not everybody staying at the hotels is on vacation. After you fly all day, and you have an early meeting next morning, looking for that "special" place in a new city is not exactly high on your priority list.

I may eat at them when I'm traveling on business becaus I'm not sightseeing or touring -- I'm busy and tired, and often coping with a time change on top of that, and not out to discover local eateries or restaurants. Also, if I'm alone and can't eat until relatively late, I do not want to be gallivanting around a strange town late at night when I have to get up very early the next day. I do not have a huge expense account, many of these restaurants are no more expensive than a lot of other restaurants, and the food can be perfectly adequate if you aren't out to have a cosmic dining experience. On the other hand, I don't usually order room service as I'd rather eat in a restaurant than in my room.

I don't stay at "fancy" hotels, however. But truly fancy hotels often have very good restaurants and a lot of them are destinations for locals, also. Many hotel restaurants are not fancy, either, you have limited experience. A lot of hotels will have a variety of restaurants, some casual to the formal one.

YOu also are not considering that some people are traveling who may not get around as easily as you, are elderly or in other circumstances where they just want a decent meal easily.

Some of the very best restaurants in NYC are in hotels.

I also agree that many hotels have great restaurants. I certainly have eaten at many hotel restaurants in the cities I've lived in, even though I wasn't staying at the hotel.

I stayed at a hotel in Toronto this weekend and actually ordered room service. True it was overpriced but the food was rather good. I felt like a kid sitting on the bed in my PJ's eating dinner and watching a movie (yes, I even order pay movies from hotels too).

Hey, room service breakfasts are one of my very favorite only-on-trips indulgences, esp. if we're on an expense account! If there's a hotel white bathrobe and a table rolled in with a rose in a vase on it, I feel like something out of a Hepburn movie. I don't even remember half the time if the food is actually good or not, although once in a while, there will be very dry croissant or petrified muffins, and then I get PO'd.

I saw the chef of Oystercatchers featured on the Food Channel several years ago and have wanted to eat there ever since.

Due to a family health emergency, I was in Tampa several weeks ago and stayed at the Hyatt. It's a fabulous hotel (with the most comfortable bed I've slept in anywhere), and my husband and I looked forward to a meal at Oystercatchers or Armani's.

But after a physically and mentally exhausting day, we settled into the hospitality room on the concierge floor and feasted on hors d'oeurvres and cocktails then dragged ourselves to our room and ordered room service.

Would we have loved a meal at Oystercatchers? You bet! We love good food regardless where it's found...a dive, a local hangout, or a hotel - fine or otherwise.

I think it's a bonus to book a hotel knowing that it has a really good restaurant and that's one of the reasons we stayed at the Hyatt, which wasn't particularly convenient to the location we visited.

I am looking forward to staying in the Tampa Bay Hyatt and trying out their restaurant AND room service :)

Here in Jax, everyone says we should try Bravo, in the Adams Mark Hotel. An Award winning Italian restaurant.

Being from Buffalo and having travelled from Cleveland thru Albany on business, let me tell you that a good hotel restaurant is a treasure in the dead of winter. Especially when you feel that driving another mile is just not worth it!

Stanford Court Hot. SFO best B'Fast Lemon Souffle pancakes with fr raspberries and raspberry sauce. Enough for two.
The Mansion on Turtle Creek. DFW one would be a fool to not try/split the "lobster taco" appetizer with a glass of ... Maybe then move on to Lola, and/or.
Las Ventanas in Los Cabos
- even better when we brought the Grouper and Mahi (Dorado) we caught that same day - less than 4 hours out of the sea. We fed ourselves, some guests and many local families that night.
Pay for what you value (and value what you pay for), simple stuff.
M
(Oh, like Medical care)

Some hotels have very good specialty restaurants. In Seattle these hotels come to mind: Fairmont Olympic, Westin, W, Alexis, Grand Hyatt, Monaco, Vintage Park, and Sorrento to name a few. Why pass a good meal by just because it?s served in a hotel. Many pricy restaurants are not in hotels. I don't get the question.

I believe the DC has only 2 5 star restaurants - one at the Tysons Ritz.

In San Francisco the locals go to hotel restaurants, too. Some offer great food, some great views, few of them offer both.

When on the road it depends on how tired (read: lazy) I am to go out of the building. I prefer the convenience of an eatery on premises for breakfast and dinner. Sometimes I use it. I don't believe that taking a taxi to and from another place worth the time and money, and there is always a choice of cheaper dishes everywhere not to make a meal "outrageous".

I do!!!!!!!!!!

We loved going to the Four Seasons in Philadelphia for afternoon tea. And its restaurant was one of the city's best.
Many hotel restaurants also put on superb Sunday brunches and those are actually quite good value for money. At one hotel in Portland, OR, a high school football coach used to take his team there for Saturday brunch (NOBODY can put away food like an active male teenager! Just imagine how much damage two dozen 16 and 17 yo guys could do to an "all you can eat" brunch spread). They ate so much that eventually the team was banned from coming en masse.

I'm a'waitin, Ms Scarlett. (insert drumming finger icon here)

Let's also not forget those mornings when on vacation we are too hung over to go any farther than the bathroom. Room service to the rescue!!

Seriously -- I have stayed at many a hotel, and being a solo female traveler, I thank & love hotels that have a nice, safe, good quality restuarant that I can eat at or get room service so I don't have to travel an unfamiliar city alone. I now actuall book hotels that I know have these options so they are there for me in case I need them - expense account or not, my safety is #1.

Here in Boston/Cambridge some of the good restaurants are in hotels that locals go to. All not expensive. Years ago, most hotels were not noted for good food. Living in a city, not staying at the hotel, I can understand why a tourist would eat somewhere else, to see the city

In Honolulu, many of our best restaurants are in hotels and are no more expensive than comparable non-hotel eateries. We not only eat in them, but hold our graduation parties, showers and birthday parties there!

I also use room service when I travel, especially when I'm alone. I love the luxury of eating a very late dinner or breakfast in bed! I guess the key is to choose hotels with good restaurants..

If I know that I want to go to a great restaurant and it happens to be in a hotel, then I have no problem with it. They are often expensive because they are 4 star and have quality food and drink. I just went to the Pump Room last week in Chicago's Omni East and had a wonderful meal. Often I just eat in local eateries but I will splurge once or twice on a vacation.

Heavens: It all depends on the hotel and where it's located. And it all depends if we have our little one with us. Sometimes it's just easier to do it at the hotel restaurant when the little one is with us. Sometimes a hotel might have a GREAT restaurant. Why not eat there then? If the food is GREAT, I certainly don't mind the high prices. Sometimes the hotel has an ok restaurant with lots of GREAT restaurants in town or in another town nearby, then we'll eat at those. As I said, it all depends...

Wow we do and it has nothing to do with being lazy. Swan Court at the Maui Hyatt was fabulous as was Va Bene at the Maui Marriott Ocean Resort, just to name a few. The Garden Court at teh Palace Hotel is beautiful and has a great brunch/lunch.

On the topic of meals...My wife and I are celebrating our 1st anniversary in April. We are considering Las Ventanas in Cabo. Question: Are meals and drinks included, or is it order & pay? This will be our first truly upper scale vacation, and aren't sure what to expect.

Thanks.

Heavens, I think your post is about 15 or 20 years out of date. There was a time when what you seem to say would have been correct. Hotels generally were actually meant as a convenience to those who stayed there. Prices were invariably high and the offerings often glorified banquet food.

But today things are much different. Many hotels even lease out space to top chefs for their own restaurants which will be as good in a hotel as they will be anywhere else. Local eateries you say? Well, many hotels in some smaller cities may offer the best "local eatery" choices, as most other restaurants may be chains and fanchises.

But I suspect your last sentence is the real clue. You mention such "an expensive place", so is your question really that you don't appreciate paying high prices for food regardless of where? Do you also avoid fine restaurants by top chefs because they are "expensive"? If you are one that prefers to pay $20 for a salad bar and a choice steak then fine -- you are entitled to, but if you are saying you don't approve of fine dining, then you have a point. You are probably wise to stay out of most fine hotel dining rooms, just as you'd never appreciate a trip to a really fine independent restaurant.

hedo, you can go all inclusive at Las Ventanas but it isn't included in the room price. I think we paid about $1200 per day for hotel and all inclusive. Oh so very worth the price.

I have to laugh. I live in Tampa and have never stayed at the Hyatt but have been to Armani's many times and OysterCatcher's a few times, though it's been awhile since I've been to either. It really just depends on the restaurant and the caliber of the food. And when I've travelled on business, I've been exhausted after a long day and used the hotels restaurant, often room service. The Lucerne in New York City has a wonderful restaurant, I was happy to discover. Sometimes a warm bed and a noisy TV are just as good as a warm body and a fight with your room-mate.

Heavens, I think your question is out of date, as Patrick mentions. I'm wondering what cities you are referring to.

Jimshep beat me to it about Seattle... many of the downtown hotels have excellent restaurants, not <fancy and formal> or <outrageously priced> ones that people go to who are not staying at the hotel or on huge expenses accounts.

Whenever we travel to the Caribbean we always eat in the hotel for our first night. We are usually tired from traveling and just want to unpack, eat and go to sleep so we are rested for the start of our vacation. Our vacations are usually about 10 days so we have a lot of time to eat in other places. We have actually had great meals at Rosada's at the Fiesta mericana Condesa in cancun, the Blue Bayou in the Hyatt Cancun Caribe, the outdoor restaurant in the Maui Hyatt and in 2003 at the Alamanda in St Martin. We later found out that the Alamanda's chef went to an upscale restaurant on St Bart's. They no longer serve dinner.

The Fountain at the Four Seasons in Phila. is considered by many to be the best restaurant in Phila.

I wonder if you ever travel with kids. We stay at lots of lots of Holiday Inns and Hampton Inns so we can grab a quick (free) breakfast and get on our way. When we vacation with the boys, we are not there to eat!

DH and I almost always get room service breakfast when we travel. He likes a big breakfast; I just want toast and coffee. So we order and he eats while I take my time getting ready.

I would do it more frequently, if they were not so expensive. They always look so inviting and who knows if the place around the corner is any better. I love the luxury of walking downstairs and eating a lovely meal. It sounds good to me!!

My husband and I live in Philly and consider ourselves to be foodies. We eat out quite a bit all over the city, and this has included some fantastic hotel restaurants: The Grill at the Ritz Carlton, Fountain Restaurant at the Four Seasons, and Ristorante Panorama at The Penns View Inn...Not to mention, the Ritz has a chocolate buffet every weekend and a hot chocolate sommalier during the winter, and The Four Seasons has a yummy dessert buffet with Jazz in a cozy lounge.

I actually just had the BEST meal I've ever had at a hotel restaurant in Portland, Oregon. When I checked into the 5th Ave Suites, I asked for a restaurant recommendation. The clerk pointed me to the hotel's restaurant, the Red Star. I rolled my eyes and decided to take a walk around the block to see what else there was. I passed the restaurant and, lo and behold, it looked really nice. Not formal or stuffy, but warm and cozy. It had a big separate entrance (away from the hotel) and the hotel entrance was small and unnoticeable. In short, it didn't *seem* like a hotel restaurant!

I was not disappointed. The service was good, the food delicious and they feature Oregon wines (of course).

I highly recommend it.