Mariani's Inn, Santa Clara

First, the good: The breakfast buffet, and especially the Sunday champagne brunch, are wonderful. Even if I didn't stay at the inn, I would consider going to the restaurant for brunch. The front desk staff were very nice and helpful. We arrived in town by car hours earlier than anticipated and were able to check in at 6:00 in the morning. I flew out of town and my husband stayed on with the car, since he is in the area for the week on business. The airport shuttle service is so convenient that it left when I was ready, not vice versa. The room was immaculately clean. Now, the bad: There's a reason the Mariani's Inn website has no photos of the actual rooms. Our room was reminiscent of a beachfront motel. Small, no-frills, hard mattress, tiny pillows. There is no hair dryer, nor an iron/ironing board available in the room. Small "cube-style" refrigerator, no microwave. Heat is by way of an in-wall unit, with no discernible difference between "low" and "high" settings. TV reception is poor. There were several WiFi network connections, but the only one we could actually connect to was very low, and no one knew why we couldn't connect to the others. They did offer to move us to a room with wired access. Overall, I would choose Mariani's restaurant on Sundays, but would select somewhere else to actually stay. Based on the food and presentation, I would check them out for banquet needs, although I didn't notice much parking available.