Wedding Night Ruined
I'm writing this review over a year later. While looking for a hotel for our upcoming anniversary, I decided to check the Hilton, curious if my stay was unique in its poor experience...apparently not. I will say that our room on the concierge level had a great view of the city and seemed clean. That's where the good news ends. I would have rated the service a "0" if that was an option. My wife and I stayed for our wedding night and to start the evening off, upon our *on time* arrival, our room was not yet ready and we had to wait almost an hour. Both of our parents had arranged for us to receive strawberries, champagne, etc. when we arrived. After 2 calls and another hour and half we finally recieved them. I later found out that my father-in-law had apparently instructed a special note for us with his bottle but all we got was a blank card with their names...apparently they didn't feel it was necessary. We were not told ahead of time that the hotel would be under construction/renovations and when we tried to get a quick bite to eat, as we had an early afternoon reception, we found a completely dull, unappetizing joke of a "stationed buffet" that was supposed to replace the dining area. After 20 minutes of standing around the "chef" finally appeared. By far the worst Chicken Marsala / Shrimp Fettuccine we have ever eaten...my wife didn't even finish hers. Since the room was a surprise gift from my Father, we arranged *with the concierge, a very friendly and helpful young woman* for all of our food and drink to be billed to our card and the tab payed upon check-out. I should add that I have found this to be the norm at most of the hotels/resorts that I have stayed at anyway. We left a decent tip for our dinner, b/c while the food was horrible the waitress was so friendly and we felt bad for her having to work in that setting. 20 min after getting back to our room and at an extremely inconvenient time, the phone calls began. They wanted to know why we hadn't paid for dinner....we explained what had been set up for us. This call was followed by at least 3 others, wanting to know the same thing, until I demanded the manager on duty and explained that this was supposed to be the most romantic night of our lives...that it was unacceptable and if it didn't stop we would be glad to pay the tab and head elsewhere. The calls stopped but needless to say it had put a damper on the mood and was not quite what my bride had imagined for our first loving moments as husband and wife. We explained the situation the next morning and were barely even offered an apology. We never told my parents as we didn't want to spoil what was a very nice gesture and I know the room didn't come cheap so I didn't want them to think of the money as wasted. Frankly I don't think we'll ever look into a Hilton again. Rude, overrated and not worth what you pay in the least, there are plenty of other hotels uptown. If you're looking for a romantic evening, full of class and sophistication, look into the Ballantyne Resort. They are located south of the city, though it happens to be a pretty area, and are a little pricey but truly worth every penny.