Thursday, August 23, 2012

Toronto, Canada Area - Hilton Garden Inn Toronto Airport


Hilton Garden Inn
3311 Caroga Drive
Mississauga, Ontario L4V 1A3 Canada
Phone:  905-678-0041




For my hotel ratings I use a scale of 1 to 5 with 1 being the lowest score and 5 being the highest score. 


Location: 4  Convenient to the airport and there is an airport shuttle.  The hotel was not close to any restaurants or shops.
Attitude of Staff: 5 Very friendly 
Cleanliness of carpets and flooring: 5 New hotel so it had not have time to become dirty!
Freshness/ Smell: 5 Everything smelled fine 
Bathroom: 5 Very nice large walk in shower
Air Conditioner or Heat: 5 Worked wonderfully 
Towels: 4 The towels seemed a little scratchy
Pillows: 5 Very nice pillows five provided, some down some poly
Bed: 5 Clean soft sheets and nice comfy bed
Breakfast: 4 Cold items were serve your buffet and hot items were made to order 
Noise: 4 Only occasional noise from other rooms
Cleanliness of room: 5 Room was clean
Internet: 0 I did not try the internet
Fridge and Microwave provided in the room 
Notes: I did not use the parking, the pool or the exercise room so I cannot comment on these items
Comments: I was upgraded to a suite which had a little sitting area with a second TV.  This would be a nice choice for people traveling together as one person could watch tv and the 2nd person could still rest or sleep undisturbed.

I did have one serious problem.  I ate dinner in the hotel restaurant.  I had ordered the taco salad.  The salad had a good taste and I ordered extra salsa.  I noticed the salsa had a tangy taste that I had not tasted in salsa previously.  I thought it was just 'different.'   I became very ill with food poisoning.  I almost missed my flight the next morning due to being ill.  My doctor said it was probably the salsa was bad.  It took me about a week to fully recover from being so sick.   


Monday, August 13, 2012

Toronto, Canada - Best Western Plus Roehampton Inn and Suites


Best Western Plus Roehampton Inn and Suites

808 Mount Pleasant Road

Toronto, Ontario, M4P 2L2, Canada

 Phone: 416/487-5101  


Stay: August 6 - 10, 2012

For my hotel ratings I use a scale of 1 to 5 with 1 being the lowest score and 5 being the highest score.

Location: 4  Convenient to restaurants and shops, easy to find
Attitude of Staff: 5 Very friendly offering directions & suggestions on places to eat
Cleanliness of carpets and flooring: 2 Carpet dirty, corners and grout in bathroom dirty, white socks filty
Freshness/ Smell: 4 Everything smelled fine only a slight odor in the halls 
Bathroom: 3 Very small and the hot water was never really hot, slightly hotter in the mornings than at night
Air Conditioner or Heat: 5 Worked wonderfully and rattled a little which makes me sleep
Towels: 3 Hard and scratchy two towel sets provided
Pillows: 5 Very nice pillows five provided, some down some poly
Bed: 5 Clean soft sheets and the most comfortable mattress I have ever experienced
Breakfast: 3 Hot buffet, well stocked but same items every day, overcooked dry eggs, half raw bacon
Noise: 4 Only occasional noise from other rooms
Cleanliness of room: 4 Only slight dust on the gloves after swiping the furniture
Internet: 3 Sometimes it worked, sometimes it didn't 
Fridge and Microwave provided in the room 
Notes: I did not use the valet parking, the pool or the exercise room so I cannot comment on these items
Comments: There was a metal door stop mounted on the floor in the bathroom and I seemed to constantly want to step on it and hurt my foot, it was hard to avoid stepping on the door stop in the tiny bathroom.  Part of the week only one elevator was in service making for long waits for the elevator.  I did watch a little television and there seemed to be more channel selections than I needed! The lobby was very attractive.  I would stay in this hotel again as it seems to be the best option for the area for the price paid and the bed was wonderfully comfy.



** Remember for cleanliness that I do a 'white sock test' on the floor and a 'white glove test' on the furniture because I don't care if I pay $500 or $50 the least I can expect is for a room to be clean.

** Remember that I always ask for Extra Towels and Pillows so if I am only receiving 2 towels do you only receive 1 when you don't ask for extra?

For my hotel ratings there is a scale of 1 to 5 with 1 being the lowest score and 5 being the highest score. The ratings can be explained as follows:

1 = Please don't make me stay here again
2 = Below what I would consider Average for the hotel type, price, etc
3 = Average 
4 = Above Average
5 = Exceptional and I would rather stay here than at home!


A New Way of Life - Well Not Life but Travel Blogging!

I have noticed that all of my observations and comments are based upon my opinion of how I feel at the hotel, restaurant, rental car counter, etc.  I have devised a new way of rating that will be easier to understand.  I have made a chart of specific items that I will observe while I am at a hotel, restaurant, rental car counter, etc.  I will explain the rating system fully and everyone will have a very good impression of what I saw and felt and how the cleanliness and customer service stands up to other hotels or restaurants based on the chart.

** Remember for my cleanliness rating that I do a 'white sock test' on the floor and a 'white glove test' on the furniture because I don't care if I pay $50 or $500 the least I can expect is for a room to be clean.


** Remember that I always ask for Extra Towels and Pillows so if I am only receiving 2 towels do you only receive 1 when you don't ask for extra?

For my hotel ratings I use a scale of 1 to 5 with 1 being the lowest score and 5 being the highest score. The ratings can be explained as follows:

1 = Please don't make me stay here again
2 = Below what I would consider Average for the hotel type, price, etc
3 = Average 
4 = Above Average
5 = Exceptional and I would rather stay here than at home!

I will also provide a little narrative as to why my choices are what they are for the particular observation.

Here is an example of a chart for a fake hotel:

Nice Dreams Hotel, Orlando, Florida - August 12-16, 2012

This is a totally fake hotel!!  This is Just a preview of how I will rate hotels.
Location: 4  Convenient to restaurants and shops, easy to find
Attitude of Staff: 5 Very friendly offering directions and suggestions on places to go and see
Cleanliness of carpets and flooring: 2 Carpet dirty, corners and grout in bathroom dirty, white socks filty
Freshness/ Smell: 4 Everything smelled fine only a slight smoky odor in the halls
Bathroom: 3 Very small and the hot water was never really hot
Air Conditioner or Heat: 5 Worked wonderfully
Towels: 3 Hard and scratchy two towels provided
Pillows: 5 Very nice pillows five provided
Bed: 5 Clean soft sheets and the most comfortable mattress I have ever experienced
Breakfast: 3 Hot buffet, well stocked but same items every day, overcooked dry eggs, half raw bacon
Noise: 4 Only occasional noise from other rooms
Cleanliness of room: 4 Only slight dust on the gloves
Fridge and Microwave provided in the room
Notes: I did not use the valet parking, the pool or the exercise room so I cannot comment on these items
Comments: The bathtub was very slippery.  Part of the week the internet worked fine and then it stopped working and no one seemed to have a clue as to how to fix it.  I would stay in this hotel again as it seems to be the best option for the area for the price paid. 

Thursday, February 16, 2012

Tampa, FL - Miguel's Mexican Seafood & Grill




This is my second visit to Miguel's Mexican Seafood & Grill so I thought I would share my impressions of this second visit.  We have planned to visit Miguel's Mexican Seafood & Grill on Sunday and I visited their website and looked up the hours and the hours listed on their website showed the restaurant open seven days a week.  When we got to the restaurant the parking lot only had 3 or 4 cars and there was a tiny index sized sign on the door saying they were closed for Superbowl Sunday.  Several would-be patrons arrived, read the sign and left.

Determined to eat at Miguel's we returned on Monday evening with friends hoping that we would not find another small 'closed' sign.  On Monday we were greeted and seated right away at a large table near the bar.  The restaurant was about 2/3 full and waiters were busy serving tables.  It seemed that anytime a waiter passed our table if a drink needed to be refilled or if we needed anything that waiter was glad to help.  I don't know if it was our proximity to the kitchen so that every waiter had to pass our table or if Miguel's has made an effort to improve customer service but the service was much improved this time.

The food was good.  The salsa that was so wonderful last time was slightly bland this time.  It was a little too salty and not very hot.  I suppose that's what happens occasionally when the sauce is house made and up to the interpretation of the person making the salsa.  The salsa was still good and the food was delicious and our party had an enjoyable evening.

I have read some reviews that said the food at Miguel's is expensive for 'Mexican Food.'  I agree it is slightly more expensive than dinner prices at your average Mexican restaurant.  The three taco plate that I got was $11.95.  You must consider that the taco shells are made fresh, the tacos came with fresh made guacamole and Miguel's has a more upscale appearance and seems to be cleaner and nicer than the usual local Mexican restaurant in spite of the location which did seem a little questionable.  I would eat here again and my friends said they would visit Miguel's again also.


Miguel's Mexican Seafood & Grill

3035 West Kennedy Boulevard
Tampa, FL 33609-3136
(813) 876-2587
Hours: Sun 11am–9pm; Mon-Thu 11am–10pm; Fri-Sat 11am–11pm