Okay, My husband and I just returned from a 5 day trip with another couple. We stayed from July 2nd-7th. This was a great location as the hotel sits right across from Grant Park. I booked this hotel based on location as the Chicago food festival was being held at Grant Park and we had originaly planned to see U2 perform at Soldier Field. The hotel is a easy and safe walking distance from Soldier Field. You can easily walk the Musuem Campus ( Field, Shedd) from the hotel. It is also a easy walk to The Art Institute and Millenium Park. The Chicago Trolley Hop On/Hop Off tour bus stop is close to the hotel. You can pick it up in Front of the Hilton or Millinium Park.
Okay, First the hotel is old, it was built in the early 1900"s........so if some chipping paint (honestly how many times do you think it has been painted) and antique furniture is not your thing....well the Hitlon is next door. The bathroom was modern and we had a towel rack, but we noticed our friends did not in their room. The also had a walk in closet and we did not. Our room was very spacious with high ceilings. It was very clean......no odors at all. Very Clean. We had plenty of room in the closet and the dresser to store our clothes. Lots of room to walk around. It was not cramped at all. We had no problem staying here. The door was old......reminded me of my Grandmothers house. I found it charming as did the other couple traveling with us. They had no complaints about their room. The hallway was quiet, so noise except for occasional city noise, which the A/C drowned out. Room service responded promptly when we called down for extra pillows. The Iron was broken,but we just borrowed the one from our friends. We loved the view of Grant Park, and the Shedd Aquarium. The hotel had a restuarant but we did not eat there, but did have a drink in the bar. It was quiet crowded in the bar. There is a Dunkin Donuts and a Corner Bakery down the street, along with some other eateries. We had good service at a place called the Artist Cafe the first visit, but left from poor service the second day. We did eat at a great Pizza place called Pizano's Pizza and Pasta. Highly recommend them......they are located at 864 N. State St......number is [-----] We had a nice Bartender named Kat from Indiana.......the food was great as was the service. I would also recommend the Chicago Trolley Tours. We walked a lot and it was nice to have the trolley to pick you up when the feet started to get tired. Also their is a blues club behind the Hilton which is next to the Congress Plaza.........Oh, the beds are firm. I am not a fan of real firm mattresses, but geez I was exhausted by the end of the day, by all the walking that I did not care and easily fell asleep. I would stay here again in a heartbeat. Oh, you have free wifi in the room, but have to pay for internet service downstairs. But they do have one computer that only acess the airlines, so you can check in and get your boardin pass printed.......for no charge. That was nice.
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