The Hotel: Embassy Suites Hotel Sacramento-Riverfront Promenade…

This Embassy Suites is located on the banks of the Sacramento River next to the picturesque Tower Draw Bridge in Downtown Sacramento, directly across the street from the southern entrance to Old Sacramento. It’s just a quick trip down the Capitol Mall to the State Capitol, or across the bridge to Raley Field for baseball games. There is a lot of fun things to do around here with the California State Railroad Museum, Riverboat cruises and all the shops and restaurants in Old Sacramento.

The Embassy Suites Riverfront Promenade was built in 2002. It is a non-descript stucco behemoth atrium style hotel, painted in dark earth tones. It is mildly architecturally attractive, but let’s face it…It’s your typical Embassy Suites. You pull up to the entrance, off of Capitol Blvd. Immediately, valet attendants and bellmen swarm your car. They are very attentive, and get high marks by me. The only parking option here is valet, at $18 per day. Not too bad, but you can self park over in the Old Sacramento public garages if you don’t mind hoofing it a block or two. But I am unsure of how much they cost.

The Welcome: Another atrium hotel, how original…
Welcome Ratings: Curb Appeal = 4 Stars; Interior Design = 3 Stars; Staff Quality = 3 Stars

Immediately inside the automatic sliding doors from the auto entrance is the check in lobby. It’s a three sided desk. Each side has two check-in stations, for a total of six. It kind of looks like a shopping mall information desk, instead of a 4-diamond hotel front desk. Oh well…so pick a line. Front desk staff are friendly and attentive. They honored my requests for a top floor, Old Sac view.

Beyond the check-in lobby, it opens up into the huge atrium lobby. Here there are a few sitting areas, and the breakfast area beyond. It’s bright and airy, very typical of nearly every Embassy Suites in the country. Everything here is sparkling clean and new feeling. Clean style with modern touches, but still very typical Embassy Suites. I feel like I could be on auto-pilot to get to the suite. A quick trip to the elevator and whoosh up to the room in the glass elevators.

The Suite: Just large enough to keep 4 kids from killing each other…
Room Ratings: Bed = 2.5 Stars; Bedding = 3 Stars; Design = 3.5 Stars

Throwing back the door at this Embassy Suites reveals…well, a typical suite from Embassy Suites. It’s the front to back floor plan, in lieu of the side-by-side suite configuration (which are uncommon in Embassy Suites). In the front room is the Parlor, a small living room/dinette combination. Then you’ll find the Service Bar, Bathroom and Bedroom. The furnishings are a clean contemporary in medium and dark earth tones. Clean lines, and pretty attractive. The furnishings are very solid and tastefully styled, but if you look at all the table tops, they have a laminate layer over the top. Kind of cheesy, but I bet these will hold up a lot better over time.

The Parlor…

So in this front room is a relatively comfortable couch with a pull-out queen size bed. A swiveling side chair, coffee table and end tables. Directly opposed to this sitting area is a large armoire housing a 27” television, TV internet console and Nintendo gaming system. Finishing out this room is a 4-seat dining table. We only used it to play Uno Attacks with the family. I think it’s kind of weird to put a Dining Room in a Suite that doesn’t have a Kitchen, but I guess it useful for take out/delivery food and room service.

Something to note of the suite is on the entry wall, looking back into the hotel’s atrium is a window. I always found this odd in a hotel to have a window going back into the corridor. People looking at you as they walk by, and all. You know, the fish bowl effect. But I always just close the sheers so some natural light can get in, and I can maintain most of my privacy. This is one advantage to side-by-side suite configurations, because then both the living room and bedroom have outside windows.

The Service Bar…

Beyond the Parlor there is a small hallway, housing the suite’s Service Bar. Here there is a nice granite countertop with a wet bar. Under the counter are a good number of storage cabinets, a microwave and a refrigerator. On top of this counter is the coffee maker/tea service. So you germ freaks can revel that it’s not in the bathroom. Over the counter is a large framed mirror. Across from the Service Bar, next to the bathroom door is a small closet. In this closet are hangers and extra bedding for the pull out couch.

The En Suite…

So let’s now discuss the bathroom. What I immediately notice is it’s size. It is way larger than normal for a suite hotel. Most suite hotels have smaller than normal bathrooms, but this one is a little larger than even a normal hotel. The floors are a nice brown granite tile, and the vanity top is the same color granite, but only a solid slab. The fixtures are a nice style, in bright chrome. Nicely displayed on the counters are the androgynous Neutrogena bath care products. Lighting was pretty good.

The bath tub was a standard depth cast iron, coated in white porcelain. The surround was done in a granite tile matching the rest of the bathroom. Oddly, there was not a curved shower rod. I thought these were required at all Hilton branded hotels? Oh well.

The Bedroom…

Beyond all these rooms is the suite’s bedroom. It has it’s own locking door to secure it from the rest of the suite (to perhaps keep the kiddies out of your room…wink, wink). The bedroom is average size for a suite, approximately 12 x 14. The color and decoration scheme is the same as in the parlor, and is quite tasteful. Our suite had two double beds, but a majority of the suites in this hotel have 1 king. Our beds were pre-turned down with pillows on display.

One thing I noticed immediately was that on their website, they display the beds with the Hilton Sweet Dreams bed ensemble. Our room did not have the Sweet Dreams beds, nor bedding. This was a significant disappointment for me. I hate standard beds…I’ve become quite a bed snob of late. Otherwise, the bed was moderately cheap feeling, and the linens approx. 180’ish count. Slightly scratchy. The pillows were fair. But everything was remarkably clean.

Other bedroom furnishings included a TV armoire, a desk with office chair and bedside table between the beds. There were a lot of lights in the room, should illumination be an issue for you. On the bedstand is one of those new Hilton Alarm Clocks with MP3/iPod jacks. These are neat looking, easy to use and the portable music capability is really cool. Last thing is there is another small closet in the bedroom. This is where the iron and board are located.

At the end of the bedroom was a little window seat. Our room looked north, and out our window we had a view that peered out over the Tower Bridge, the River and Old Sacramento. My kids loved to watch the draw bridge raise and let watercraft go underneath. Rooms on the west side overlook the river directly and the baseball stadium, the east side view the Downtown Skyline and the south get a river/industrial view (this is the least desirable).

Last to note…everything in the whole suite was very clean and in excellent condition. Tasteful in general, but not exactly my style. But this is a great way to shack up with 4 kids.

The Grub: Look for the Blazing Neon that reads “Eat at Joe’s”…
Food Ratings: Restaurant = 3 Stars; Lounge = 3 Stars; Room Service = ???

One of the best features of the Embassy Suites hotel chain are the free breakfasts, and evening Managers Receptions. This location houses these functions in it’s Marketplace Cafe. This is located at the bottom of the atrium. The morning breakfast was very busy, and they allowed patrons to use the adjacent Bistro 100 dining room as overflow seating. The buffet was quite good, and the omelet station was excellent…although the station had quite a line. For me, the free factor adds about 1-star to any dining experience. So, no complaints here.

The Bistro 100 restaurant is on the Riverfront Promenade with views of the river and the Tower Bridge. The Bistro is open for dinner only. The decor is a Contemporary Mediterranean and the prices ran from $15 - $30 per person. The menu sounded good, but we did not eat dinner here. The Bistro also has an outdoor dining patio, with a better view.

We opted for Joe’s Crab Shack across the street. Although adriennefoster would chastise me for going to yet another chain establishment, this proved to be an excellent place to take the kids. It has a superior riverfront location than the Bistro at Embassy Suites. My kids loved when the music turned up and the wait staff stopped what they were doing and jumped and danced to “Workin’ at the Car Wash”. But all things considered, it was 3-star dining at best there.

The Recreation: A very nice hotel pool, hit by the shrink ray…
Recreation Ratings: Pool = 3.5 Stars; Fitness Center = 3.5 Stars

The ES Sacramento has a very nice indoor pool, off the 1st floor elevator lobby. However, as nice as it is, it’s quite small. We took our kids down here, but it was way too full of big kids for us to bring in our 4 small children. There is a fair amount of chairs and lounges, and there was a good collection of clean and fluffy towels.

Looking out over the pool through large floor to ceiling windows is the Fitness Center. It’s an average size with all the necessary equipment. We did not feel the need to be fit during this stay. We got plenty of exercise negotiating Ingvard’s shopping expedition…

The Verdict: A Sweet (Suite) Location with a lot of competition…
Grades: Market Percentile = 85%; Class Percentile (Suite Hotels) = 85%

Well, we came down to Sacramento on this trip to go to the Grand Opening of a new IKEA store. I know, many of you will think this is lame. But my wife is addicted to shopping through IKEA for their cheap wares, and I oblige her because I am addicted to their Swedish Meatballs and Lingonberry juice. The store was a complete zoo, but fortunately no riots! My wife is very ecstatic that there is now an IKEA within 2 hours from our home. We used to have to drive down to the Bay Area. I foresee a lot more Sacramento hotels showing up under my name soon.

So all things relative, I like the Embassy Suites in Downtown Sacramento. It’s a fine establishment, in an excellent location that’s very clean and a good value. But I’m not big on suite hotels in general. Although they are very convenient, I think they lack character. So in Downtown Sac I would prefer the Sheraton Grand and the Hyatt over the Embassy Suites. But since all three’s rates are usually the same, we will stay at the Embassy because of the value. That is, unless we can get two rooms for the same price from Priceline at the others. And a word of advice to this hotel…Upgrade the Bed and Bedding! This is one way to get loyalty from me. But if Old Sacramento is your destination, the Embassy Suites is the place to stay. Or the Holiday Inn, but is that really an option?

Signed,
The Hotel Dork
a.k.a. Robert Herron

UPDATE: On a return trip we stayed in the Concierge Section. The difference is bath robes and Suite Dream Beds. For the $15/night fee, the bed was worth it. Don't think I would have paid $30/night more, though.

Embassy Suites Hotel Sacramento-Riverfront Promenade Reference Section:
Address: 100 Capitol Mall, Sacramento, CA 95814
Phone: (916) 326-5000 Fax: (916) 326-5001
Website: http://www.sacramento.embassysuites.com
Rooms: 242 Suites
Year Built: 2002 Last Renovated: N/A

Other Sacramento Area Hotel Reviews by nvherron:
Holiday Inn Capitol Plaza - It's a Jolly Holiday Inn with Mary...
Larkspur Landing Roseville - Frank Lloyd Wright is Turning Over in His Grave…
Sacramento Marriott Rancho Cordova - People Sure Get Testy When they See Kids in the Concierge Lounge

Recommended: Yes