Hotel-room dining: The luxuriously safe new way to eat out
The next time you feel like dining out, try phoning a hotel, said Allie Volpe in Eater.com. With vacancies high, many upscale properties are trying to keep their in-house restaurants alive through the pandemic by letting them offer private group dining in vacant guest rooms, and many customers are loving it. After all, this new service option combines “all the perks of indoor dining (like warmth, for one)” with the safety of eating at home. Though steep spending minimums are common, some fans might not want to return to crowded dining rooms when crowds finally return. “In a hotel room, you’re shielded from the masses,” says Hector Tamez, a regular at Uni, in Boston’s Eliot Hotel. “You feel important.” While dining in a room at the Riggs Hotel, said Tom Sietsema in The Washington Post, my guest and I loved that we could watch some TV and choose our own music. Service can lag, but trial and error is improving efficiency, and our $125-per-person splurge bought “a delightful evening out.” Below, a few other options:
Le Pigeon Portland, Ore. Gabriel Rucker’s French standout offers $100 three-course meals at the Jupiter Next Hotel, with an $89 option for overnight stays.
Urban Farmer Denver This steakhouse is offering a “steakcation” package that includes a $200-minimum private steak dinner and a $129 overnight at the Oxford Hotel next door. Le Crocodile Upstairs Brooklyn The French restaurant at Williamsburg’s Wythe Hotel hosts parties up to 10 in converted guest rooms. Three-course meals are $100 a person. The Apparatus Room Detroit The six-course meals chef Thomas Lents sends to the suites at the Detroit Foundation Hotel begin at $85.