by Sam Z. on I'm giving it two stars because the service and website were terrible, and the whole dinner experience was overpriced. Having said that, the music gets a 4-5 stars. Nice space, pretty good sound, and the show we saw (Aimee Mann) was fantastic. I have to assume the different parts are managed by different people, so here are the details about what went wrong: Food gets 3 stars. Sushi was good but overpriced, dessert was fantastic (sweet potato doughnuts! gelato!). Black cod was okay but we had better at the Corner. Service gets 1 star. Just terrible. Dining area was freezing cold, so we had to move to a table not under the air conditioning (why air conditioning on a cool breezy night? Don't ask me!). They forgot our drink orders so we had to ask again what happened to them. It was so slow that even with our 2-hours-ahead reservation (which they claim to mandate for pre-show dining), we barely made it up to our seats in time, and our waitress kept disappearing. Then she forgot to credit us for our tickets and had to redo our bill, when we were already running late because she wasn't around to let us pay! My guess is that they're vastly understaffed (?) because it seemed like she was running around helplessly covering 10 or more tables? Crazy. Just hire some more wait staff, please? Website is terrible. Looks great but doesn't contain the relevant information. There were no directions to the parking garage or information about how much it would cost, and no overt warnings that there is a drink minimum in addition to the very expensive dinner. Really? We spend ten times more on food, and you want to be petty about making us buy drinks? That's a dick move if you ask me. On top of that, while our dinner waitress was decidedly absent and distracted, the waitress at the show was incredibly pushy and loud, which I found rude considering I was obviously watching the show and did not want to be interrupted to be forced to buy a drink. Here's a few hints, Yoshi's: sort out your dinner service, and get people up to the show EARLY. I'll be a lot happier to buy a drink if you have it printed CLEARLY on the MENU and the WEBSITE and in LARGE PRINT on the TICKETS, and if you GIVE ME TIME TO ORDER IT BEFORE THE SHOW STARTS. Also, clue in your waitstaff that we don't want to talk to them during the show, and if we have to they should *whisper* and be *quick about it*. And the decaf coffee I ordered because I didn't want to buy a drink in the first place? SUCKED. Pretty pathetic to have bad coffee in SF. You should be ashamed of yourselves. Oh, and by the way, pretty tacky to have what looked like peanuts or popcorn on the menu? I had to watch the guy in front of me stuffing his face, and I could hear him crunching. Everyone else seemed quiet and attentive, but lucky me, I get to sit behind Munching Man. (When he finished eating, he started gnawing his nails loud enough that I could hear him. Lovely). At the end of the night, to add insult to numerous irritations, we waited in line to pay for our parking, only to find out that (1) the attendant had left for a break just as the show was ending (?), and (2) the machine only takes cash (WTF is up with that??). We got all the way up to the front, got out of line to get cash because we had SPENT IT ALL ON YOUR STUPID DRINK MINIMUM, and then the attendant came back so we ended up paying him with a credit card. WTF, people. Just have some #$% SIGNS posted! It's not that hard. I'm not planning to go back to this place unless it is the show to die for, and then I'm going to eat somewhere else first. Sure, it's only two hours of waiting, but I can think of better things to do with my money for two hours.
by Barney Notari on As I was leaving the Four Seasons on Fri night I mentioned to a local that I was staying at the Renaissance. His response: "you must not know many people in town if you're staying all the way over at the Arboretum." And this is true because this hotel was sooo far from downtown Austin; a $30 cab ride!! So yeah, the location wasn't exactly ideal for my visit during SXSW, but it was the only hotel room I could score just a few months before the biggest week in Austin. Besides the location I was a fan: huge rooms, down comforters, FREE parking, and a FREE gym with brand spanking new equipment. There's also a high end outdoor shopping mall nearby where you can shop til ya drop at neimans, barneys co-op, david yurman, etc. And the people who work here are so nice and helpful! Even the visitors are friendly, perhaps a bit too friendly. I'm all for chatting, but sometimes I just like to ride the elevator in a little peace and quiet- and that's not ever happening at this hotel. I probably wouldn't stay here again since I'm a big fan of both the Hilton and the Hyatt right in downtown Austin, but if you're looking for a hotel in this area you can't go wrong with the Renaissance.
