Plans for Anthrocon are continuing apace. We’re flying in on Thursday, July 7, arriving at PHL at about 11 AM. The train geek in me hopes it will be a nice day, not too hot, to we can take the SEPTA train in, but more likely we’ll be taking a shuttle to the hotel. We’ll be flying out on Monday afternoon.
An interesting note about the Wyndham Franklin Plaza: I know that Anthrocon didn’t have a lot of choice in what hotel they got this year, and I know it’s going to be a bit rocky. However, I was doing some research on tripadvisor.com and the reviews of the hotel are, ah, not good. Pretty bad, actually. Essentially, be prepared for an older hotel that, even though it had an update a few years back, clearly needs another one badly. From the reviews, it looks like the housekeeping service is spotty, but at least the customer service is generally good. As for restaurants, Shula’s Steakhouse gets rave reviews on Citysearch, but be prepared to pay $25-35 for a steak there. The Terrace Restaurant, the other restaurant in the hotel, is pretty much what you would expect of a hotel restaurant: breakfast and lunch only, OK food, prices about half again what you might pay elsewhere.
Why do I say all this? I’m not trying to deter anyone from going, or even from staying in the hotel. To be honest, a lot of this is exactly what was seen at the Adam’s Mark over the past few years. And besides, no one goes to Anthrocon to sample the delectable food in the hotel restaurant or to worry about getting their bed turned down every night – they go to see their friends and to have fun at the convention. And the hotel seems more than up to that. I guess what I’m trying to say is know what you’re getting into, and adjust your expectations accordingly. Hey, it’s a short-term solution, and next year will be much better.
The good news is that from what web-research I’ve been able to find, there’s plenty of places within walking distance for food, and if you’re driving then you’re good to go. I highly recommend a trick that we found a few years back at the Adam’s Mark after a long day of working the convention: get a couple of your friends together and order food in. It saves so much hassle and time, and you can spend more time with your friends. I plan to hit the concierge desk early on and grab a couple of delivery menus, if they have any.
That’s good to know–I was worried about the dining-within-driving-distance, but if it’s good, then I don’t care what the hotel food is like.
There are more than 50 different places to eat within walking distance of the hotel, according to the conbook map. -=)
Yeah, it’s only for one year, it was an emergency, we had no choice, sucks.
But look at all the praise and rave reviews for the 2006 hotel…
Good advice, and if I was going this year, I’d certainly remember the steakhouse. The usual run on Sunday night with my friends to Outback was fun, but I’m semi-allergic to chain food. I like food with at least a hint of individuality and locality.
Anyhow, did you happen to get a price for a salad at Shula’s? I’ve found the markup for items such as salads and deserts is an interesting metric for the quality of the meal and service. After all, a salad at Yanko’s Little Zagreb here in Bloomington costs about 50 cents to serve, but is listed on the menu as $5, but the steaks are hand-cut to order. You request them by the inch. I recommend the place if you ever find yourself wandering in my area.
Shula’s of Troy was a client of mine when I lived in the Detroit area. I have really no memory of their exact prices, since whenever I ate there, it was on the company dime. I do recall the pricing to be quite high (steaks starting at about $30) and that everything is ala carte (salad, potato, etc). Their tomato and gorgonzola salad IS beyond wonderful, though.
Not wanting to earn the Cranky Pants Award, but there’s a question I’ve long wondered about, related to this statement:
pretty much what you would expect of a hotel restaurant: breakfast and lunch only, OK food, prices about half again what you might pay elsewhere.
People say this all the time, but the only elsewhere they seem to mean is some mythical place even cheaper than Dennys. Seriously, the Tacoma Convention Center, where several NorWesCons were held, and several Conifurs, got that kind of review, and I would always think, “How many cheap restaurants do you eat at that even serve enormous omelettes containing nova smoked salmon and enough sour cream to float a boat in? The $17.50 price tags is pretty reasonable, I think.” And since they do have breakfasts for under 10 bucks, what’s the big deal?
I mean, yes, I’ve been to horribly over-price restaurants, and sometimes they’ve even been in hotels, but I see this evaluation applied to places that don’t seem to be over-priced. *shrug*
Well, it’s a fair enough question. The problem is that conventions are held at hotels, and hotels are in tourism-rich places. The minute you say the word “tourism” you’ve just kicked up the prices several notches. So yeah, any hotel restaurant is going to be expensive by definition.
I guess my personal problem is that I know what the food costs, and while I won’t begrudge restaurants making money, I have problem when they’re making a 400% profit on my purchase. A typical hotel-restaurant breakfast of two strips of bacon, two eggs any style, a slice of toast and a glass of orange juice is going to run you $8-10 (Appleby’s at the Adam’s Mark was like that, as is Tre Cena at the Hyatt at Midwest FurFest). Now, at a reasonable restaurant that might set you back $5-6. That’s the kind of price increase that I’m talking about.
The $17.50 buffet? I suppose it might be worth it for some. I’m a snob and tend to avoid buffets in general because I know that you just can’t make good food in vats. You can make edible food in vats, but that’s not what I’m interested in paying for.
17.50 wasn’t a buffet. I don’t see the word “buffet” anywhere in my comment.???
That was the cost of the Nova-smoked Salmon Omellette breakfast, including 6 ounces of said salmon (go price that). Not a buffet, a big platter of food brought to me by the waitress. And normally I don’t spend that much on breakfast, but I know what the salmon costs, and it’s soooooooo good.
free internet at wyndham
btw, if you don’t already know this – if you join their free byrequest program (frequent guest club), your internet access is free. if not, it’s $9.95/day like everywhere else. plus you can specify a welcome amenity in the online profile (fruit vs. candy, juice vs. pop) and they’ll have the right thing waiting in your room when you show up.
so, even if it’s an older wyndham, it does have a couple perks…
Re: free internet at wyndham
Heh. Oh yeah, I applied for the Wyndham By Request club the moment I found out it was going to be at a Wyndham. Now, it may be dicey because it sounds like sometimes they don’t honor the By Request perks if you’re with a group, but we’ll just have to see.
philidelphia dining
about 5-6 blocks in the direction of the convention center is the farmer’s market good restaurants , bakery’s and cheep fresh fruits and vegtables just east of that is an indoor mall with a food cort in the lower level there are plenty of good places to eat just east of the hotel .The Last time i was in philidelphia i didnt get a ckance to explor west of the hotel but i’m sure there are good places to eat there to