Front Entrance

 Visited San Francisco a few weekends ago and enjoyed the clear blue skies while it lasted, since it doesn’t happen often in this city.  I always enjoy my trips to San Francisco, especially shopping in Union Square.  I never go home empty-handed and never go home with a dissatisfied meal from one of their amazing restaurants. I truly love this city, but I just wasn’t cut out to stay and live there.  I do miss living in the Bay Area, but truly appreciate my visitation rights much more. 

This weekend I actually visited the “Rock,” also known as, Alcatraz Island.  I truly appreciated the history and stories shared by past wardens and convicts.  It surely was amazing weather because there were no clouds covering up the city view from the Island and both bridges were in sight.  Learning about the families that lived on the island left me wondering how parent’s felt about their family living on the island and not feeling endangered.  It amazed me, to realize how trustworthy we were in the past and realizing how that would never happen in this lifetime.  As far as I know….

Let me share about my stay at the Westin St. Francis!

First impression when I hear about “Westin Hotels,” it’s a Starwood Hotel and that means “heavenly” amenities.  What exactly are “heavenly” amenities?  It includes, the Heavenly Bed and Heavenly Shower.  The Heavenly Bed never fails to allow me to sleep in and sink my body into the fluffy linens.  The Heavenly Shower never fails to make me want to stay in the shower longer, sing a tune or two and scrub my body up & down.  In a nutshell, this would come to my mind when staying at a Starwood Hotel.

Although the Westin St. Francis is indeed a Starwood Hotel, I did not care much for the room or the ambience all that much.  If you enjoy vintage, marble flooring and marble columns, you would enjoy the Westin St. Francis.  Walking into the hotel, you could immediately pick up on the fact that this was a historical landmark or building of some sort.  The dark hallways and walkway to the elevators up to your room, will give you an eerie and dark feeling.  Once you arrive on your floor, the carpeting and old style wallpaper continues to give you an eerie impression.  In fact, it does not help that when you walk towards your room, a discreet smell of oldness or moldy air flow breathes into the hallways.  This was not a good sign for being a 4 star hotel. 

Guest Room

Hoping that as I open the door to my room, I would be impressed with updated furniture or chic carpeting; to my dismay, I was quite disappointed.  I did not care for the chandelier, which seemed to fit with the eerie theme of this hotel.  The Heavenly Bed was there, but the plain white walls with very minimalist artwork, was truly a disappointment.  The bathroom had striped wallpaper and marble flooring, which I did not care for.  All in all, the hotel was missing the spark and 21st century appeal.  I truly did not care for my stay here.  If it wasn’t for the Heavenly Bed & Shower, I would give this hotel 2 stars.  But since this is classified with Starwood, I suppose 3 stars would fit and 4 would just be pushing it. 

Delightfully, I was impressed with the presence of Michael Mina’s restaurant: Bourbon Steak.  Absolutely deeeelish!  Our meal started off with french fries that were cooked in duck fat, accompanied by 3 different sauces.  At first, duck fat strayed me away from trying the french fries, but I am willing to try anything once in my life.  Duck fat fries, it was!  I’m glad I tried it because I was utterly impressed and delighted by the taste.  I moved onto my bone-in rib eye steak, cooked at Medium Rare, accompanied by truffled Mac n’ Cheese.  Loved, loved, loved it….. Cooked to its perfection, I enjoyed every bite.  Even though I split the meal into two, I was completely satisfied and full.  The dessert menu arrived and I had no choice but to look the other way.  Our server was truly amazing and kind, he complimented us with chocolate truffles.  I had no choice but to pop one of them in and completely enjoyed every piece of it. Bourbon Steak restaurant was truly an amazing experience and highly recommend it to those who enjoy a good piece of meat. 

French Fries (Fried in Duck Fat)