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Embassy Suites Seattle - Bellevue
Rating Details »
3225 158th Ave SE
(at 33rd St)
Bellevue, WA 98008
(425) 644-2500
(at 33rd St)
Bellevue, WA 98008
(425) 644-2500
- Price Range:
-
$$
8 reviews for Embassy Suites Seattle - Bellevue
I don't know much about the actual rooms here, but I have to say I was pleased with the meeting spaces. One of the divisions of my company had a Holiday party here last night. The hotel itself is on the older side and definitely shows its age (it looks very 80s) but nonetheless it was a nice enough venue.
Our party had a hosted bar (NICE!) and the bartender was really friendly and was able to remember my drink really quickly. Only simple-ish cocktails were made, but he did a good job. The wine that was served was underwhelming but besides that there was a good selection of alcohol to choose from.
I thought the food that was served was very yummy. A selection of appetizers was served buffet style and we ordered a huge variety of food. The bacon-wrapped scallops stood out to me. They were on the chewy side but they were able to hold up surprisingly well. In all, we had sushi, crab cakes, egg rolls, dumplings, seafood, cheese, umhhhh... other stuff too, but I'm not remembering. Considering some of the items sat around for an hour or so, they all managed to hold up quite nicely.
The presentation was nice, too. The fresh seafood we ordered (crab legs, prawns, oysters on the half shell) was chilled on ice with plenty of lemon and cocktail sauce.
The staff in general were helpful and attentive and very quickly made sure empty glasses and plates were removed.
All in all the event went smoothly, the food was in abundance and the booze flowed in epic portions. There are only a few issues I have though: 1) the place is a little dated. 2) they won't let you take food home. I'm not typically big on left overs, but I would have killed to bring home some of the prawns, crab or the bacon-wrapped scallops. It was sad to see a lot of fresh, tasty seafood go to waste.
Check out Cascades Grille (the hotel bar/restaurant) too! It was pretty decent. The bartender wasn't the best, but he got the job done and the sandwiches and fries were pretty darn good.
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Need an extra blanket? Bring your own. Forgot your toothbrush? By one for $4 at the gift shop. Breakfast buffet OK but the same everyday of our stay. Manager's reception was the worst of any of the several ES that we stayed at. A one night stay would be tolerable. Anything more look elsewhere.
For our corporate dollar, we normally house our Houstonian colleagues over at a different hotel but for this year's annual sales shindig we put 'em up here. It has a surprisingly small reception area, but the staff are very attentive, and once you get in....there's a NIGHTLY (that's every evening, y'all) "Manager's Reception" with F-R-E-E well drinks and appetizers.
The reception we hosted there the first night was in a word, disappointing, mainly because of the poor food quality and presentation, so that is the missing star on this review. Otherwise the rooms are just like any other Embassy - a nice sized "living room" area, with a separate bedroom. Perfectly sized for me and 4 Texans to sit around telling sales stories (which are only dwarfed in exaggeration by fishing stories) and drinking well into the wee hours of the morning.
Unfortunately I didn't get on the pimpin'/10-year old party level like Carrie (L.B.) did, but it's something to aspire to! Rooms are now $170/night here, but if the company credit card is the plastic you pull, it's all good.
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My family and I stayed at this hotel during my youngest brother's Thanksgiving weekend wedding.
The hotel screams 1980s. I expected to see Rose Nyland working in the gift shop and Blanche Devereaux hanging out at the nightly manager's reception. There is an odd combination of live and faux plants (the fake plants near the elevator looked like they were left over from a long ago taping of LAND OF THE LOST). The common areas rather reminded me of a shopping mall circa 1983 - little "ponds", fountains, greenery, pebbles and mulch. At least nothing was peach or mauve in color (that I can recall).
As with any Embassy Suites, there is a center atrium which houses the daily morning breakfast do and reception space. On this particular visit, the atrium was constantly full of people - be it breakfast, wedding receptions (no - my brother's wedding/reception was NOT here), 'tween-age cheerleaders or folks having inappropriately noisy midnight cocktails. The problem, you see, is that all of the sound rises and echoes creating an unpleasant cacophony in one's own room. I suppose that if one were able to sleep in the bedroom of the suite, this would be less of an issue, but, as the unfortunate single-travelling soul who was relegated to the sofa bed in the living room, unwanted ambient noise can be a problem. Really folks, if a room is intended for potential sleeping, shouldn't it free from the sounds of drunken revelry and adolescent insipidity taking place in the hallways and the atrium 5 floors below?
This naturally segues into the issue of the sofa bed. I realize that sofa beds are not the most comfortable things, but this was the worst ever. I think the mattress was stuffed with coat hangers and toilet paper. The steel support bars were constantly poking me in the back. There was no way to get comfortable. Add the noises coming from outside the room and you have a recipe for a long, sleepless night. I ended up just sleeping on the sofa which, although too short for me, was far more comfortable than the mattress inside (although not ideal for the 3 nights I stayed there). The fact is that fairly comfortable sofa beds DO exist. Embassy Suites management should really look into this. If you provide a sofa bed, you ARE expecting someone to sleep on it every now and them. Therefore, make it as comfortable as possible.
The rooms themselves are spacious. The room décor is less dated (late 1990s perhaps) than the common areas of the hotel. The bathroom is large with plenty of decent bath amenities. The room was very clean when we checked in, but the maid service tended to be rather spotty.
The daily breakfast was actually pretty good. The staff was friendly and attentive. We did not attend any of the nightly cocktail hours as we were all busy elsewhere - weddings are like that. There is a restaurant and bar. We did drop by for a cocktail before heading to the wedding. The space was nice and the bartender was pleasant and attentive.
There is also a workout room and an indoor pool. I didn't use either. Even if I had brought a bathing suit, the fact that the pool was always commandeered by the hordes of tween-age cheerleaders would have kept me away.
All in all, I was not wowed by this hotel. A hot breakfast and the potential of free evening well drinks does not compensate for the other more basic issues. I am not mad for Embassy Suites in general. I guess it's the whole atrium concept that I don't like. For three nights of fitful sleep and an aching back, I can only award 2 stars.
Embassy Suites Hotel saved my life. Or at least my freshly minted 10-year-old's pool party birthday sleep over.
My daughter is sitting in the lobby of the Bellevue Sheraton sobbing, the boogery red-faced hiccuppy choking sobs of bitter disappointment. The hotel pool party idea she dreamed up for her birthday last year was about to end in disaster 30 minutes before the first guest arrived. The pool closed that morning for renovations.
The gal at the front desk is telling me she's sorry. As I silently encourage my kid to work it, I'm insisting to the gal that sorry won't fix it; she needs to find me another hotel, with adjoining rooms and a WORKING pool immediately.
The controlled outrage of the mother combined with the hysterically sobbing kid do the trick and we end up at the Bellevue Embassy Suites on the "Embassador" level (the level that says we're better than you) with 2 adjoining suites twice as big as the adjoining rooms at the first hotel, a breakfast buffet, free cocktails from 5.30-7.00 (gawd I needed that drink) and a fricken waterfall into the pool.
On the Embassador level, the fresh fruit, pastries, yogurt, bottles of water and soda run freely, which is good because eight girls eat a lot.
Would I choose Embassy Suites for my dream vacation or even a trip to Phoenix? Probably not in like a gazillion years. Would I book it for the planned 2nd annual pool party birthday sleep over?
You betcha. I'm calling over there right now.
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This hotel has the standard Embassy Suites package: free hot breakfast with omelet chef in the morning from 6 - 9am, and hospitality happy hour with free drinks and munchies from 5 - 7pm.
You get a 2 room suite, with separate living room and bedroom (with a door for privacy in between) microwave, fridge, a TV in each room,
and the signature large center atrium design in the center of the building wih glass elevators. There is also a bar and food restaurant on the premises, and 2 meeting rooms. The water fountains and koi pounds are also de riguer for the Embassy Suites and present here.
Whats different about this Embassy Suites compared to others? The following: Most E.S. are 6 - 12 floors, this one was only 5 stories. Less greenery. The Portland Airport Embassy had live green plants in planters on every floor. This one had sparse greenery, giving it a less luxurious appearance. The color schemes, carpeting, and general upkeep was a little less than others. The decor seemed dated and tired, maybe more 80's versus 21st century. Greens, beiges, waynescoating, etc. It felt old. Good thing is that across the street from the back parking lot, there was a 7/11, MacDonalds, Shell Oil, and a couple other shops. This offered close, low end, and easy food choices rather than just the hotel's offering. There is a small gym, a large pool with water fall, a jacuzzi pool, and a dry sauna.
Bellevue is an upscale suburb with its own hi-rises, not far from the Microsoft campus. and 12 miles from Downtown Seattle. Typically a room here will cost about $179 - $199 or more, but I got it at $134; and when you subtract the cost of a big hot breakfast and a couple of drinks at happy hour, you are really getting comparable to $100/night.
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Nothing remarkable about this $140/night business hotel. Everything works, everythings clean, but nothing stood out. Its as a business hotel should be.
I have never peered in on the pool/fitness area, but there were tons of signs saying it was being renovated, so maybe might have to pack my tennis shoes next time.
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This is a fairly decent hotel. I stayed here quite frequently when I first moved to the area. The breakfast included with the room rate is quite good and the evening manager's reception is a nice touch. The hotel on the other hand looks quite dated. The gym is of no use with machines that are well past their prime.