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San Antonio - a thorough review
Posted By: Rod In Response To: San Antonio (Bill Riles)
Date: Tuesday, 4 February 2014, at 6:16 p.m.
Tournament: level of play - top competition. From what I understand, probably the toughest (or very close) in the world, given the level of competition.
Action: lots of events. No shortage of events.
Tournament: wait times - not great in many cases. I found events to play. Debra waited 3 times (a total of 5 hours) for 2 different doubles matches. Twice because our opponents were granted extra time for dinner breaks and we weren't told (we spent our 1 hour break in the hotel while out opponents took 2 1/2 and 3 1/2 hour breaks, extended even past their added time allotted by staff). The other time one of the players simply didn't bother to show for the 10 am start and it just ended up being our misfortune to have gotten up earlier than we needed to.
Tournament staff - great, aside from issue noted above. I suppose that that is a major issue. However I'm not sure that specifically affected many people, as it was only early in the tournament.
Hotel - a bit run down. Inexpensive. Convenient. We stayed in a suite. Great price. The hotel itself isn't maintained pristinely - stone in the lobby shows its age, carpet needs to be replaced, other things. Didn't notice any bad smell that David mentions. Would stay again - worth the $ I suppose. I'd classify it as value-worn-oldish-charm.
Hotel: restaurant - decent service. Decent/good food. Very expensive relative to San Antonio but about normal for a "nice" hotel.
Hotel staff - good.
San Antonio - we did the Alamo and the river walk. The Alamo is good for about a 30 minute visit, unless you happen to love the Alamo. The river walk is uber commercialized. It was nicer late night when most of the shops were closed. The area around the hotel are super touristy - reminded me of a very small and very poor man's Times Square in NYC.
San Antonio: food - good and bad. Stick to Mexican in San Antonio and it seems like you win. Anything else and you might regret it. Tia Mara (think that's what it was) was 24/7 and was good, especially considering the surprisingly low prices. Paloma Blanca (white dove) was on the expensive side ($60/person with 2 drinks apiece) but was even better, comparable to Rosa Mexicana in NY.
Don't get pizza in San Antonio. The best seems to have been the Subway flatbread pizza. The place across from the hotel - I make better pizza from scratch. It was among the worst pizza I've ever had - the $1/slice pizza in NYC is better, as was the bad airport pizza we had on the way to San Antonio.
Super Bowl party - enjoyable way to spend the last night there. Nice social event.
Overall - nice weekend. Probably repeat. Knowing about the food issues and knowing to confirm dinner breaks and start times would make it a better experience next time.
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