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Hello! I was wondering what the food situation looks like down at the hotel? Are there restaurants close by/willing to deliver, does the hotel have decent food available to buy, or should I be packing in a bag of meal supplies? I haven't been to a Paizocon since they moved to SeaTac, and my fiancee has metabolism problems and needs to eat regularly. If you have recommendations I would love them so I can put together our food plan for the weekend.
Search Google Maps for "18740 International Blvd. Seattle, WA 98188" and do a virtual "walk" around the neighborhood using Streetview, there's several fast food and chain restaurants within walking distance - and then you're oriented for how to get to them on foot.
There a handful of pretty good sit-down restaurants within a couple blocks, and a Subway/TacoBell for the fast-food kick. The Hotel has a mini-cafe thing, I've never eaten there, the lines have always been waaaaaaaaaaay long, but I've not heard people complain about the food.
I would always assume that unless you don't have anything scheduled for the next slot, you're going to be pushing the time to the limit to be able to run across the street & grab a fastfood/bring it back to game again - I personally always have a handful of protein bars, water, and caffeine of choice with me in my go-to bag for paizocon, it's been pretty helpful.
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The hotel has a coffee stand with sandwiches etc, but as pointed out the lines can be very long. There's also the sit-down restaurant and bar area just behind said coffee stand.
The hotel management has informed me that they will also be doing burgers and bbq by the pool during the con. I don't know the hours, but certainly during the lunchtime rush.
Fast food across the street also includes Jack in the Box, Subways, L&L Hawaiian BBQ, and Taco Bell. There's a Denny's and a Thai place immediately across the street along with Dave's restaurant and bar. About a block south of the hotel and across the road is a teriyaki joint (a PNW specialty!)
If you need groceries, there's a Safeway about 2 miles due south of the hotel. An easy bus ride, the A-line leaves every 15 minutes or so, and I'm sure there's other bus options too.
Wait, we're allowed to bring outside food into the conference spaces?!? How unusual!
If so, three cheers for the hotel management and whoever negotiated the contract!
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But remember that outside alcohol is prohibited in public spaces, including event rooms.
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Thanks for telling me that the hotel rooms are usually without refrigerators, Silbeg! I haven't been in a room without one in ages, so I assumed there was one there by default. I'll have to call them and make sure we get a room with a fridge since we have medication that needs to be kept cold.
Be sure to call early, and let them know you have a medical need. Don't wait until close to arrival or the day of. Anytime I've ever asked about a fridge, they've been tapped out and none were available.
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Wait, we're allowed to bring outside food into the conference spaces?!? How unusual!
If so, three cheers for the hotel management and whoever negotiated the contract!
Just to clarify, per the Senior Events Manager of the hotel, outside food for "events" (e.g. luncheons,) isn't allowed. But people bringing in food for themselves is okay. So, go get Taco Bell for yourself and a couple friends - fine. Have one or two pizzas delivered to you outside the front door - fine.
But you can't have a pizza guy show up in an event room with a big ol' stack of pizzas for everyone. You can't organize a "Vets That Play Pathfinder" lunch and bring in a couple 6-foot subs from the Subways across the street. You can certainly organize meet ups like that, (or I dunno maybe one for PBP folks) but if you want to serve food at an organized sub-event it has to come from the hotel.
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From a vegan with allergies who constantly has food issues at conventions, this is absolutely wonderful news!
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But remember that outside alcohol is prohibited in public spaces, including event rooms.but I thought the point was to make it 'inside' alcohol... lol
If you're feeling lucky you could probably make it "inside a water bottle" alcohol, but who knows what would happen if you get caught for being unsubtle or the most obviously turnt up in the room.
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If you're feeling lucky you could probably make it "inside a water bottle" alcohol, but who knows what would happen if you get caught for being unsubtle or the most obviously turnt up in the room.But remember that outside alcohol is prohibited in public spaces, including event rooms.but I thought the point was to make it 'inside' alcohol... lol
I've had only warnings at this hotel.
ETA: When you are the most turnt up table in the room, you get a special visit from one of the hotel staff that kindly reminds you that outside alcohol is prohibited in the ballroom while totes failing to be subtle as he tried to look under the table all cool like.
He then returned to the makeshift bar in the ballroom to confer with the bartender. I watched as they both stared at us and made various gestures towards our table. As a table we made the decision to abstain (ha!) from purchasing anything from her.
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Reanimating this thread, since it seems to be a topic of ongoing interest every year.
I was just in the hotel neighborhood recently and everything seemed pretty much the same. Except Dave's is now closed and shuttered. Also, I can't confirm if the hotel will be offering the burgers at poolside again or not.
Reanimating this thread, since it seems to be a topic of ongoing interest every year.
I was just in the hotel neighborhood recently and everything seemed pretty much the same. Except Dave's is now closed and shuttered. Also, I can't confirm if the hotel will be offering the burgers at poolside again or not.
The poolside burgers and dogs last year replaced their burgers and dogs in the lobby by the stairs from the previous two years. They haven't reached out to me regarding fast eats so far for 2019s show but I wager they'll try something.
One thing I did last year and intend to do again: Have breakfast and lunch in the hotel room!
There is a Safeway supermarket about two miles down the road from the hotel. I went over there and bought some deli turkey, cheese, bread, yogurt, granola, some baby-cut carrots, and a bag of apples. I also bought a small picnic cooler, which I later filled with ice from the hotel ice machine. [Note: You can get an in-room minifridge as a $10/day add-on, but I think that's a rip-off!]
Every morning, I made coffee in the room and ate some granola with yogurt and an apple for breakfast. I also made a turkey-and-cheese sandwich daily and brought it and some baby-cut carrots with me for lunch. I would buy a soda or coffee from the hotel cafe, and would have that with my sandwich.
The hotel restaurant serves decent food, but is over-priced for what you get. I would especially advise against having breakfast at the hotel restaurant unless you have elite Hilton loyalty status and get it for free. (On the first morning I was there, I got a very tasty sausage-and-egg breakfast sandwich. I'd say it was worth about $7, but cost $15!)
The only hotel-provided comestibales that I purchased frequently were from the bar. It has a nice selection of local beers on tap. They also set up a second bar in the Grand Ballroom for the PFS Special and the Preview Banquet. Last year they served some Pathfinder-themed cocktails. (Honestly... they weren't great.)
Oh... since it's a DoubleTree, their gimmick is free warm chocolate chip cookies. If you are a guest at the hotel, then you can get a cookie from the front desk basically any time you want. (They're really good!)
If you're into fast food, there's a Jack-in-the-Box and a Taco Bell across the street. There's also a Hawaiian-style BBQ nearby. If you are looking for sit-down restaraunts that are in walking distance: there is a Thai place across the street, and a nearby BBQ restaurant called Sharp's. Both were really good!
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I think it was Safeway and AmazonPrime if memory serves.
Safeway didn't try to substitute with overpriced unwanted things, they just refunded the things that weren't available.
Amazon, on the other hand...
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Last year, the Thursday before the con was a really nice day, so I just walked to the Safeway and back. While the road is pretty busy, there are sidewalks the entire way. It's only about two miles from the Hilton Garden Inn, and the road is pretty much flat.
One annoying thing I just noticed...
Lime (the bike share company) came to my town in the past year, and I've been an avid user. I had been looking forward to using Lime while at PaizoCon (e.g. for biking to the grocery store). Unfortunately, it would seem that SeaTac Airport and everywhere in a three-mile radius is a designated "red zone", meaning that bikes may not be parked there. Serious bummer. (Best guess: Business owners in the area objected to potential impact on their business, such as taxi service.)
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We end up when we get to the hotel on Wed grab an uber/lyft to the safeway. Pick up supplies and sandwiches and typically something for dinner/lunch (depending on when our flight got in).
We use that for quick meals when we are running around trying to make our scheduled games, and reserve a nice meal on our last night with friends living in Seattle.
I've mentioned this before in previous threads on this, but if you've never been, Sharp's Roadhouse is absolutely fantastic. If you're lucky, you can get one of their French Dips before they sell out - best sandwich I've had.... making me drool just thinking about it :p
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I'm also a big fan of Sharp's. If you sit in the bar, be careful of getting sucked in to the "wheel of fortune": every 30 minutes they spin the wheel and offer whatever drink special is selected. More than once I've been about ready to go, but it was 5 minutes to "Wheel time", so I waiting to see what would be next ... ;-)
Sadly, with the loss of Dave's Diner (RIP!) it would seem that my vacation-qualifying Eggs Benedict will need to be acquired at the hotel restaurant at a significant mark-up.
...that is, unless someone knows of another breakfast eatery in the walking distance that does them?
The Denny's doesn't, I was in there this morning.