Shumyla Jan

Review of The Normandie hotel

When I first walked into the hotel lobby, I was im...

When I first walked into the hotel lobby, I was immensely excited and fell in love with the eclectic decor. The staff was polite and helpful, as well. The food at Cassell's, the attached diner, was fabulous. Looks aside, there are a few issues with the hotel I experienced: mainly, maintenance and noise.

We were excited at check-in because we were told we received a "free upgrade to a suite". The extra suite had an additional bathroom, TV, phone, fridge, etc. I thought it would be great to have this extra shower to save time in the mornings instead of having to take turns.

However, the shower in the suite didn't work (no water pressure). Not only that, but the TV didn't work, and neither did the phone. I used my cell my first google the hotel's number, and then asked the front desk to please fix these issues. They were able to get the TV working, and I really didn't care much to get the phone fixed (thank heavens for cell phone tech) but the shower wouldn't have been fixed until after our trip was over, so I let that go. We ended up taking turns to shower in the morning, but an additional working shower would have been so nice.

There hotel is in a noisy part of Koreatown. Expect a lot of honking and yelling way into the night. If you're a light sleeper, I wouldn't recommend staying here. My husband had a lot of trouble staying asleep and woke up in a bad mood.

The wifi is free but spotty on the topmost floor.

The breakfast is pretty carby, if you're into that. Hey, it's free. But if you need a protein-packed breakfast, hop on over next door to Cassell's.