Fine Dining with Bay Views at the Duck Club
by orcoastgirl about The Duck Club
The Duck Club is the fine dining venue at the Monterey Plaza Hotel & Spa. Our dinner here was perfect. We were seated at a table by the window with panormaic views of Monterey Bay. You could watch the waves crashing below and view sea otters frolicking in the surf while you dine here.
The service was very attentive, prompt and professional. Everything we had was excellent. First course were the Lobster Potstickers followed by a Butter Lettuces salad. We shared the Duck Entree that was perfectly prepared. Dessert was also shared which was very good. The Lobster Potsticker Appetizer, the Duck entree.
Nice Room but Rude Staff
by A TripAdvisor Member
I've driven by the Monterey Plaza Hotel many times, so I decided to give it a try. The front desk staff are not that friendly. The ocean view room was clean and comfortable, but not worth the price. I would consider again for special occasions or off season travel. The Duck Club restaurant has excellent food & service with the premium price to match. If you're wealthy, everything about the Monterey Plaza is worth the price. No one should waste their money for rooms across the street from the main hotel.
A Real Disappointment
by TripAdvisor Member ACM1
We were quite disappointed on a recent trip to the Monterey Plaza Hotel. Although the first of our two rooms was ready upon check-in, the second room was not yet available. A little wait is OK, but the room was still not ready at 5:15 pm...well after the 4:00 pm check-in time.
Our deluxe bay view room, was not badly decorated, but small and had a tiny bathroom. Not what I expected for the price. Unfortunately, the hotel does not have a/c and it was actually hot for Monterey (temperatures were in the 90s). So, we had to sleep with the window open. Since the room had a ceiling fan that really would not have been a problem, except that the hotel bar crowd spilled out onto the adjoining patio (five floors below our room) and partied. When I finally called down to the front desk at 1:00 am, they were less than accomodating until I threatened to call the police. The patio was closed within 15 minutes. It was not a good experience and I would not go back.
Wedding at the Plaza
by A TripAdvisor Member
My wife and I just had our wedding at the Monterey Plaza. Everything went very, very well. We could not have been more pleased with how the staff handled our wedding. Tiffany helped us plan and organize our wedding. From our first meeting with her, we were very comfortable with her abilities to make our wedding day a great one. Everything was handled professionally and in a friendly manner. Our planning, rehearsal and actual ceremony ended up being a great success thanks to the staff at the plaza. We didn't have to worry about any of the logistics. All decorations, presents, etc were wisked away and stored for us without us having to give it a second thought.
Granted, all of this preparation is not free. Then again, nothing related to weddings seems to be inexpensive. Having a wedding at the plaza is not one of the less expensive wedding options. I did expect a better room considering the $$ we were spending for the wedding. The room was nice and we did have an ocean view but it was just a typical hotel room. My wife chose to add an ajoing parlor to our room. This was not covered under our wedding discount. The added parlor was an expensive upgrade but it turned out to be well worth it. It provided plenty of room for the girls to get ready before the wedding. The two balconies also gave us excellent views of the ocean.
Overall, our wedding experience at the Plaza was very positive. I would recommend it to anyone looking for an ocean venue. We found that the staff went out of their way to take the worry out of our wedding day.
Steve
Overpriced and overrated
by A TripAdvisor Member
I've stayed at this property three times in the last six years. Although the first two visits several years ago were acceptable the most recent visit this past weekend was a real disappointment. In my previous stays, I had stayed in the main building directly overlooking Monterey Bay. This time when I arrived I found out that we had a "Garden View" room which meant we were in the building on the opposite side of Cannery Row. I had not been told this when I made the reservations. In reality, the room faced a popular bicycle/jogging trail which was busy and noisy for most of the weekend, including the early morning hours. Just beyond the hiking trail was a relatively busy city street. In addition, the hotel has no air conditioning and even though the outdoor temperature during our stay did not reach 80 degrees, the room was unbearably hot in the evenings unless the ceiling fan was turned up to max and the patio doors were wide open all night. The bellman said that this was due to the afternoon sun that this building is exposed to.
The rooms had no windows, only the previously mentioned patio doors with no screens on the doors. Even though we were on the second floor I felt uncomfortable leaving the doors wide open all night especially with our three kids in adjoining room. Of course. by the next morning the rooms were populated by a number of insect visitors as well.
Additonally, the furnishings of both rooms are beginning to show a significant degree of wear and tear and could use replacement.
I was unable to open one of the in-room honor bars ended up breaking the key.
Finally, we had room service for dinner one evening and found the food mediocre at best.
At $260/room per night plus $16/day parking this was greatly overpriced.
During my next visit to Monterey I will be staying somewhere else.
ok but not great
by TripAdvisor Member loveslife
expensive and not a great value. We had an ocean view room the first night and the view was great but the room was very basic, pretty small, and no great bathtub which I expected at these prices. We down-scaled the second night, same room just no view and it was fine, and was less expensive. The spa is great--go for the hot stone treatment -- and I loved the outdoor hot tub and roof top deck. The hotel service help was aso very professional and accomodating so no complaints on anything except the prices for what you get other than the view and location.
Photos
Monterey Plaza, Cannery Row
Forum Posts
Monterey/Carmel
by monty18
Apologies I did not mention month we are in the araea....Early June
Monterey/Carmel
by kiwi
Hi Ray, if you post this as a reply to your original enquiry, the question will flow better for an answer. Otherwise someone may come across your question and not see the added information. Good luck :-)
RE: RE: Monterey/Carmel
by YVRDave
The weather will be great. Possible fog in the AM. My favorite hotel is the Monterey Plaza. Try to get a room over the water. They Hyatt and Marriott are other options in Monterey. Carmel is a little boutiquie for my tastes. Usually more expensive also. Check out this members pages. They are great.
http://members.virtualtourist.com/m/15861/
RE: Monterey/Carmel
by monty18
Thanks Kiwi, Yes it belongs the the same question. I just forgot to put the month in. Anyway, Many thanks to all who replied so fast. Your info is very helpful. We have decided to stay in Monterey and visit out from there. Looking forward to our trip to California.
