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Hotel Class: 
5 Stars - 5 Reviews and 346 Opinions
1330 Maryland Avenue, SW, Washington DC, District of Columbia, 20024, United States
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351 Opinions
Greatwalk0
User Rating
The Mandarin Oriental Washington is truly a luxurious experience! With only three in the United States, the Mandarin Oriental is perfect for special occasions. The hotel includes a variety of rooms and suites (I reccomend the Premier Water Rooms, which have beautiful views of the Tidal Basin), a great spa, two fantastic restaurants - Cafe Mozu (Asian) and City Zen (gourmet) - and truly pleasant service.
Mandarin Oriental Washington is expensive, but this is truly an example of "getting what you pay for." We went there for my wife's last birthday and the quality of the service, combined with the beautiful room we had, made for a truly memorable experience. Spend a lot - get even more. We'll be coming back!
Unique Quality: The hotel's location (SW Waterfront) makes for beautiful views of the Washington Monument, Jefferson Memorial, Tidal Basin, and the Potomic River!
Also - don't miss the hotel's spa for a truly amazing experience!
hackenbush
User Rating
Stayed for 4 nights mid-August 08. The hotel is a short walk from the Metro, National Mall, and the Smithsonian.The turn down service left ice , which was much appreciated after a long day out in August.
The Tai Pai Lounge on the 8th floor involved an extra fee, and it was convenient to have breakfast and an afternoon drink there (beer, wine, licquor or extra). There are very limited dining options outside of the hotel in this area.
It's really expensive, but really nice.
Unique Quality: The water view room we had gave a great view of the Jefferson Memorial.
Mandarin Oriental Washington DC Photo: Mandarin Oriental from across The Tidal Basin
Bunsch
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It isn't difficult to understand why the Mandarin Oriental gets rave reviews -- the place is pretty nearly perfect. (I may be a philistine, but I was underwhelmed by the artistic representation of the Last Empress of China swinging over the United States Capitol, accompanied by monkeys; otherwise, it WAS perfect.) I loved it that we had umbrellas, robes and slippers, and other unexpected touches awaiting us. A thoroughly delightful experience!
Unique Quality: I was blown away to be in a spacious, classy room overlooking the Jefferson Memorial and the Tidal Basin. That was before I slept in the extraordinarily comfortable bed, or used the peerless bath facilities...even the toiletries were top drawer. When we broke out the Dom, a call for ice and glasses was promptly honored. Service personnel generally scurried out of the way before a tip could be offered. In the Cafe, we kept stumbling on new and delicious choices -- and seeing our overloaded plates, our waitress provided plastic containers and a handsome hotel bag so that we could save some goodies for the train home.
Mandarin Oriental Washington DC Photo: Can you see our room?
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Clairraven
User Rating
Hotel is great, but a bit out of the way, near the Smithsonian metro stop. The rooms are wonderful, the bathrooms are spacious and the restaurant is first rate. It is definitely a place for a luxury stay - expect to pay top dollar for everything. Service is excellent.
Unique Quality: The spa is amazing. Treatments are holistic and you will get lots of (unsolicited) advice about stress management, skin care and overall health. It has a new agey quality with crystals in the steam room and the experience shower. The relaxation room has water of many flavors and orchids all over the place. The spa also has a signature scent and they give you potpourri in this scent (orange and rose) to take with you.
The pink mud is used in many treatments and is for sale.
mattreider
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A new arrival to DC, the Mandarin Oriental is a beautiful oasis in the city. Located very near to the national mall and the capital building, this hotel is the selection for the international visitors to our powerful seat of government. Nearing $400 a night, you can assume that the level of service meets every expectation.
I had the privalege of visiting this fine hotel during the Cherry Blossom Festival, when the hotel hosts international visitors that come to D.C. for the annual spring entertainment, featuring various Japanese traditions and performances.
You can almost feel the good chi.
Unique Quality: The architectural detail and scale is astonishing, as are the spa and pool areas.
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1 - 5 of 5
Very nice hotel, not 5 star. Stayed there the weekend before the Inauguration. Staff friendly and polite, room nice, fairly convenient location. Room service was prompt, food was good but expensive. Only problem was that the meeting room was overheated and repeated attempts by the staff could not lower the temperature. I wasn't paying for any of this, so it wasn't bad, but I'm not sure I would stay here if it were my own mioney
We stayed at the Mandarin the weekend of 1/29/05. We were a little concerned reading others reviews but our experience was GREAT. We received a free upgrade in room, which had a spectacular view and a incredible bathroom. I mentioned it was my wife's birthday when making the reservation....when we returned to the room from dinner they had delivered a complimentary bottle of champagne and dessert for two. From check in to check out, everything about this hotel was 5 stars! If there was any drawback...we would agree with others that the entertainment system should be reconsidered. We WILL be back!!
Just got back from a wonderful stay at the Mandarin Oriental in DC. We had booked a District Deluxe room and at check in we asked for an upgrade and were given a water view. The hotel was gorgeous- our room had a king bed, large bathroom w/ tub and shower- and great aromatherapy amenties. The TV had surround sound, high definition, and also a DVD/CD player. The mini bar and room service were both pricey. We ordered room service late one evening - around 1am- and they were quick and the food was tasty. The empress lounge had live entertainment and was a comfortable and relaxing place to have a before or after dinner drink.
What I like best about this hotel was the turn down service- they came in and turned down the bed and placed fresh orchids on the pillows. Also, they supplied us w/ several bottles of Voss Water. Both my husband and I agreed that we had one of the best night's sleep we had had in a long while. The bed was incredibly comfortable and the pillows were like sleeping on clouds!
All the staff was friendly and we really enjoyed our stay. Didn't get a chance to try any of the restaurants- but did eat at the Capital Grille and had one of the best meals ever! We also walked over to the smithsonian while we were there- only about 3 blocks away.
We stayed the week before Thanksgiving and our "upgrade" was with a view of the railroad tracks. The room was definitely NOT as nice as the Mandarin in New York City - a little more sparse, small "king size" bed, shower wasn't as nice. The staff was OK, but in Washington, "OK" is as good as it gets. The location was weird - you had to walk past a construction zone to get to the Mall; and walking back from the Memorials we had to cross highways. I would go somewhere else for the money.
This is the only hotel I've gone to, so rather than giving general impressions, which are wasted without comparison points, I will give specifics.
The view from Water Premiere rooms is as good as I can imagine in D.C., looking at the Washignton Monument, the Jefferson Memorial, the tidal basin, and some skyline. Take another kind of room and you might not be so lucky. For instance, I once got a "District" room, which provided me with a beautiful view of the wall of the neighboring building, which was admittedly in the "District". If you like views, you gotta pay more.
The location is not great, as other reviews mention. To get to food, you have to go more than a ten minute walk, which urges people who are tired from touring the Mall all day to stay in room for dinner. (See paragraph on room service.) You can get a cab, but how do you know where you are headed, if you are like me and did not prepare eating options ahead of time? The Mandarin did not have a "local cuisine" kind of booklet in the room.
The walking time to the Mall is ten minutes or so, which is not so great in bad weather.
The tidal basin and Jefferson Memorial are right out back, but still take 5 and 10 minutes to walk to respectively. Another reviewer mentioned crossing highways to get there, which is true, but was no problem for me. But just as I was getting a excited about the slow walk on the waterside, with the grass and trees and white stone, I started to see the condition and appearance of the rusty-riveted bridges and industrial train tracks and cracking streets. So I had to settle for the more conceptual beauty of the contrast.
Room service was adequate. It took 20 minutes to get one meal and 30 to get another. If you like a bda joke, try the "Bento Boxes", which are "TV dinners". I put "TV dinners" in quotes because the menu did, which means they get the joke that these 31$, non-Asian trays of food are the same quality as 4$ TV dinners. The difference is you get less food in each of the six dollops that you get to choose. I ordered soup and got a 3X3X.5 inch (no exaggeration) saucer half full of tomato juice. I guess the Mandarin custom is to eat like a cat. My pizza was great, though hardly better than the Cal. Pizza Kitchen version. Oh, and get ready to pay 50 cents per ounce of bottled water, and to be unsure what you will be charged for.
My wife loved the appointment, from the embroidery on the pillows to the transparent shower stall, and I think she spent an hour in the bath for every hour I watched the good cable.
I paid 229$ per weekend night, and the rooms with good views were 375$.
The architectural detail and scale is astonishing, as are the spa and pool areas.
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Address: 1330 Maryland Avenue, SW, Washington DC, District of Columbia, 20024, United States
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