MJ

Had to leave this hotel before spending any time in the room. Directed by desk clerk to park in back parking lot. Observed a panhandler in the back parking lot begging for money from customers, broken glass in back parking lot from car window, and a pit bull mix walking around back parking lot. Front customer elevator inoperable. Carpet on customer luggage carts was filthy.

A male panhandler went into the hotel from the back door into a first floor room. While walking down the hallway, voices from the room the man entered, a man and woman were arguing loudly about the low amount of money that the man is getting with his begging for money. The woman said she’s getting way more money than him.

At reservation days prior to arrival requested a first floor room with easy access to entrance and exit. Was assigned to a 4th floor room as far from entrance and exit as possible. Desk clerk directed us to park in back. The front elevator was inoperable and the back elevator operated as if on a prayer.

The room on the 4th floor was totally unacceptable. The sofa bed in the room needed to be used for sleeping. The seating area of the sofa bed was heavily soiled with body oils and the fabric was very loose in the seating area creating crumpling of the fabric.

A request, days ahead of arrival, was made at time of reservation for adequate linens for the sofa bed as it would be used. There were not adequate linens for the sofa bed. Upon further inspection of the sofa bed, there was no mattress only wooden slats. The room was totally inadequate.

Went back to front desk and had to wait an extensive time for the desk clerk to come back. Gave desk clerk the room keys and requested refund of charges. Desk clerk refused to make an immediate refund and said that only a manager could make the refund. She further stated a manager is not available and that I must stay there until a manager arrives.

I requested she call the manager and that she handle a refund now because in leaving I have a three plus hour drive ahead of me. It was now about 4:00pm. She said that I can’t leave, that I have to stay there and wait a very long time for a manager. She further emphasized multiple times that it will be a very long wait.

This is unlawful detention for the desk clerk to demand that I stay at the facility and that I wait to be served at her perceived extreme time frame. She could have provided better customer service. I had stayed at this hotel about a year ago and the stay was good but not so this time as the property has declined extremely.

The staff are awesome and the barbecue is worthy of a long drive.

Very nice shaded area covered with clean tables on outside patio to sit and enjoy your meals with your fuzzy face.

We had small two meat sandwiches, baked beans and coleslaw.

All of the food is great. The baked beans are so good one would leave home for them. The recipe is special and includes some beef brisket in the recipe.

I became too full to eat all of my coleslaw but it is also very good.

Also there is a small pet relief area plus a fire hydrant for those pets included.

Review from our previous visit:
We had two sliced brisket sandwiches with iced tea and the bill was about $32.

Definitely recommend for the food and staff.

As we were in the parking lot I called to confirm that we are welcome with Parker, toy poodle, on the patio and received a very positive of course.

We drove by planning to eat outside with our toy poodle but the concrete at the tables was flooded with water and more water flowing into the area also stacked with wood. We went elsewhere as serving customers with their dog doesn’t seem to be a priority.

We stopped by for a first visit with our toy poodle at about 1:30pm on a Thursday.

The tables outside most were in the sun without any shade. Only one table was near the shade, the table was dirty with food debris and chair had food debris also.

Inside, I ask for the table to be cleaned and a staff member requested the table to be cleaned on the patio but this didn’t happen.

I ordered two veggie bowls with water to drink and the bill was about $26.

The food was excellent, definitely recommend the brown rice and the guacamole is fabulous.

It was very hot even in the shade on the patio.

The staff inside were very cordial but don’t expect any attention outside.

The food is great and this restaurant is exceptionally dog friendly the best we have ever visited. Our toy poodle felt like royalty when they gave her a cup with her own shredded chicken.

Definitely picky toy poodle approved.

Drove a long distance to find out that this location no longer exists.

Drove a long distance to visit a dog friendly restaurant to find a deserted building. Very disappointed.

We thought we had a good experience at this property until a couple of days after we left. We stayed only 2 nights and left the property clean not even a dirty dish was left in the unit. The unit didn’t have a dishwasher and we washed every item we used, dried them and put them away. We didn’t track in a bunch of dirt or mud so the unit was in great condition when we left. Since we were staying in a place that our toy poodle had not been in, we held her in our arms as we came in the door to the unit and put a diaper on her. She was directly with us all the time we were in the unit with a diaper on. We kept the diaper on her until we were ready to take her outside to potty and took it off. At no time did she soil her diaper in any manner.

We purchased the additional trip insurance for peace of mind in the unit just incase we broke a dish etc which didn’t happen. The unit is located among pine trees about 6 miles from Mineola, TX surrounded by pine trees. There is not a garage or carport so our vehicle was pelted with pine cones and pine needles. While in the unit, a huge roach ran up the wall by the tv. Since the unit is located in the woods of East Texas this isn’t unusual. The train tracks are a short distance away, and train whistles blew loudly all day and night.

While sitting on the couch watching tv the sun came in the kitchen window and was blinding. I had read about the window and the lack of privacy but thought the host would have taken care of it. A window in the bathroom and the kitchen has no coverage for privacy.

The host gave us a bad rating. A couple of days had passed after we left thinking all is well and the host notified me that the area rug in the living room had been discovered by the cleaning lady to be urine soaked. The host said the rug was so urine soaked it had to be removed and professionally cleaned. I told the host that this was impossible and why I know it’s impossible. The host filed a request for damages to the rug in excess of $200. The host then sent an additional message that she isn’t able to rent the unit, had to decline rentals for a week to get the rug professionally cleaned. I do not recommend anyone to stay in any unit this host manages.

Parker and I visited the Buffalo Grill in Hugo, OK a nice drive from Paris, TX.

The Buffalo Grill has eight pet friendly picnic tables on a covered patio and they provide table service.

The food is excellent and those paying cash receive a discount.

The ladies bathroom was visited. It was very clean and included a changing table for those needing a changing table.

Found the restaurant on bringfido.com. The food was awesome as was the service. The restaurant has three (3) tables outside for those wanting to bring their fuzzy faces family members with them. Excellent experience from the food all the way to the fact staff checked on us while eating at a patio table and brought water out for our fuzzy face. Definitely recommend when in the Tyler, Texas area.