I'd put this in the layover section, but since the last entry for Asia is 6 weeks old, I doubt it would get much traffic.
I figured I better get this out before I forgot everything.
The room/bathroom I had was similar in size to the Marriott we’ve been staying in. Temperature control is in English and it works. No complaints on getting the room to a good sleeping temp. Nice sliding window shades that have day/night panels and do a good job of blacking out the room. The beds are not Westin caliber but comfortable. In my room, there were two twin beds pushed together but not connected. They separated easily and had individual bedding, so you’re basically just using one side or the other (unless you have a “friend” for a sleep over). TV has a similar channel line-up to NRT.
Not that I usually expect to get a great deal at the mini-bar, but many place we go aren’t that bad. They are wayyyy proud of the 12 oz. cans of Yebisu in the room. Those will run you ¥1000 and a mini of Macallan or Yamazaki is ¥1900. It’s not an auto-charge version, so nothing stopping you from replenishing from the Family Mart before you leave though.
The gym isn’t the best in the system, but it’s a huge improvement over the Marriott. Hot/cold pool, lap pool with Jacuzzi, “chill-out” room with recliners and TVs/headsets, work-out area has 2 ellipticals, 4 treadmills and a stationary bike. There is a free-weight bench press, dumbbells and a reasonable assortment of Precor machines.
There’s a Sky-lounge on the 35th floor with the standard assortment of over-priced food and adult beverages. Great view of the city and the bar area in the center is cigar friendly.
My check of the local area is far from exhaustive. This is from a fairly cursory recon within a block of the hotel to the north. The good news – no one is going to go hungry or thirsty around this place. Info on other activities will be forthcoming, hopefully as more posts appear.
Standing in front of the check-in desk you are roughly facing east (probably more like SE but I’ll round to the 4 basic cardinals). So, if you exit the hotel to the north, you enter a glassed in atrium area before actually exiting outdoors.
At this point I’m not making any recommendations (other than the okonomiyaki place I visited). Just delivering info on what’s around.
To the right as you exit the hotel while still in the atrium are stairs/escalators that you can take to the basement. Two levels down is a German restaurant complete with piped in Bavarian music and a Lowenbrau sign. Food looks German (sausage plate, schnitzel, etc). It’s got the word “Beer” in the name (which escapes me right now), so my guess is they have some. Doubt it gives Cologne much competition, but it’s there. On the same level, there is also a small pub with a Bass Ale sign.
If you don’t go to the basement, just continue north out of the atrium and outside. Osaka Station is on the north side (opposite) side of the large street in front of you. Go right to the first intersection/crosswalk, cross the street and enter the station (you’ll be entering at the labeled “South Entrance”).
There are two basement levels below the street level you enter on with shops and restaurants. If you simply have to have gyoza, spicy noodle soup and beer, I was able to find one in the lower basement level. It’s right next to McDonald’s, so that can help find it. To go there, basically – in south entrance, go down two levels and go west down a long hallway. Picture menus with English – pictures looked good. Can’t vouch for the food, yet.
In addition to that place, there are too many to list under the station on the two levels as well as street level. Bakery type places, coffee shops, Family Marts and assorted restaurants.
If you stay on the street level as you enter the station and just continue north straight through and exit behind it, there will be an open courtyard to your left. Almost straight ahead, but slightly right is a high rise shopping center called “Grandfront”.
http://gfo-eng.com/shop/restaurant.html
Floor 7-9 have a wide variety of restaurants and even some nice looking bars. Yes, of course, there is a Starbucks (I saw it), I just can’t remember exactly where right now. There were some specialty restaurants like Italian, Chinese, Steak/grill, seafood, etc. There were the “grill your own” BBQ at your table joints and the standard places with the plastic models of food in display cases. There were also a couple of the Okonomiyaki places. They were right next to each other on the 7th floor and I picked the one on the right. It had a more user friendly English menu and the staff was very helpful and welcoming. I’d go there again.
At ground level of Grandfront as well as on each restaurant floor, there are information panels with pictures for each restaurant with an example of the basic kind of food served and its location listed by floor.
Overall – first impression is good. I think it’s a solid improvement over the Marriott. Looking forward to some more reports as people get to know the area a little better.