Review: Andaz San Diego

The weekend after we checked out the Andaz West Hollywood, we returned to SoCal for Memorial Day weekend. Much like the Andaz West Hollywood, the Andaz San Diego had a previous life outside of the Hyatt family. The Andaz San Diego was formerly known as The Ivy Hotel and aimed to offer a "sexy" boutique experience. In some cases, your room came complete with a stripper pole! I'm not quite sure if Hyatt retained those or not, but the hotel vibe was definitely very party-like. The rooftop pool and restaurant turns into a club on the weekends and it was definitely poppin' (more to come on the roof later on).

We upgraded our booking to a one bedroom suite and checked in on Friday night to a room that was sans stripper pole but definitely very chic. The room was very nice and I loved how it was decorated, but I honestly wouldn't call it a "one bedroom" at all. All that separated the bedroom from the rest of the room was a wooden wall in the middle of the room and open on either side. 

Andaz San Diego One Bedroom Suite Bedroom

Andaz San Diego One Bedroom Suite Bedroom

Andaz San Diego One Bedroom Suite Bedroom

The living room had two couches, a desk and chair, a coffee table, a TV mounted on the wall (with another TV mounted on the opposite side of the wall facing the bed), and a small bar area complete with refrigerator, coffee maker, and wine and spirits for purchase. 

Andaz San Diego One Bedroom Suite Living Room

Andaz San Diego One Bedroom Suite Living Room

Basically the entire right wall of the suite was windows, but disappointingly, our room faced an interior "courtyard" of sorts and if you had the window coverings open, you could see straight in to other rooms and vice versa. In fact, there was actually quite the bachelor party going on in the multi-level suite across the way from us. Cue the first time during our weekend stay that we felt old and boring!

The bathroom had a very interesting design as well. The sink area was only partially enclosed by a glass wall which offered absolutely no privacy at all, but looked cool at least. Luckily, the shower and toilet were enclosed, but only by a frosted glass door. 

Andaz San Diego One Bedroom Suite Bathroom

Andaz San Diego One Bedroom Suite Bathroom

The toiletries were a nicer looking version of Hyatt's typical LATHER toiletries.

Andaz San Diego One Bedroom Suite LATHER Toiletries

Just like the rest of the room, the bathroom looked really cool, but the shower was absolutely the worst I have ever experienced in my life. I honestly don't know if our shower was defective or not, but taking a shower each day resulted in quite the comedy of errors. I'm not sure why, but the shower only had a hand-held shower head and if you tried to mount it on the wall, it just sprayed straight across the shower at the other wall. There was unfortunately no way to mount it so that it faced down and allowed you to do anything without having to hold the head. On top of this, the shower pressure was insane! Usually, great shower pressure is a good thing, but in this case, water sprayed out so hard that it was difficult to control the shower head. This resulted in a total bathroom flood every time we showered despite our best efforts to keep the water inside the shower. It was totally awful and I dreaded getting in there every one of our three mornings in the suite. 

As I mentioned earlier, the hotel features a gorgeous rooftop pool and restaurant (Rooftop 600) where they serve breakfast each morning. The pool and restaurant area then morphs into a full-on club on weekend evenings. One of the nights during our stay, Chris and I ventured up for a drink, but were completely under-dressed and unprepared for the club environment. They deck out the rooftop area with fire pits, paid seating areas, and multi-colored lights and operate multiple bars.  Needless to stay, we didn't stay long. Cue the second time during the weekend that we felt extremely old and boring. 

Andaz San Diego Rooftop Pool

Andaz San Diego Rooftop Deck

On our last morning in San Diego, we ordered room service since we were offered the option if we didn't want to dine at the restaurant. I ordered an omelet and the smoothie of the day. Overall, I was very satisfied with my breakfasts at the Andaz. The food wasn't groundbreaking, but it was good enough and it was included, so I can't complain. Chris ordered a cappuccino and the So-Cal Benedict and unfortunately really didn't like the Benedict. 

Andaz San Diego Room Service Tray

Andaz San Diego Room Service Omelet and Smoothie of the Day

Andaz San Diego Room Service So-Cal Benedict and Cappuccino

Overall, we really liked the look of the Andaz San Diego and I thought it was much more well-done than the Andaz West Hollywood in terms of really feeling more high-end. The location was great (pretty centrally located in the Gaslamp District) and we liked the convenience of being able to walk most places we wanted to go. Unfortunately, we really didn't love the fact that the hotel had such a party atmosphere (we are so lame) and probably wouldn't choose to stay here again in the future. 

Happy Travels!