It’s time for a staycation! I’ve been to the Civilian Hotel numerous times for drinks in two of its fabulous bars, but we wanted to stay here as well. This stylized Broadway theater district hotel plays on that strength (see bars, later). But you just feel like a hip, trendy person when you go there. When you walk into the hotel, there are 2 desks down the hall – one is for dining/bar reservations (I think) and one is for hotel check-in. It was the smallest reception desk I’ve seen in my life, but it worked perfectly well and you can leave your luggage with them there if you need as well.
This was a couple’s stay – no kids. First, the room. We booked a “Cozy” which lived up to its name. It was adorable and very very cozy. By that I mean tiny. We’ve stayed in tiny rooms in NYC before. This was even smaller. Look at the photo below with the hangers. That is the entire closet. The drawers below? One levers out so you can maybe fit underwear and socks. They had some hooks on the wall on the right – maybe 6. We put our jackets there but you could hang some other clothes. Storage was basically nonexistent. Good thing we were just there for a weekend, but it was tight quarters for 2 people.
The Civilian calls the Cozy room a “jewel box of a room” so think of it as a ring box with a very small ring. It was a lovely room – with a four poster bed and fantastic view of Hell’s Kitchen – especially from the bed/pillow. I loved that.
To me the room felt like a train sleeper car (well, maybe one on the Orient Express – not any train cars I’ve slept on). There was a small velvet seating area and old-fashioned phone (I used it to call the front desk when I didn’t remember the wi-fi code when my husband took it with him when he went out). The Cozy room comes with a queen or 2 twin beds, though it actually felt more like a double to me. The bed and pillows were comfortable.
There is some storage under the bed for suitcases. We fit in 2 rollerbags, but I’m not sure you’d fit in 2 larger suitcases. You could store bags at the foot of the bed – there was a small amount of space there. The bed frame had a pull-out drawer with a safe in it.
The bathroom has a sliding glass door – and remember to use it if you’re taking a shower and your spouse goes downstairs to get free coffee from the restaurant in the morning (no in-room coffee machine), or that open door will expose you to everyone in the hallway. The shower was good. My one complain’t there is that there’s a half glass door and the rest of the shower was open, which meant water going on the bathroom floor. Not as much as I expected, but more than I would have liked. They have Public Goods organic bath products – full size containers (attached in the shower), which I appreciated (less waste).
Note to the Civilian: Put more hooks in the bathroom! There was one holding the hair dryer, but no other place to hang towels. or put another set of hooks outside the bathroom – there was room on the wall.
The Civilian room had some fun touches like this dial on the door, instead of hanging door tabs. All hotels should have this – it was brilliant.
The Spacious room, which we’ll get if we stay there again, can hold up to 4 guests – so better with the kids! You can get a queen, king or 2 double beds. It has a clothing rack to look like backstage Broadway. The website picture shows it to be less decorative than the Cozy room, but you have more space.
I’ve been to the Starchild Rooftop Bar and Lounge a few times now – inside in colder weather and a rooftop outdoor table (through the windows/doors in the photo above) in the summer. it’s a lovely bar. The first few times I went they had multiple espresso martinis on the menu – this time there was just one.
The Starchild Lounge has another seating area as well – If you look on the opposite side of this wall, it’s all city views. They also sell food – including cheese plates and warm pretzels.
Even if it’s cold out, you can go outside to check out the view. We were there in time for sunset and this was taken from the outdoor rooftop area overlooking the Hudson River. The low area is Hell’s Kitchen, which has zoning rules in place for no high rises.
I love a good bathroom and the Starchild Lounge does not disappoint. The lights change in here and yes, there are disco balls!
On the second floor, up an elevator with fun wallpaper or a dramatic round staircase, you’ll find the Rosevale Lounge. Make a reservation – it fills up. And it’s worth a visit! The photo above is the Broadway Blue Room, part of the lounge, but not the main room. You can get drinks in here too. We were there just as it was opening.
Across from that lounge above, is part of the Broadway Blue Room, which doubles as a waiting area (where we spent a lot of time in the first time we went, as we waited for a table). This room has Broadway memorabilia and it’s fun to look at. Above you can see props from Harry Potter on Broadway. Below are props from Hamilton. They have many other shows represented, from Wicked to some very old ones.
Below is the Rosevale Cocktail bar, which has high ceilings and also an outdoor seating area when it’s nice. (We also ate at the Rosevale Kitchen – we made a full weekend of it. It was restaurant week and we got full size portions of our appetizer, entree and dessert for $45 – it was a total deal and it was delicious).
The Rosevale has a wall of Broadway set models that are awesome to look at, but it’s hard to do when there are people seated there! I took my photo below so as not to get pictures of the people drinking right below.
The menu is like a big book with graphic designs and interesting cocktail names. We got 4 cocktails total while there – they were all good. They have some that are prepared tableside and very theatrical. They also serve light nights and have music on occasion.
