Back at the Forum: Charlottesville Getting Closer
April 18, 2025
As we have said before, it is nice to have a real hotel in Charlottesville these days (even if it is a post-IHG Kimpton). Though the building and grounds are excellent, operational kinks hold the property back.
For example, how can your paid in advance room category be “not quite ready” for checking at 4:45pm? Who is in charge here? Not to mention nothing on the upgrade side you were promised. Terrible ops. Fortunately we’re just here for a night.
We were in (hamster cage) 574. Last visit was better.
But get this…once again the bar closes at 10pm. So would you like a nightcap after a great show? Ha! Not in this podunk hotel.
The restaurant is terrible. Skip it.
But the show? The show was great!
Demoting the Forum to three showerheads until they get some adult supervision in here.
During our previous visit to the Graduate in Charlottesville, we figured “it will do.” So this time we tried a plus up to what the hotel calls a “suite.” LOL. Just don’t do it.
You can tell that this hotel used to be a Howard Johnson back when Howard Johnson was a thing (was that 1950?). The style is definitely improved, especially if you like shadow art appliqué. But that’s OK. The problem is that nobody blew out any walls to make any interesting non-hamster-cage rooms. Anyway, if you’re up for a hamster cage after a show, this is it.
Here our own personal hamster cage which we think was 624. It is a “suite,” though the term is stretched well past the breaking point.
bed
desk
window
The suite part of the suite is a little triangle (and we mean little), crammed arbitrarily full of various furnishings. Really? No no no.
through the magic door
no room for people
this is probably a hide-a-bed
chair
Anyway, don’t pay for a suite unless you have people in tow who might use the hide-a-bed. Other than the triangle, there is nothing going for this suite.
Dinner was unplanned. We ended up at Himalayan Fusion down by the Pavilion. Dinner was pretty good (think Indian), while the bar was terrible. We ordered some extra gin shots to make our ginger-tinis into something we could at least catch a buzz from.
Then it was The National. Great show. Great seats. Great time.
The National on a Monday night in Charlottesville, VA
After the show we attempted to hit up Alley Light, but 11pm on a school night seems to be too late for them. That meant tequila at the Bebedero. Excellent cocktails.
Tequila pic.twitter.com/8zAmIi5WVf
— noplasticshower (@noplasticshower) May 1, 2018
In any case, we’re still on the lookout for a better place to stay in Charlottesville. Three showerheads and a hamster wheel exercise thingy for The Graduate.
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