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| - The lobby of this hotel was really interesting in design--calming, as you enter the doors that have a slightly opaque wavy design. They open up to reveal long flowing sheer drapes of blue. Then you are greeted by the very cordial front desk staff, in our case, Husam, who made check in a breeze. (I felt like I was in a Hilton's commercial where all your troubles melt away.) The room was clean, the bed was comfortable, and the shower stall interestingly held a couple of bath towels in it which was a little strange at first, but not having to step out from a warm shower stall to grab a cold towel made sense all of a sudden.
The on-site restaurant was also a nice surprise. We ordered the taro chips and salsa and were amazed that the taro chips were perfectly round, light, and crisp--not what we expected way up in Canada. Our server, Kim, seemed to know about the beers on the menu--we enjoyed a couple of good Canadian beers. We both had the flatbread pizzas, though different from what I am used to (not feeling any fresh basil), still good. I really loved the Apple Blossom dessert--apple filling in a flower-shaped pastry dough, with some good vanilla ice cream, caramel, and some pecans with a cayenne like kick, dainty in size, but just enough to satisfy the sweet tooth. (If you are really in a rush, though, it might not be a good idea to eat here. it was not busy, but the food did take a while to come out.)
The only problem that we had was realizing that even though the heating/cooling window unit said that the room's temperature was controlled by the thermostat on the wall, it was completely the opposite. The room was becoming extremely hot, until I turned the window unit on to cool at 74 degrees F., just out of desperation before having to call the front desk. Strange, but true. We had to sadly leave by 4:00 am to catch a plane, but we had encountered no traffic. So, I can't say if there is traffic during peak work hours. The hotel is just under 7 miles away from Pearson Airport and according to Google Maps, it usually takes 14-28 minutes during peak hour traffic. Free parking is a perk!
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