River Side (id - Boise)

My wife and I attended the Murder Mystery Dinner Theater. We'll never attend another. The clues made no sense. The food was terrible. The Salmon was very dry. I was on a special diet. They wrote down on a little ticket my allergies and needs. Who could read that? I waited an extra 20 minutes just to get my corrected order after I let the waitress know about the error. Mashed potatoes instead of rice. Half of the mashed potatoes on my plate was whole. The organization was terrible. Coffee was great. The wrong desert was presented. I had to wait another 10 minutes to receive the correct one.

While waiting on line to get in, the lady was making various announcements. We couldn't hear her so when we got nearer to the entrance, we were confused as to what to do. There was another event going on downstairs close to our location and so to hear everything else was even tougher to understand. VERY POOR ORGANIZATION.

My family and I have stayed at this hotel many times over the past few years. Our most recent visit was on 2/17/2024. I could write a book, but I will just highlight the issues we experienced.

1) The front desk Manager, Kendall, checked us in. She argued about the pet room we previously stayed in; to the point that I wanted to walk out an find another hotel. She kept answering the phone while we were trying to check in and select a room. She was so very rude and unaccommodating, that we had to ask for the hotel manager to assist us. He did make it right (for the most part). The front desk employees need some training on how to provide good customer service. I would say that at least half of the employees lack basic skills for the job in which they are paid to do. The whiteboard behind the front desk asks the employees to jot down their "toxicity". There was one noted, "venomous saliva". REALLY? So unprofessional. I have included a photo, but it's not really legible.

2. The hotel smells musty and the rooms are quite dated. The noise level from above is unbearable. We also had to endure marijuana smoke bellowing under the door from the adjoining room. It was so bad that we had to move rooms (clear across the the property). It really is a maze when trying to locate your room and find adequate parking.

3. The pool does not open until 4:00 pm. This is a real disservice for guests that have longer stays. We used the pool Saturday night around 7:30 pm. There were no towels and three of the propane heaters were not operational due to running out of propane. It would have been nice to have the heaters operational, as the temps were pretty chilly that evening.

4. There are no pet stations in the designated pet areas. This is obvious by the large amount of dog feces all over the property. They charge a $50 pet fee. Perhaps the hotel can use these funds to provide pet waste disposal bags and an area for the dogs to roam.

5. The complimentary breakfast was terrible. The line wrapped around toward the front hotel check-in area. The food was cold, and the selection was so limited. The hotel did not stay on top of replenishing the food they ran out of. Seems like many of the food options have been eliminated from just 6 months ago. We were given to-go boxes for our breakfast and was told we could eat in our room. There was such a bottleneck where the waffle maker is located. Guests had to wait for guests to finish making their waffle to access other breakfast items. Such a poor set-up! The hotel should have a waffle maker station with more than one waffle maker. There was a good amount of children there and we all know that most kids are going to opt for a waffle over other foods offered.

We really used to look forward to our stay at Riverside. It has really gone downhill and is not worth the room rate charged. Of course, we won't be back. There are better options in Boise.