The Irish Cottage Boutique

Brian, the shuttle driver, was a real help. He gave us a short historical tour of Galena and suggested places to eat and shop. The complimentary shuttle was the best extra. The hotel's buffet breakfast, served in the attached Irish pub, was hot and fresh. It's a nice, clean place, a short way from the Ulysses S. Grant home and close to main street Galena.

The restaurant food was fabulous, though the service there left a lot to be desired. At the hotel, the rooms were quiet and very clean, and the staff were exceptionally kind and helpful. No complaints about the complimentary breakfast.

There are lots of thoughtful little touches, and the place itself is very cute. But I've never had so many extra charges piled onto a hotel stay. The usual taxes and fees are one thing, but they added more, apparently an amenity fee, on top of everything else. I suspect the room price was also higher because of the Halloween weekend parade. That part was whatever, but all the added charges mean we unfortunately won't be back.

We enjoyed the clean interior and rooms, the quiet nights, and the pretty outdoor deck, with trails reachable behind the property. The hotel is very nice and close to downtown Galena. Our one complaint was the attached bar and restaurant: even with a dinner reservation, we waited 45 minutes to be seated. Breakfast was good, though they seemed short staffed and ran out of clean forks and orange juice.