We’re visiting Evanston to attend a wedding this weekend. The chosen hotel for the event is the Graduate Hotel in Evanston. This is an interesting brand and I’m excited to review the Graduate Hotel Evanston. The Graduate brand is a chain of hotels that focuses on boutique style hotels that are in cities near universities. The Graduate Evanston is no different, it’s right down the street from Northwestern University.
First I want to complain a little bit about rideshare services. When Uber and Lyft first came onto the market I loved it. Nicer cars, better drivers, and having an app to both request a ride and get a price estimate was great in comparison with a taxi. Now, the cars are beat, the drivers are mostly just the same as cab drivers, and the prices still aren’t enough to pay the drivers a reasonable wage. I’d gladly pay more money for a better service. But I hate paying lots of money for a crap service.
Our ride from Ohare to The Graduate Hotel in Evanston was about a half hour drive. Usually I just take the train in Chicago, but Evanston isn’t really Chicago and getting here isn’t exactly easy. The fare estimator showed $35-40, not bad, the Lux shows $60, again a reasonable price. However, with the surge pricing in effect when we landed, it showed over $100 for our ride. We waited a few minutes as the prices were declining and it appeared to bottom out around $70. Still nearly twice the estimated price.
What’s worse and perhaps even more frustrating to me is the quoted wait time after ordering a ride. On the request screen the time is 7 minutes, after waiting a few minutes to find a driver, the pickup is now in 12 minutes, and the driver finally arrives in 15. This was at Ohare. Once in the car the ride was perfectly fine, driver was good, car was adequate, and we arrived to our destination. Anyway, rant over, let’s talk about The Graduate Hotel Evanston.
In This Trip
1: Lets go to Chicago: United ERJ175 Economy Review
2 :Let’s go to Chicago: The Graduate Hotel Evanston Review
2.1: Graduate Evanston Hotel Location
2.2: Graduate Evanston Front Porch
2.3: Graduate Evanston Lobby
2.4: Graduate Evanston Rooms
2.5: Graduate Evanston Bar
2.6: Final Thoughts
3: Let’s go to Chicago: American Airlines ERJ 175 Economy Review
Graduate Evanston Hotel Location
Evanston is about 12 miles north of Chicago. It’s connected to the loop via the commuter train or taking the L Purple/Red line. We walked around the neighborhood and had a few great meals. Graduate Hotels are mostly in college towns, and Evanston is no exception with Northwestern being right around the corner.
This is a great little neighborhood, it’s no Chicago, but it is still nice. Very quiet and residential, this area while suburban isn’t a long walk from the busier part of Evanston with the train station and several shops and restaurants.
Graduate Evanston Front Porch
When we first walked up we were greeted by this lovely outdoor area. The weather was in the upper 60s so perfect for sitting outside and enjoying talking with old friends.
The yard area here at the Graduate Evanston had some tailgate games like cornhole. We played a little bit while waiting on others.
I’m not patient enough for Giant Jenga. There were a few families staying at the hotel with kids who did seem to enjoy it. They also seemed to enjoy just throwing the blocks at each other. Kids are dumb.
The rocking chairs here at Graduate Evanston were great for relaxing. I wasn’t expecting it, but we spent a good amount of time out here. We walked around the corner to the Whole Foods and grabbed some snacks and beers to enjoy in this wonderful weather.
We also spent more time out here that anticipated waiting on Uber/Lyft. It took us 45 minutes one time to get a ride. We had several drivers cancel on us. Not sure why, we both have 5 start ratings on Uber. Short rides and long rides didn’t matter, drivers were far away and cancelled often.
Graduate Evanston Lobby
The lobby at the Graduate Evanston was like walking into your grandmother’s house. It was impeccably maintained, very clean, and decorated like it was a grandmother’s home.
Looking back out to the front door, you get a good feel for the rest of the décor. I’m still not sure how I feel about it. I love old school things, but this was a little bit different. Not bad, just different.
In the front of the Graduate Evanston, there was a room called “The Trophy Room” it is usually a restaurant, but these days it’s just another sitting area. Feels like walking into my grandfathers office when I was a kid. Just needed the lingering smell of shoe polish.
The lobby had this letter collection box. It was right next to the elevator doors and very much reminded me of the Hilton Milwaukee, it had the same style, though here at the Graduate Evanston, there was no letter shoot running to each floor.
Graduate Evanston Rooms
The hallways aren’t the fanciest of places. Feels like an old dorm with nice carpet.
The rooms here at the Graduate Evanston would absolutely fit in at your great aunts house. The bed was good and USB ports were provided on both sides within the lamp bases.
The room had nice touches that made the old style feel a little bid modern. The TV was a good example, it allowed you to cast anything from your phone to the TV.
There was a desk that we didn’t really use beyond unpacking. We weren’t here for work, just a fun wedding weekend.
In the back corner of the room was a small chair and table. I don’t really understand this type of furniture in hotels, I just use it as a luggage rack.
More hotel art. I will admit, this art is obviously more unique than pieces at other hotels.
I liked the styling of the bathroom. Black and white tile just always looks classic. One thing that wasn’t great was a lack of counter space. Even my single toiletries bag didn’t have anywhere to live. Val had a hard time with her “products” needed for wedding prep.
More of the black and white tile here at the Graduate Evanston. I just love this style. I want this exact tile in my bathroom when we renovate it.
The view wasn’t great as we are on the back side of the hotel. There’s something oddly southing about looking at a suburban ally.
The room had an armoire style closet. Inside was a safe, fridge, and iron.
Graduate Evanston Bar
In the front of the Graduate Evanston, there was an old school bar. It was great and so was the bartender. We hung out here on our first night and then again after the wedding.
They had a good selection of cocktails and the bartender really cared about making a good drink. He was such a nice guy and I was glad to enjoy in a few drinks.
Val had a bourbon old fashioned. I didn’t want anything sweet, so I just went with a bullet bourbon. The Graduate Evanston bar was really a cool place to hang out. They did have some small plate food options but we didn’t partake, next time.
Final Thoughts
The Graduate Evanston is a great hotel. It’s a little quirky with it’s grandparent’s style, but it is clean and a pleasant place to stay.
I enjoyed the neighborhood the hotel was in too. I wouldn’t go out of my way to stay in Evanston, but if you’re in the area, I’d highly recommend the Graduate. Our friends were the ones to initially booked the hotel and we all just followed, I’d probably have booked the Hilton around the corner, but I’m glad I didn’t.
If I needed to stay in an area with a different Graduate Hotel, I would absolutely stay again. If I had to have a negative, it would be that we were not allowed a late check out. It was billed at $10/hour, and I didn’t want to stay that badly. SO we headed down into Bucktown to meet some friends.
All in, we had a great stay and would be glad to come back.