Robert D.
Yelp
Sort of flabbergasted Moxy East Village would warrant a 5-star review from anyone, let alone multiple accolades, but herein lies the somewhat dubious value proposition for Yelp: your 5-star hotel might be someone else's dump.
To be clear, Moxy East Village is not a dump. It's a decent hotel, particularly for the solo traveler, with its best attributes being its cleanliness, water pressure, and staff friendliness. The rooms are remarkably tiny, even by New York standards, and there are no typical hotel amenities to be found. There's no microwave, micro-refrigerator, iron or steamer, or even a pen to leave a note with a tip for housekeeping, let alone a place to write down anything.
The cell-sized room consists of a bed, snugly fit against a window, a small and shallow sink, a very small nook to hang clothes on a hanger, and a series of wall pegs for hanging anything else. There are no closets or cabinets, no chairs, and no drawers, though there's an occasional flat surface you can use as a shelf. For the most part we worked out of our suitcases, which sat in the floor since there was nowhere else to put them. There is a safe, tucked into the base of the bed, for storing valuables.
With two people staying in anything but a suite, one will be consigned to climbing over the bed to get, like the proverbial chicken, to the other side. Any mid-night exits, of course, mean climbing over your bedmate to get to the bathroom. The bathroom is unsurprisingly small but the water pressure in the shower stall is excellent, and the water drained well.
Our room was cleaned well everyday, even when we lingered and left late in the morning, with fresh towels supplied. The tiniest sliver of soap I've ever seen in my life was left, wrapped in plastic, each day. The bed was soft but comfortable. The air conditioning system worked well and, despite overlooking the street (and a club across the way), our room was relatively quiet, though by NYC standards. There is ample access to power, including USB outlets. The two (!) TVs in our room were relatively large and received a wide variety of premium channels. The free Wi-Fi offered good speeds.
The reservation includes a non-accruing $30/day amenities fee that you can use as a credit at the hotel bar and morning coffee cafe. The bar is, well, a bar, and though it was occasionally closed for private events, was nicely stocked with a variety of top-shelf booze. The coffee, espresso-based drinks, and assorted pastries at the cafe were actually very good. The service at both venues, and especially the cafe, was excellent, pleasant, and efficient. There's a lot of lounging space around the bar and cafe where you can relax or plan or your day.
Moxy is physically connected to Cathédrale, a nicely decorated, full-service restaurant and bar run by the Tao Group. Overall, the food there, weirdly billed as French-Mediterranean cuisine, is fine, but not terribly memorable. Cathédrale's bar, however, is a good meeting place, even if you're not a hotel guest, and the food and cocktails served during happy hour each night are impressive both in quality and price. We routinely ordered oysters and each of the four featured small bites and found them to be a delicious start to our nightly outings. While the bar is fully stocked, the happy hour drink pricing is limited to a selection of martini types.
Speaking of outings, the hotel location makes it easy to experience some of the city's very best pizza at Funzi's Pizza Palace (no, really), a mere 5 minute walk away at St. Mark's Place. No kidding, this proximity alone might be a reason to come back to stay at Moxy East Village.
