Trevor T.
Yelp
We stayed at The Ruby for 8 days in March and it
was a good experience with some interesting highs and lows.
Staff were awesome throughout, including at their bar/restaurant. Their system of relying on text-messages made it very easy to ask various questions throughout without having to head to the front desk. Parking was good, and they have two lots that never got completely full--no trouble finding a spot throughout the day/night.
We had a king bed room in the A building, second floor. The room itself was ok, with a very large TV and a nice walk in shower. The rooms in the A building seem to have views of the river, and ours had a great view with no trees obstructing the river. The sink area was a bit small and anything left on it tended to get wet. The bed was not good, and both of us found that one side yielded back pain after sleeping on it.
The river and your views of it from the room and the bar's patio is a key feature of The Ruby. We spent a decent amount of time watching the various kinds of birds, fish, and ridiculous number of turtles. We tried their binoculars package and that made the experience even better.
The bar/restaurant was a bit small and had odd seating arrangements; they are clearly going for
something cozy and more home-like. Breakfast options during the week are bad, and I don't understand why: 2 kinds of breakfast tacos which were sitting in a warmer for hours, and 1 kind of muffin--that's it. If you were thinking that's ok if it's included with the room, well it's not included and you have to pay. Other times of the day they have an actual kitchen going, but you're better off going anywhere else for mid-week breakfasts. We had brunch on a weekend and options were ok and the food was reasonably good, but it does seem like the restaurant is a missed opportunity for The Ruby. Cocktails at the bar were good, and they let you take them back to the rooms.
Overall, the wildlife watching on the river and the view is the main attraction here, and really differentiates The Ruby from most every other hotel/motel in the area. I hope they refresh their mattresses soon as that's really the only thing that would keep us from coming back in the future.