Review: Kimpton Mirador Hotel in Pacific Grove, After My Stay With 3 Kids
Monterey, California is a well-known beach town. But most people don’t know about another town so close by that it’s literally hard to tell when you transition from one to the other.
Pacific Grove is directly adjacent to Monterey. It’s known for a laid-back, less touristy vibe and has excellent beaches and restaurants.
Previously, though, there weren’t many places to stay the night in Pacific Grove. The town had mostly small inns or motels, not full-service hotels.
That has changed with the Kimpton Mirador, a boutique hotel located just a few blocks from the beach.
I stayed at the Kimpton Mirador with my wife and our three kids. Here’s a look inside the hotel.
The Basics
The Kimpton Mirador is part of the Kimpton chain of boutique hotels. Known for funky but upscale interiors and interesting architecture, the chain has a bit more personality than your standard hotel.
Because Kimpton is a nationwide chain, though, you know you’re getting a consistent level of room and a reasonably consistent look and feel.
Kimpton Mirador is very much consistent with the vibe this Kimpton portfolio. It’s in a Spanish Colonial Revival architecture building, and the Spanish theme is carried throughout the hotel.
In the lobby, you’ll find comfortable seating and a large, modern fireplace.
Like many Spanish Revival structures, there’s a big interior courtyard. It reminds me a bit of the courtyard at the Hotel Valencia in Santana Row, another place that I visited.
Pacific Grove is a compact town, and parking in both Pacific Grove and Monterey can be tight. Kimpton Mirador solves this with free valet parking for guests—a nice perk when you’re rolling up in a minivan with your family!
The Kimpton Mirador hosted us for our stay and provided breakfast so we could review the hotel and restaurant. The Bay Area Telegraph paid for incidentals.
The Room
Our room at the Kimpton Mirador was a two-queen bedroom.
It had views right out onto the street in Pacific Grove, but good curtains made sure that it was private.
The room featured a nicely sized bathroom.
I like the modern black-and-white design—it feels very much in line with Kimpton’s boutique aesthetic.
We had a rollaway bed added to accommodate our family. This is something that the hotel can do, but you’ll have to ask ahead and arrange it, and it’s subject to housekeeping availability.
Kimpton hotels don’t have in-room coffee makers, but there’s coffee service offered down in the lobby for free.
Kimpton is known for its creative minibars. Many loyal members get a “raid the minibar” coupon so they can grab items in the room.
The Food
Kimpton hotels are also known for having very upscale restaurants attached to them—some Kimpton locations even have Michelin-star restaurants.
At the Kimpton Mirador, the Spanish theme is carried through with The Caledonian, a New Spanish Cuisine restaurant.
This is a fancy place! We took our kids in for dinner and quickly realized that it wasn’t going to be the vibe for us.
If you’re coming as a traveler for a date night or to impress a client, the lovely interior and upscale vibe would be perfect.
Instead, we decided to order breakfast from The Caledonian the next morning. We had this as takeout in our room, which worked great for a family.
The items were quite creative. We got a latke dish topped with a huge amount of smoked fish and poached eggs.
We also tried a blue corn pancake, utilizing a classic American ingredient that you rarely see on menus.
Bacon and eggs, a fruit bowl, and fresh juices complemented the breakfast.
Having it in our room was perfect, as our second day in Pacific Grove was raining. You could also eat in the restaurant for breakfast, though, or dine on the outdoor patio if you were traveling with family like us.
The free coffee service in the lobby is a great additional touch to the food options at the Kimpton Mirador.
The Location
The downtown Pacific Grove location is one of the nicest features of the Kimpton Mirador. Although the hotel is not directly on the beach, it’s only a few blocks away.
We headed down to Lovers Point, a beautiful and secluded little cove that reminds me of the beaches of La Jolla in Southern California.
There’s an excellent beach food stand where you can get smashed burgers, hot dogs, and more.
Another perk of this location—public restrooms! Everything about the beach feels very compact but very accessible. We were even able to find a parking spot right at the beach itself, although you could easily walk from the hotel, too.
That’s a harder thing to do with the busier beaches in Monterey. Pacific Grove felt like a life hack in terms of getting an excellent beach experience in a much more manageable town. Staying steps away was certainly helpful in achieving this.
Of course, you can also go from the Kimpton Mirador directly into Monterey. It’s very accessible to Cannery Row, the Monterey Bay Aquarium, and other attractions in town.
Beyond the onsite Caledonia restaurant, I like Rudolfo’s a few blocks away, and Salt Wood restaurant over in Marina. The aquarium also has a surprisingly good restaurant.
Other Central Coast towns like Carmel and its iconic 17 mile drive are a short distance away, too.
The Verdict
The location of the Kimpton Mirador made for a great home base from which to explore Pacific Grove and Monterey.
The Mirador definitely has a full hotel vibe, rather than feeling like a small inn. The valet parking made arrival easy, and having bellmen to help schlep our large amount of luggage to the room was great.
The Caledonian would be perfect for a family with older kids for the main dining room, and would certainly be perfect for business travelers, solo travelers or someone here on a couple’s trip.
The coffee service in the lobby is a nice touch as well. And the proximity to Lover’s Point was a great perk.
It was nice to discover Pacific Grove, and the Mirador made it possible for us to try out this very cool little corner of the Central Coast.
