Eva’s Escape At the Gardenia Inn

What a lovely experience, great ;location, and the best cookies i have ever had.

A beautiful place to stay. The innkeeper is just wonderful. Clean rooms and comfy beds. Walking distance to River walk. Highly recommend.

Booked a weekend at Eva’s Escape after my daughter read about it on line. It is just as wonderful as all the raters said it was! Deborah is such a gracious host and provided good info about the area and local reastaurants. Our room was comfortable and the breakfast both days was delicious! Love this neighborhood and can’t wait to return next spring for Fiesta and the King William Festival! We are booked!

Fantastic experience, we had great time in Eva’s B&B. Deborah is such a nice warm host, she provided very good local information and nice family history letting us blend into the local environment immediately. The restaurant, tour info. are very helpful. The room we stayed Lavender and the Desert room were well maintained and comfy, we feel more staying a friends house instead of B&B or hotel. That made our trip to St. Antonio is wonderful !

Love this bed and breakfast! It’s in the perfect spot in San Antonio for you to experience everything you want to about the city. Our room was beautiful with our own ac unit. We had a patio, a tub in the room, and our own bathroom. The lady who runs it is so sweet and cooked a great breakfast. It does get a little noisy at night so use the ear plugs provided if you don’t sleep well. My husband and I will definitely be back to this place :)

FANTASTIC AS ALWAYS! Deborah and her staff always go above and beyond during our stay at Eva’s Escape. Everything from the care and attention to the guests to the fantastic amenities and tasty goodies they prepare! The Desert blossom and Bluebonnet rooms are both elegant and comfortable! Next time we hope to stay in the Lavender room!

My two friends and I just spent a relaxing and wonderful weekend at Eva’s. We stayed in the Desert Blossom Suite and had plenty of room and the beds were incredibly comfortable. Everything was spotless, the breakfast was delicious and the staff was so welcoming, warm and made us feel at home. I would love to stay here again!

I reserved a room for my parents who were visiting for 6 days over the holidays. They were blown away by the location, the room, the breakfast, the hospitality… EVERYTHING! Clean, professional and courteous.
I would recommend this as a top notch B&B.

I give Eva’s 5 stars. Reserving the room & making special accommodations was very easy. I love the rooms & the staff was helpful & also gave us lots of privacy. Breakfast was absolutely Delicious! Tito’s Cantina was within walking distance and had great food & drinks.
Margie 6÷20÷13

My wife and I just had a long weekend stay at Eva’s Escape at the Gardenia Inn. We will definitely be back! Deborah and her entire staff were the perfect hosts.
ROOM: We stayed in the Bluebonnet room, which is on the second floor. It looked to be one of the larger rooms. King size bed, and the bathroom had a separate shower and tub. Having the Apple TV for Netflix was a very nice touch. There were so many little touches (too many to mention) that you don’t see at most places. As an example, I’m a bit of a snorer. The earplugs on the nightstand were a nice touch that my wife really appreciated.
BREAKFAST: If you walk away hungry, something is wrong. On successive days we were served red velvet pancakes, a fritatta, and banana/​blueberry pancakes (served with a fruit salad and turkey sausage). Coffee and juice to drink. I told Deborah, the owner, she needs to publish a cook book.
OTHER AMENITIES: Cookies/​Brownies and Wine are served around 5:00 in the evening. A Fridge upstairs has complimentary bottled waters and soft drinks.
STAFF: What a nice bunch of people! Deborah, Joseph, Mona, Billy Ray, Gerald (and I know I’m forgetting a few names) couldn’t have been any more accommodating. They definitely know the meaning of customer service. Everyone always had a smile on their face!
We found the King William district of San Antonio last year. Enjoy it so much more than the River Walk. We will definitely be back to Eva’s Escape!

Wow. What can we say?! Everything about Eva’s Escape was fantastic to the super friendly staff to the complimentary food and beverages. Everything they serve is made from scratch and the attentiveness of the staff was perfect. There is enough room to mingle with others or immerse yourself in a good book. The area is fantastic and the rooms are perfect! We are locals who live in the San Antonio area and we are already trying to think of reasons to come back! Definitely recommend it. You won’t regret a single second.

My wife and I wanted to stay somewhere nice, but different, not a typical hotel, so we tried our first B & B. For less money than a typical corporate-​chain hotel room, we found an elegant and relaxing five bedroom house, at Eva’s Escape, in the King William District of San Antonio.
Miss Yvonne greeted us and gave a short tour of the house, built in 1905, and described the neighborhood. We live busy lives and do not have much down-​time, so to be honest, we were in a hurry to get unpacked, and were wondering why she didn’t get back to whatever it was that she was doing before we arrived. Miss Yvonne soon put us at ease and we started to relax and really enjoy our time. She took her time and offered us wine and something to eat, and invited us to breakfast, in the morning. Later in the day, we were sitting on the front porch swing, and a gentleman came out to bring us an unexpected treat of a tray of cool sliced kiwis, a nice surprise.
We stayed in the first floor Lily Room and were impressed with the large, hand-​carved wood canopy over the very large bed, and with the roomy armoire. The house is only a short walk to The River Walk — the quiet end, not the crowded touristy part. There are some restaurants, a beer garden, and local hole in the wall places within a 5 to 10 minute walk.

A real gem located in fun and historic Southtown. Beautiful rooms. Deborah is a wonderful hostess. An unexpected and thoughtful surprise, Deborah generously accommodated my gluten free diet. This place is all around amazing!

Our daughter and new son-​in-​law got married here.
It was the perfect choice for an intimate wedding.
Cake was made by Whip Stitch and it was fantastic.
They enjoyed their stay and we enjoyed attending the wedding in this beautiful B&B.

This is just the greatest B&B in the area! I stayed here with two others in the Dessert Blossom Suite for two nights during the AACR conference at the Convention Center. Not only are the pictures totally an accurate depiction of the room, but it is so convenient of a walk to the convention center! And its cheaper that many of the big corporate hotels right next to the convention center.
This was truly a place to relax and unwind. Every little detail was thought of and provided for us! There were 3 robes and 3 sets of towels put in the suite and they were so warm and welcoming. They really do think of every little detail. They offer complimentary cable and netflix in every room. They told us that you had to have popcorn if you were watching a movie, so on the second floor they have a mini fridge and little cabinet with popcorn and drinks! It’s the little touches that really separate this B&B not only from big hotels, but from many other B&Bs I have stayed at before.
One of us had a gluten allergy and they made sure to make a breakfast that was gluten free! They also have a homebaked snack (along with an assortment of wine/​drinks) every afternoon and they took great care to make sure this was gluten-​free too! I should also mention that their breakfast food is absolutely wonderful! Deborah and everyone else there are so genuine and friendly and really care so much about each guest.
Not only was this B&B everything I was hoping for, it was better! You definitely get your money’s worth and more.
I should note that you can hear a train in the distance at night, but in my personal opinion it wasn’t very loud and didn’t bother me.

My boyfriend came to visit so we could celebrate all the holidays we could not celebrate together since I was working like a maniac all through 2012. I chose a stay at this B&B in the lovely and historic King William district due to a recommendation from O’Casey’s, where I spent a few days before coming here.
I was very happy with the location, being very close to the Friendly Spot & Alamo Eat Street. You can literally just park your car and walk everywhere! The serene south end of the riverwalk is just a few blocks away.
But it was the service that made our stay so perfect and memorable. Debra was the absolute definition of gracious hospitality. With her warm smile and sweet anecdotes at breakfast — -which was delicious and sooo filling each morning! — we both quickly fell in love with her. Each afternoon when we returned from our adventures we found fresh baked delicacies and fresh lemonade waiting for us. Coltrane wafted softly through the sitting room where comfortable seating & a toasty fire beckoned.
We stayed in the Desert Rose room, which is the largest room on the 3^rd floor. It was bigger than my rented apartment! Since it was a suite (with a large comfortable king bed in the master and a full sized bed in a cute little alcove off the sitting room) we invited a couple of friends in town to have some wine & hang out. Apparently the soundproofing is quite good because none of the other guests were bothered by our late night wine chats!
The mini-​fridges were stocked with free water, free sodas, and free beer! Wow!
Yes, you can hear some of the rowdy goings on at the Friendly Spot a few doors down, but that didn’t bother us — in fact it made us feel a more celebratory mood.
I plan on returning again very soon!

I stayed at Eva’s Escape for 3 nights on Christmas 2012. The vacation coudn’t be better!
Upon my (late) arrival Deborah (the hostess) wanted to greet me personally and helped me to find out about bus schedules from Houston, since my girlfriend got stranded in Houston because of a car trouble. Also Deborah found out that I like jazz and arranged for me to have a seat in the bar at a tiny cute jazz place on Riverwalk (the restaurant was all booked for the evening, but she knew the bartender personally).
I stayed in Lavender room. The room was as peaceful and romantic as it could be and I really liked the footclaw bath. My schedule was going to a city for the morning, coming back for a lunch (there are several good and not expensive restaurants just across the street from Eva’s), having a nap in the afternoon and heading out again for the evening. The B&B is located in a historical King’s William district, make sure to look around before heading to Riverwalk, which is 5 – 7 minutes walk from the place.
My last day of stay fell on Christmas day and I decided to rent a bike and go out of the city. I asked Deborah and she packed a lunch for me, which was very nice and convenient. When I arrived home to Seattle, I found out a message on my machine that I forgot a really small souvenir in one of the drawers at Eva’s and offering to ship it to me. Thank you Deborah for making my stay so comfortable and memorable!

I would like to start out by saying that everything that I had hoped for from this was spot on. Initially I was concerned when I had read some of the earlier reviews of the inn but quickly realized that a new owner had taken over this year and things were vastly improved from those reviews.
Deborah and her family were excellent from the moment that we arrived. The room was incredibly clean as well as the entire inn. We stayed in the Desert room on the top floor and it was perfect. Breakfast was great and anything that we needed they were quick to provide. Loved having free soda and water in our room in the fridge. Always awesome! Oh… and at night there is always a freshly made desert of some sort downstairs waiting for you to eat.
It was super close to everything and we rarely drove anywhere. Would I stay here again? Most definitely! Great inn… great neighborhood and a wonderful time! Oh… eat at Tito’s Mexican Restaurant. the food was fantastic and I’m a huge Mexican food eater and can assure you that this place is solid! Great carne guisada and homemade flour tortillas! (I know that isn’t part of this review but the restaurant is right next door!)
Someone mentioned that there was a train nearby in another review… I never heard a train whistle once and I’m an incredibly light sleeper. Remember… it’s a B&B so you might hear a little noise as people get in from the night but people who stay in B&Bs typically get it and are quite respectful of their neighbors. We didn’t hear anyone throughout the night.
Lovely stay!

Part of the reason we chose this location was because of the excellent reviews online (on this site and several others as well). We were looking for something that was close to the Riverwalk, but not right there in all the hustle and bustle. This location seemed perfect, so we went ahead and booked.
Not to recount the whole visit, I’ll just point out what was good, and what wasn’t.
The good:
1) Beautiful old home, in a fantastic location. The innkeeper gave us a tour of the house, and it is meticulously kept and beautiful to look at. People actually kept walking by and stopping to take pictures of the house, its so beautiful. And its in a neighborhood full of beautiful houses, so we actually spent some time walking the neighborhood looking at all of the old homes.
2) Location — easy walk to the Riverwalk, as well as lots of restaurants in the area. We parked at the Inn and didn’t use the car again until we left, because we were able to walk everywhere we wanted to go.
3) Deborah and her son were wonderful. Very pleasant and attentive, and really focused on making customers happy. We really enjoyed getting to meet them.
The bad:
1) Lavender Room — be aware that if you stay in this room, there is no shower. All you have is a small, narrow tub that is actually IN your room (not a separate bathroom). Its almost impossible for an adult to get clean in a tub like this, and I really felt bad getting water everywhere (but there is no way not to!). As someone else also noted, apparently there is some issue with the pipes so that if you turn off your water in this room in the wrong order, you’ll basically make it so that no one in the house has hot water. We pretty much worried about this any time we used the tub! Might be time to get that fixed.
2) Noise — the ceiling fan in our room was ridiculously noisy, waking me up several times during the night. The headboard of the bed also squeaked like crazy any time you moved, so I had to try to stay as still as possible all night. Most importantly, there is apparently a train depot/​station nearby, and I heard LONG train whistle blasts all night long. So you can assume that I DID NOT get a good night’s sleep!
3) Breakfast — it was just ok. I know that it changes daily/​regularly, but the breakfast we had was not particularly good or filling, so we ended up having to eat again soon after because my wife was hungry.
Overall, just an OK experience, and we’ll probably try somewhere else the next time we go to San Antonio.

I stayed here Saturday 11/​10/​2012 for the San Antonio Marathon. Let me just start by saying what a value you get for your money. We paid $ 150 for a night here which included free parking. When we pulled up we were greeted by the family who owns this Greek Style Home built in the early 1900’s. Our luggage was carried in for us and put in our bedroom which was on the first floor. There was a refrigerator in our room with free soda and water. We had organic tea truffles waiting for us in our room as well. There were also free brownies on the first floor, and they were so delicious. The inn keeper gave us a tour of the 3800 square foot house. They offered free wi-​fi, and there was a computer on the second floor to use. There are a total of 5 bedrooms in this house and it is 3 stories tall. Eva’s Escape has a beautiful garden in the back and a 2^nd floor patio where you can enjoy their free homemade coffee in the morning with the nice weather. There were more than 10 pillows on our bed, and it was so comfortable to sleep in. The inn keeper is so crazy to keep dust off everything, and I really appreciated that.
We ran the Marathon on Sunday 11/​11/​2012 and we finished around 12:30PM and check out was suppose to be at 11:00AM. We called Eva’s Escape after we finished the Marathon, and the inn keeper offered to come pick us up if we needed it. We politlely declined and walked back. We got back to Eva’s Escape around 1:30PM and the inn keeper told us to take our time and get cleaned up. She then fed us a very late breakfast at 2:00PM in the afternoon. We had homemade orange juice, a croissant, and fluffed eggs rolled into what looked like a crêpe with spinach and cheese inside. We also had a fresh bowl of fruit with Eva’s own special coffee blend. I had to finish my girlfriend’s left over breakfast because I could not let any of it go to waste. The flatware was absolutely beautful. We got to use sterling silver flatware with gold trim on the edges of it. During breakfast the inn keeper was so warm and hospital, and she answered all the questions we had about the history of the greek style home and what made them different from the other bed and breakfast places. We gave the inn keeper an extra 40 dollar for the late check out, warm hospitality to not be in a rush, and then serving us a late breakfast for free as well in the middle of the afternoon. I highly recommend Eva’s Escape, and I will be staying here everytime I come back to San Antonio.
Thanks,
Robert Altmiller