I Stayed at the Treehouse Hotel Silicon Valley. Here’s the Truth. New

I have a major soft spot for hotels that feel like destinations themselves. So when I heard there was a new property opening up in Silicon Valley (my home stomping ground) with a treehouse themed concept, I knew I had to check it out for the blog and (really) for myself.

I was not disappointed. Well. Mostly not disappointed. We'll get to that.

The Treehouse Silicon Valley has immediately earned a spot on my very short list of favorite hotels in California, right alongside The Garland Hotel in Los Angeles. Both places share this rare quality that feels like stepping back in time to the coolest summertime pool party ever. The kind of place where you arrive and think, I want to come back here immediatley if not sooner. I'm already plotting my return, budget permitting, which we will ALSO get to.

My Room

I booked the Perch King, and the decor is charming as hell. We're talking full rustic treehouse aesthetic with birds everywhere, lots of color, and lots of whimsy. There's a cute corner seating area with a checkerboard-top table, a comfortable bed, and genuinely great pillows.

Speaking of pillows: the hotel has an app where you can list your preferences for all kinds of things ahead of your stay, including your pillow preference. I requested feather pillows and they delivered. Small touch but big impact. This is the kind of thing hotels can do that makes you feel important. The pillows and I had a moment.

The TV is massive, a 4K set mounted in a handsome wooden frame on the wall that tilts out and swivels down. Practical AND attractive. Like me on a good day. (<- joke)

The bathroom deserves its own paragraph. It's large, with a huge shower and the most gorgeous cobalt and sky blue tile. I'm always a bathtub person, but this shower almost converted me. What I really loved was the window between the bathroom and bedroom, a little freaky, yes, but it lets natural light flow through the whole space. There are curtains on the bedroom side for privacy, so it ends up feeling playhouse charming, as opposed to ‘Eyes Wide Shut” pervy.

The Little Things

My room came with two complimentary cans of sparkling water and a handwritten welcome note. Lovely personal touch. Also, I booked a rate that included a credit towards food or drinks at the hotel and those vouchers were waiting for me in my room.

The lighting set up in the room was awesome! These control panels for the lights were spaced around the room in all of the spots you need. I also loved the retro phone and reading light on the bedside table

Beer Garden View

My room overlooked the Beer Garden: a sweeping lawn full of Adirondack chairs arranged in social little circles, a food truck-style vendor doing pizza and beer, and families with kids having what appeared to be the greatest Saturday night of their entire lives.

Valley Goat restaurant had thrown open its deck to overlook the whole scene and it was packed and buzzing. Warm, lively, and exactly the kind of energy that makes a hotel feel like someplace exciting, and that I'm not just within 5 miles of where I went to grammar school.

The Pool Scene

A resort is nothing without a pool (well, I guess it's just a hotel), and The Treehouse has a nice one! The heated pool is surrounded by luxury chaise lounges, and I mean luxury: wooden frame, thick padding, towel covers already laid out on each one. Umbrellas, side tables, the works. It looks like a place where very cool people drink very cold drinks without a care in the world.

About those drinks…see the Lowlights section for my beef on them.

The pool has rentable cabanas outfitted with either a couch-and-table setup or a generous double-chaise-lounge bed situation, with curtains you can draw for privacy. At $250 to rent one, I assumed this included SOMETHING. A welcome snack. A bottle of water. A handshake. Anything. Nope. The $250 gets you a slightly fancier place to sit. I have sat in many places for free, including the very comfortable chaise lounge seen above where I am in my typical pool attire of sweater, computer and shoes.

Oh, and one more thing about the pool: you need a code to get in. A code! Like it's a speakeasy, except instead of jazz and prohibition gin, it's chlorine and existential confusion about the cabana pricing. The code was not provided to me at check-in. I texted the front desk to get it. Not the end of the world, but also not exactly the seamless resort experience one hopes for when one is trying to live one's best life, like me and Oprah.

By the way, I used the Treehouse App to text questions to the front desk quite a few times during my stay and it was really handy! I got an answer back within 2 minutes each time I texted. Impressive!

The Food (Oh, The Food)

The Valley Goat

Let me tell you about Valley Goat. The restaurant is helmed by Chef Stephanie Izard, who you may know as the first woman ever to win Bravo's Top Chef. Yes, THAT Stephanie Izard. Yes, she is cooking here. Yes, you should drop whatever you are doing and go immediately.

The menu is small, eclectic, and quietly brilliant. On my first visit I tried the goat empanadas with dipping sauce and a salmon spread with pita bread. Both were so good I was actually shaking my head in disbelief. I genuinely did not expect to be sitting in Silicon Valley having a little moment over empanadas, and yet, there I was.

That night I ordered room service: an ahi tuna salad with quinoa. Phenomenal. One of those dishes that takes up permanent residence in your brain. I am going to be sitting somewhere completely normal and boring in three months and suddenly, desperately, need that salad. Mark my words.

One sustainability note: the hotel is eco-conscious, so room service arrives in cardboard packaging with eco-friendly disposable silverware. It lacks a certain room service glamour, but my tuna salad tasted just as good eaten with a little wooden fork while sitting on a very comfortable bed. Mother Earth and I both felt fine about it.

The Backyard Cafe

Then the very next day, my pal and I grabbed lunch at the Backyard Cafe. I got a chicken ABLT and I am not being dramatic when I say it was phenomenal. At this point I had eaten at this hotel across two consecutive days and I loved every bite. Valley Goat and Backyard Cafe can have all of my money. The cabanas can have none of it.

Just note that the Backyard Cafe closes at 2 PM. Two o'clock! In the afternoon! On a resort property! I don't make the rules but I do judge them.

Highlights

• The pool set up is on point. Thick chaise lounges, towel covers, umbrellas. Innertubes and floaties for the kids. A vibe and a half.
• The food. ALL of the food. Chef Stephanie Izard is a James Beard Award winner and it shows in every single bite. Goat empanadas, salmon pita spread, ahi tuna quinoa salad, and a chicken ABLT from the Backyard Cafe. Truly, stupidly good.
• The handwritten welcome card. Such a small thing. Such a good thing. Hotels, take notes.
• Feather pillows on demand via app. We are living in the future and I am thriving.
• The beer garden on a Saturday night was electric. Families, music, pizza, good energy. Loved it.
• The cobalt blue bathroom tiles. Whoever made that call, I respect you deeply.
• The 4K TV on a swivel arm. Practical and handsome. We love to see it.

Lowlights

• No food or drink service at the pool. At a resort. With a pool. That you paid to stay at. You want a snack? You want a cold drink? Get up. Go get it yourself. Why I oughta!
• It's not exactly inexpensive, but not outrageous either (as these things go).
• The pool requires a code to enter and nobody tells you the code at check-in. You will find this out the hard way, standing at a locked gate in your swimsuit, squinting at your phone trying to figure out who to call. I might not have looked super cool for a couple of seconds.
• No bathtub in my room. A near tragedy for me.
• The Backyard Cafe closes at 2 PM. This is a hill I will die on.
• The bathroom window into the bedroom: charming once you settle in, mildly startling for the first five minutes. You've been warned.
• I asked the bar for a Mai Tai. A MAI TAI. One of the most classic, iconic, quintessential resort cocktails ever conceived by human civilization. They did not have the ingredients. I will give the bartender full credit because they improvised and made me something very good and similar. The bartender was a hero and deserves a raise. But a resort bar that cannot make a Mai Tai is like a pizza place that doesn't carry mozzarella. I'm not angry, I'm just genuinely confused.

Bottom Line

The Treehouse Silicon Valley gets so much right. The rooms are full of personality, Chef Stephanie Izard is an absolute treasure, the pool area is delightful to lounge beside, and the beer garden energy on a Saturday night is something special. Is it perfect? No. Is it a little expensive for a place where you have to walk yourself to the bar AND know a secret code to get to the pool? Yes. Will I be going back anyway because of that tuna salad? Also yes.

Go hungry. Ask for the code at check-in. Skip the cabana. Order the empanadas.

And for the love of all that is holy, somebody please get that bar Mai Tai ingredients.