Riverside Motel — Hotel in Town of Lewiston

I have a lifetime dislike of motels, and the Riverside Motel did not change my mind.

I booked the motel without reading reviews based solely on its proximity to Artpark, as we were going to two concerts in a row over two nights.

Location-wise? It’s excellent. You are about seven minutes from the upper park entrance and four minutes from the Mainstage parking lot. Had the weather been cooler, we could have basically walked to Mainstage. It’s also right along the water.

Check-in and out? Nearly seamless. I only found the motel through Expedia, which made check-in a little more cumbersome, but it’s contactless: you get a message with a door code for check-in and just lock up for check-out. When I was unable to find the message with the code in my email, the manager was happy to help, and very friendly.

Rooms: this is where it goes a bit south. The motel is very dated and in need of a refresh. The A/C unit got the room to Hoth levels fairly quickly, but sounded a lot like an airplane landing… constantly. If you need silence to sleep, you aren’t getting it here.

The room was clean and serviceable, but lacked horizontal surfaces (no dresser or table or bathroom counter). The shower was definitely not fat-girl-friendly, and I felt like a sardine. Water pressure was great and soap/shampoo/conditioner were provided, but the dispenser took up precious real estate it couldn’t afford. There did not appear to be any ice or vending although the room had a small cube refrigerator, and the bathroom sink had both terrible cold water pressure and a design that wasn’t conducive to filling water bottles. I was grateful I have a child who is picky about how water tastes and had brought a couple of gallons, but the motel is close to a Tops grocery store and we could have punted. Odds are, however, you are going to need to bring drinks in.

Towels were plentiful and absorbent, but lacked that bright white of a typical hotel (slightly dingy, like they are washed with darker towels, and one had an obvious stain). The beds were comfortable and decently sized twins, but comforter and shams could also use an update.

We’d stay again if the price was right, but for the same price we paid, there are higher-rated options both in town and a few additional minutes away in...

We stayed here so we didn't have to drive home after the Jason Isbell concert at Artpark. This is such a cool little hotel. It's right by the waterfront and easy walking distance to Artpark and the village. The rooms themselves are very retro but the property seems very well maintained and ours was impeccably clean and very comfortable. It's cool that when you book through their website you can choose and see pictures of the actual room you will be staying in.

Also, in spite of being almost across the street from the Griffon Gastropub on a very busy Saturday night, it was peaceful and quiet in the room. Even though parking at Lewiston Landing was pretty much full it seems as though everyone was respecting the signed hotel parking area so there wasn't an issue parking right in front of our room.

Check in/out was great; they sent me an e-mail with the door code a couple days prior and there was no formal check-out to speak of, we just left prior to check-out time so super easy. There's no coffee maker in the room but there is a community Keurig in the office which is open 24/7 and had a wide variety of different coffee types and some tea bags available. They even had real coffee mugs there so that was an added bonus.

The only two observations (not really criticisms, more like "know before you go" items) are that the shower is very small, almost an RV shower; it works but I'm not a big guy and I was having to contort myself a bit. Also they have the smoking area right outside the rooms so if someone was smoking there and you had your window open you'd have a roomful of smoke smell.

Overall we were very happy and will definitely stay here again if we're...

I will definitely return and Lisa, on site manager, was wonderful and immediately helpful once I reached her. I nearly could not access my room and during a horrendous downpour. I'll start with positives. I love a small local roadside motel and this one delivers. Clean rooms. Comfortable bed. Simple but functionally furnished and decor, while dated ( pine siding, small screen, thin towels) the charm of an old school place made it lovely. Downside is this motel is nearly all remote with locks on doors keyed into guest codes and all remote. I booked end of day due to rainstorm but when I arrived there was no person on-site and my room code didn't unlock my door. I called the motel # three times and each time after running through options, including how to reach manager, the system terminated my call I was unable to a) reach a real person and b) unable to leave a message. 30 minutes of frustration in the rain. Finally Lisa arrived and immediately fixed lock and apologized but clearly there is a flaw in the online remote check in system.

Again. Lisa was great. The room small but clean and cozy. I definitely would return but would also make sure I was expected and had room...