First of all, hotel pictured is located in Rusk, TX, zip 75785, not South Houston as the banner proclaims.

This hotel is undergoing renovation and still has a way to go, but I think it will be very nice when they are finished. We didn't actually stay overnight at this hotel, but went there for looking dinner because of an old review I had read about their restaurant.

The restaurant was closed on Sunday evening when we got there, but the cook, who lives in the hotel, came down and prepared dinner for my wife and I anyway. Ray cooked up the best chicken fried steak I've ever had and his gravy is to die for. The salad was very fresh. The menu is simple home cooking, but the food is very good. Breakfast is only served when guests are in residence, and none were that evening, but they asked us to come back in the morning and try it out. The pancakes were excellent and my wife's omelet was nice, but not special.

I would have to say that the two staff we met, the hotel manager and Ray the cook, bent over backward to accommodate us with a meal when almost everything else except for fast food joints was closed. When they finish renovation, the hotel will be a nice place to stay, but you can eat there anytime with confidence.

If you want fancy, this hotel won't be for you. We asked for a tour and found that it's a genuine, old fashioned hotel with about 30 rooms, all on the second floor and no elevators. Even so, it has a lot of charm and is definitely in the center of town, right on the town square across the street from the courthouse.