The Loft, Regent Square

Grade: A-

Not bad. Not bad at all. Decorative tile, auto-flushing toilet, great water temperature at the sink, beautiful lighting. The one problem - and it's a big one - is that the lock on the door was broken. That's fine for the urinal, but it's hard to use the toilet in a one-y with a non-locking door.

Hotel Palacio, Zona Colonial, Santo Domingo, the Dominican Republic

Grade: B+

The Boutique Hotel Palacio in Santo Domingo's Zona Colonial is a 3-star hotel, and its bathrooms - at least in the so-called "Superior Rooms" - reflect such a rating. They are bright, attractive, practical and comfortable. They come with faux-marble wall and floor tiles, open shower stalls with hand showers, and two toilet flushing options for conserving water. There are phones mounted on the walls beside the toilets, I assume for making phone calls while sitting on the toilet. The restrooms also offer butt hoses - Is that what they're called? I'm calling them butt hoses - for the hosing off of butts. And please see the photo of the decoratively folded spare toilet paper roll. Wow.

So these are A+ restrooms, right? Not quite. Notice I've been speaking of the facilities in the plural. We started off in one room, but woke one morning to find an ever-expanding pool of water in front of the sink. The ceiling was dripping water. We reported it, and the issue was somehow fixed within an hour (we suspect they may have shut off a valve somewhere). The next morning, the leak was back and the ceiling was dripping in even more places. They promptly moved us to a new room, with a bigger restroom and an automatic faucet where our previous room had a manual one. This mess and inconvenience was enough to knock the restrooms down a full letter grade.

(Please note the photos below are of the second, larger, restroom.)

Emiliano's Mexican Restaurant & Bar, South Side

Grade: C-

Superficial decorative flourishes disguise an otherwise pedestrian - even somewhat rundown - restroom. One of the sinks has no water pressure to speak of, but the other is quite powerful and offers good water temperature. The wall paint has seen better days. The biggest issue is that the door takes a very long time to swing shut, leaving the back of the person at the urinal exposed to the restaurant for a significant amount of time.

Also: this is a (quite good) Mexican restaurant. What's with the Miller Lite poster?

Chatham University Art & Design Center 2nd Floor

Grade: B
This men's room was a pleasant surprise. Not that I should have expected something crummy - it is the arts building, after all. The restroom is private and, while not exactly glamorous, does sport some impressove faux-marble tile. There's a veritable army of cleaning supplies lined up on the window ledge, which is reflected in the facilities' cleanliness and pleasant (fruity/floral) smell. Nothing to luxurious - everything is manually operated - but nice all the same.

Chatham University JKM Library 3rd Floor

Grade: B

What this restroom lacks in amenities - it's about as basic as you get, with utilitarian tiles, one toilet, one urinal, one sink and manual everything - it makes up for in privacy. In all my time using this bathroom, I have come across one other person while inside. I don't know if it's the out-of-the-way location or the relatively low number of men on Chatham's campus. Either way, it's a great place to get away and relax.

Chatham University AFC Athletic Center

Grade: A

Entirely decent for a university campus restroom, especially in a fitness center. Clean, decorative tiles, foam soap, Rihanna's "Umbrella" blasting over the radio (this, of course, was coincidence). Only thing that could have pushed it into the realm of the truly elite would have been auto flushing/sinks/dispensers. Recommended, if you get a chance to check it out.

Most Wanted Fine Art

5015 Penn Ave. Pittsburgh, PA 15224

Grade: A

The restroom at Most Wanted Fine Art is kind of great. Despite the creepy descent into the building's basement -- the stairway looks like you're entering John Wayne Gacy's crawl space -- the restroom reveals itself to be cozy and pleasant. The facilities are clean and have a finished/unfinished feel that reflects the DIY nature of the gallery itself. The ceiling is extremely low, but a sign at the "door" helpfully reminds you of this. I place door in quotation marks because the door is actually just a zebra-print curtain hanging across the entrance. This adds to the charm and somehow does not make the restroom feel any less private, usually because the next person in line is standing watch for you at the top of the stairs. 

Shadyside Market District

Grade: B

My apologies for the extended absence. It seems I am doomed to post with great regularity for six months, only to go into hibernation for the next six. I will try to post at least once a week, or possibly more if my schedule allows me to visit multiple new restrooms in a week.

For those of you who were not aware, we have moved our headquarters back to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. While a great deal of the posts going forward will be for establishments located in Pittsburgh, we as always welcome guest restroom reviews from anywhere in the world. We are also interested in receiving reviews of women's rooms, if you are so inclined. Please leave a comment, visit our Facebook page, tweet at us, or e-mail placestodobusiness@gmail.com if you are interested in writing for us.

But on to the Shadyside Market District men's room. This is a solid public restroom, with automatic flushing urinals and toilets and some nice decorative details (see: wall paint, fake potted plant, above-average floor and wall tiles). The hand dryer is a little weak, but I appreciate that both paper towels and a hand dryer are offered.

My one major qualm with this men's room is its proximity to the front end/registers. The restroom is so close, and is accessed through an open corridor - as opposed to a door - so the noise from the front end is quite loud. This really diminishes the feeling of privacy and solitude that a great restroom offers.

Getty Center, Tram Station

1200 Getty Center Dr., Los Angeles, CA 90049
Grade: B

The Getty Center's tram station men's room is nothing particularly special, but it does rise above the average public restroom thanks to its (I'm assuming faux-) marble floors and walls and its automatic faucets. Unfortunately there are no hand dryers, and the bathroom somehow feels a little dirty and soulless, lending to an oddly uncomfortable experience.

Chevron, Santa Ynez

3595 Sagunto St., Santa Ynez, CA 93460

Grade: F

My sister came out of this restroom and told me that it was not the worst restroom she had ever seen in her life. After experiencing the facilities for myself, I would say that I agree; it is not the worst I have ever seen. It is probably in the top 20, though.

Where do I start with something like this? Absolutely everything is wrong with it. It's completely filthy, despite the (empty) "Operation Clean Restrooms" sheet on the door. There is only a cold water tap on the sink. Instead of a paper towel dispenser or hand dryer, the bathroom features one of those continuous-towel loops, which I find extremely unsanitary to begin with. This one also has the distinction of being broken: the towel has become detached at the top, and is constantly falling from its precarious position on top of the unit to lie on the disgusting concrete floor.

But hey, at least there are two soap dispensers.

Curtis Winery

5249 Foxen Canyon Road, Solvang, CA 93441
Grade: B+


In terms of decoration and convenience, this restroom is really pretty all right. The walls are a simple white but feature two framed pieces of art, the wastebasket is made of wicker and there is a cabinet beside the sink on which you can rest your wine glass or souvenirs. The toilet and sink are manually operated, but the paper towel dispenser and soap dispenser are both automatic. There is also a can of air freshener sitting on the back of toilet, which becomes particularly helpful when considering that this is a...


...unisex bathroom. Now, there is nothing inherently wrong with a unisex restroom (provided that it locks, as this one does). I can understand the need for one if it is a smaller establishment that does not have room for two separate restrooms. But Curtis Winery has two separate restrooms, both of which are unisex. What is the point?  I could see this potentially yielding many red-faced, "do-not-go-in-there" type situations when a member of one sex exits the restroom to find a member of the opposite sex waiting to use it. The management presumably tried to rectify this situation with the aforementioned can of air freshener, but if you smell mad air freshener in the bathroom when you enter, that just means that whoever was in there before you did something just as nasty as if you smelled something... nasty. I lost my train of thought. Unisex bathrooms are awkward.

Coral Beach Cantina

Ste 310, 29350 Pacific Coast Hwy , Malibu, CA 90265-3970
Grade: A-


Coral Beach Cantina features a small yet comfortable and decorative men's room. There is little in the way of above-average convenience features, but it does include toilet seat covers and appears to be kept extremely clean. The pedestal sink and wood/metal mirror frame are nice.