We departed from the Metropole in Moscow to spend a few nights at the Astoria, what a huge mistake.
This hotel is overpriced and offers sub standard rooms for international travellers.
We were offered a "very nice" room on the second floor overlooking the Cathederal, what we were not told is that the room is like living in the main street noisewise if you open the window, it is alsounder the effect of the western setting sun for about 8 hours that provides a great sauna effect if thats what you like.
You might say, why not draw the curtains, the answer is they would not draw fully and in any event you needed the window open to live (now with free access to mosquitoes), and this in turn meant the curtains had to be open.
Curtains open allowed all the tourists opposite at the cathederal to look straight into your room.
The big issue was the air con. It just does not work. Four attempts to improve led to nothing. The answer was, "this is a heritage building". Funny how other areas of the hotel had air con.
Cold eggs for breakfast and a generally a poor buffet. Pretty ordinary dining in the evening.
With all this the staff were wonderful, no complaints here.

This is a seriously good hotel, and outstanding in a country not known for its levels of customer service.

It's a proper grown-up hotel with a real sense of grandeur and occasion; everyone from Lenin to Elton John has stayed here. We couldn't fault the service, the food or the room. Not cheap, but unlike a lot of 5 star hotels, this one was worth every rouble.

Just returned from a three night stay at the Astoria Hotel. Our stay was the second part of a holiday where we also stayed in Moscow.
The hotel was beautiful and very POSH. The location was perfect.
The hotel was a bit pricy to drink and eat in but the quality of food and drinks were high.
The only bad point of our stay in St Petersburg was seeing the discussing and cruel practice of keeping small bears. The bears were tied on leads; St Petersburg is a cultured and civilised city. We did not expect to see this cruel and evil practice still being carried out. The keeping of bear as tourist attractions must only hurt Russia’s growing tourist industry.

My wife and I stayed at Hotel Astoria for two nights as guests at a global business conference. What should you expect? If you are looking for a Ritz-Carlton or Four Seasons type facility, you will be pleased. We had a lovely room on the 7th floor with a view of St Isaacs Cathedral. Bathroom was quite large and had more amenities than one normally sees in this class of hotel (love the heated towel bar). Room was quiet; bed was very comfy; AC was adequate. Given the prime location in the heart of St Petersburg and the five star amenities, those with lots of disposable income will be pleased here.

Had a light early dinner in the restaurant; food was quite good but be prepared to pay a premium. We found perfectly satisfactory restaurants in the area at significantly lower prices using Eyewitness, Rough Guide and Lonely Planet listings.

Concierge service helped us book two ballet tickets at Mariinsky Theatre. Service was professional, timely and (again) expensive with a $60 service charge.

The Astoria charges roughly $750/night during White Nights, so we arrived in town with reservations at the Petro Palace half a block away when the meeting ended and we were on our own. We did not regret that decision.