We were traveling around South Florida recently with the thought of seeing Miami for one night. Little did we know there was a tennis tourament in town for the weekend plus a big concert. All major lodging was booked, but we had our travel guide book that listed the Miami River Inn. We had a hard time finding it because of some outdated info in the guide book. Once we did we had second thoughts, because of the location. It was are only choice for the night and it turned out to be very nice. The rooms were clean, the staff was great and the grounds around the buildings were nicely kept with a great pool. I'm not sure if they take families but it is very nice for couples or young adults. They serve a breakfast in the morning that is what you would get at a chain hotel. Only down side (for me) was there was no coffee maker in the room and nome served until 8:30 AM.

We stayed here while attending the Winter Music Conference for two days. Everything was booked and this was the last place we could find for a reasonable price.
The room was appointed with antiques as they say on the website, and fairly small, our friends stayed in a somewhat larger room across the building from us. All of us had the same complaint, the beds were very uncomfortable. It was hard to get information about the city from the front desk clerk. The bathroom was fairly clean. The pool and courtyard outside are absolutely delightful, private and plenty of seats in the shade. There are some great little restaurants nearby, mostly local Mom and Pop with Latino cuisine. A main hub of the metro station is a ten minute walk. Our friends couldn't get a cab to bring them back to the hotel late one night...the cab drivers told them they didn't go to that side of town. We ended up walking to the Bayfront several times and it really wasn't that bad, even at night. Still, I would not recommend going it alone. One night there were several bums sleeping outside the gate by our room...
It was an interesting experience, but I wish we had stayed somewhere with better beds. Don't follow the advice of another reviewer who says it might be good if you aren't going to be there much, I was so exhausted from not getting good sleep, I missed out on some of the things I wanted to do while we were in town.

We stayed at the inn in late March 2008. I read some of the other reviews and the place is a little tricky to find but not bad if you ask ahead of time or print out the directions from the website. The neighborhood is sort of rough but not really threatening in my opinion unless you want to walk around alone at night. There is some noise from the adjacent highway overpass but depending on the room not bad for an in-city hotel. Our room was upstairs in the main building. The first night the room smelled sort of musty and though there are windows they can't be opened. The second night the central AC was on and improved the smell a lot. The bed basically was shot but tolerable. The main asset of the place is historic character and the really nice shaded property, landscaped back yard, and breakfast. A movie with a scene about a quaint b&b was shot here a few days before we stayed - so that tells you something about the overall look of the place. The parking also is secure though the constant need for keys to get in and out does get a bit old. It is an easy drive from here to South Beach and there are some restaurants just across the river though we didn't go to those.

This B&B is very, very difficult to find, be sure to call and get directions. When we tried to call we only got a VM, which is one of the main problems with our stay. You could never find anyone at the front desk to check in/ check out, or ask any questions. When there was someone there they weren't particularly friendly.
Now this place seems to have a very good reputation (It's in Lonely Planet) and was a very charming place to stay if you like B&B. The bathroom was questionably clean, found some brown sticky stuff on toilet tank lid. No plug for sink. This B&B is like an Oasis in a not really good area of Miami so you need a key to lock you car in the adjacent lot and a key to get into the fenced-in house, which brings us back to our arrival. There was no one at the front desk to answer phone calls or see us trying to get into the locked fence. Had this nice couple not come along and let us in, we would have had to find another place to stay. The breakfast was OK, coffee. juice, fruit basket, one small cut up coffee cake, yogurt, bagels, toast, etc. However, sitting outside the small kitchen in the courtyard area was glorious. It almost made up for a rather bad experience. I would not recommend this place to friends. but if you really like the B&B experience w/ all it's pitfalls, then this is the place for you.