Butterwood Desserts
5409 Main St. Williamsville, NY 14221
Web: Butterwood Desserts
Phone: 716.204.0939
See More Restaurant Reviews For:
Bathrooms Desserts Williamsville

Back in May of 2008, we visited Williamsville's Butterwood - a dessert restaurant that we felt was a study in contrasts, combining beautiful decor and impressive plating with individual items that were highly disappointing. What we remembered most positively about the place was its bathrooms, particularly the women's room, which looked as if they had been designed to impress people. This week's Restaurant Bathroom Report considers what made this particular room so memorable, and how other local restaurants can learn lessons from its example.

The typical restaurant bathroom features cheap flooring, peeling wallpaper or white walls, and bright lighting that only spotlights the grime and age of the room. Butterwood's design is more elegant, a mix of shabby and chic with emphasis on the chic, using a black marble tile floor to unify a number of disparate elements.

In its prior incarnation, one of the things that most impressed us was the room's size. Designed to be used by a single person at a time, the room's door locked behind that person, revealing a spacious area with a sink and mirror area on the right side, and a toilet on the left side. More recently, a dark wood and white fabric screen has been added as a divider, creating an artificial separation between the seat and the sink. Some may like this; we didn't, though it has the benefit of partially masking an odd little brick part of the room - the only arguably freaky part of the space.

One thing we loved, however, was the mirror and sink area. Polished tile walls say "clean," a simple mirrored cabinet and clean glass and metal light hang above the sink, and then there's the basin itself: a metal tray with a corresponding stone inside, then a dish and rocks elevated on top, plus a thick jet of water that splashes down on the rocks from the mirror. It's pure class, creative, and beautiful.

Another interesting touch: a red velvet chair against one wall, seemingly left there to fill the room, provide a place for a purse or coat, or possibly to accommodate a friend or parent who needed some private time to talk. This chair and the red wall behind it raise the only major design issue with the room - its inconsistency.

In just this one restroom, there's a brick wall, two tile walls, and one painted wall, some wood trim, white trim, metal, stone, and fabric, plus the flooring. There is no single theme, and certainly more than two, which would be a lot for a relatively small room. Some may see these parts tossed together as making a statement in and of themselves, but to a designer's eye, the room looks a little unfinished. Did the budget run out after the fancy sink and lighting?

We're looking for more examples of notable Western New York restaurant restrooms. If you have suggestions, we'd love to hear them in the comments box below.