I wish I could give a positive review for this resort because overall we had a rather nice time. The air conditioning worked, there was bug spray in the room, really it was a fine place for coming back to and relaxing after a long day exploring the island.
Unfortunately the issue we had is completely inexcusable.
We stayed over Christmas and after being told how busy the resort would be and how the rest of the island would mostly be closed, we decided to book a table at The Spaghetti House; the Edgewater's on site Italian restaurant. They took our booking for Christmas day without issue.
A few days later on Christmas morning, we were informed that The Spaghetti House was closed for the day, as the main resort required all their staff. This surprised us greatly, as they took our booking. We asked about the buffet the main part of the resort was putting on instead, and we were told that it was fully booked. This was understandable, as we were only enquiring about it on Christmas morning. It did however mean that we had to wait for the a la carte menu to open at 4pm. With nothing else to do, we stayed in our room reading getting hungrier and hungrier. When 4pm rolled around we went down to the restaurant for a table. We explained our strange predicament with The Spaghetti House and the unfortunate fact that the buffet was fully booked. The waitress who served us looked at us strangely and told us that actually, there would have been plenty of room and we had been misinformed. This was annoying but no matter, we were there now and very hungry. My wife, who is allergic to eggs, ordered the chicken burger. The ingredients listed on the burger were chicken, lettuce, bacon, avocado, tomato salsa and a bun. Nothing that would contain egg, but all the same we were sure to tell the waitress of my wife's allergy. The waitress took this very seriously, and wrote "nothing with egg please, egg allergy". I know that she wrote this, because I signed the bill and read this vital piece of information. Our burger came out covered in mayonnaise, despite the menu not listing mayonnaise as an ingredient. My wife told the waiter, who was different from the person who took our order, that she could not have aioli or any kind of sauce that had egg as an ingredient, as mayonnaise so clearly does. The waiter missed the point completely and returned the burger a couple of minutes later, telling her that it was "just regular mayonnaise". Having tried to be fed a burger that might kill her twice in quick succession, this put my wife off her burger and she ordered the vegan fajitas instead, which would be a safe, egg-free option. She was promptly told that the fajitas were out of stock, and was offered the vegan fried rice. She was presented with white steamed rice with mixed vegetables, including raw onion, stirred through. This completely ruined our Christmas.
The kitchen and wait staff here need to be given proper training on allergen information. It is completely unacceptable that this item was presented to my wife twice. It is completely unacceptable that the kitchen staff ignored the key information about my wife's allergy. It is completely unacceptable that the resort staff offered no recourse other than taking the burger, which could have killed my wife, off of our bill.
This demonstrates a complete lack of understanding about not only allergens, but also ingredients. The menu did not list mayonnaise as an ingredient, so I must ask why the chef in a moment of misplaced inspiration decided to leave these great big dollops of the stuff on what otherwise would have been a tasty meal. I worked for years in food service and if I had made a grave error such as this (twice!) I would have expected to lose my job. There will no doubt be people with severe allergens, celiac or even just food preferences that will be reading this review. I must recommend that they stay elsewhere for their own safety.
The staff here do not care for the special requests on your order slip.
The staff here do not prepare dishes in accordance with the menu.
The staff here do not demonstrate basic understanding of food ingredients.
The staff here WILL undoubtedly, almost certainly kill someone if this practice continues. Do not let yourself become this person.
I am truly sad that I cannot leave a positive review because I almost did for Trina's service alone. She was very personable during breakfast and had some great recommendations. I doubt that we would have received the service that we did had she been working the evening shift on Christmas Day.
If you are willing to throw all caution to the wind and stay here regardless, then here are some tips that will hopefully make your stay more enjoyable.
There is lovely snorkeling to be done just offshore, but snorkeling gear is hired out and then is missing for most of the day. There is supposed to be a limit of two hours, but staff do not track its whereabouts. I asked when gear was likely to be returned and the person at the activity hut scratched their head and muttered something about it supposed to have been back an hour ago. There does not appear to be any penalty for late returns, so simply rent the gear while everyone else is having breakfast and then hang on to it until you are ready to go snorkeling.
Get a 10 ride concession ticket for the bus and then eat at Trader Jacks in town everyday. The 10 ride concession is good value at $30.
Your Wi-Fi allocation will run out sooner than you think. Make sure automatic updates are turned off on all your devices.
There is a charming little convenience store 10 minutes walk down the road. Get all your drinks there, the ones at Mal's Bar are expensive and limited in selection.
Nu runs out every day, get these delicious coconuts early in the morning and leave them in the room in your fridge.
It is very difficult to get the attention of staff at Mal's Bar at even the quietist of times. You will have to be direct.
There are ants everywhere, all over the resort in fact. The staff are aware of this, as our room had a big can of bug spray in it. Just don't leave any food out in your room or on the balcony for more than a few minutes.
Once again, I cannot recommend that you stay and subsequently eat here because there is no telling (and on the staff's part, no knowing) what you might be presented with. There are nicer, more professional places to stay on the island.
To the manager, please train your staff properly. Their negligence will get someone killed.