We were married here so we have an attachment to the place.
It's looking very tired and run-down in some areas, including the accommodation, but it's still a great place to be - right on a reef where you can go snorkelling and swimming no matter what the weather.
It's also a fair price-range, and has a surf-break right out front.

The restaurant, however, needs to seriously lift its game. We could virtually not eat anything there and we survived on breakfast and fresh coconuts for the most part. We had a local village boy prepare some food for us and bring it to us (Lovo) so that was good.

We brought as much food with us as possible as we knew the restaurant standard was not good, from previous visit, but it was much much better as they used to have a buffet (2014) but now it's a la carte, and caters to the lowest common denominator but without actual skill or knowledge of preparing the food. How could you get Spaghetti Bolognese wrong? Well the chef did! It was oily, just hamburger mince, no bolognese sauce to be seen, and it gave me stomache cramps and I had to throw up a few hours later. Really not good.

Everything else is either fried, or ruined in some way.

It would be nice to see more traditional Fijian food on the menu - simple fare that satisfies and is more likely to be edible.

At breakfast, it was virtually impossible to get a vegetarian option other than the grilled tomato, and fruit. My vegetarian friend had to beg the chef to make him something every day (he stayed for over 10 days, and still they never catereed for him) .....and I just survived on grilled tomato on bread which I brought myself (the bread and pastries are dreadful).

Sorry, but don't come here if you expect to eat well. We aren't big eaters so we could survive on minimal food and the snacks, nuts, cheese and crackers we brought from home.

And don't bother going to the roadhouse for food either (the pizzas are shockingly bad, although the Asian food was passable and well-priced).

I wrote to the management with my concerns a few months ago, but they haven't acknowledged it nor replied, so here I go with a public review which I hate to do really.

They simply need to get their chefs trained properly and be able to make basic food well.

I was even told that they can't get ripe tomatos on the island (by the Brazilian guy who runs the pizza place at the Roadhouse) or even pizza sauce (of which there was none on the pizza) so they like making all sorts of excuses for the poor food they serve in Fiji.

Do yourself a favour, head to the supermarket when you get off the plane, stock up on food, buy a small burner stove and cook up your own dinners (bring a frypan and saucepan) and you'll have a great time.

We had a waterfront bure and it's a wonderful, peaceful experience so if you're in to a low-key, back to nature experience, this is the perfect place - no fancy 5-star treatas here.

We had 6 kittens and two mother cats move in with us, which we encouraged and enjoyed, but if you don't like cats, think twice about staying here as they will try to endear themselves to you.

I hope that someone injects some funds into upgrading the resort as it's truly unique with its individual bures and huge collection of stained glass windows in each bure and in the main dining building.

So much to love about this place, but definitely not the food.

How lucky were we as a family of 11 to be treated like royalty during our stay at the Fiji Hideaway Resort and Spa. All day everyday we enjoyed the snorkelling off the beach, buffet breakfast, pool aerobics, sundance, more swimming, happy hour, Tagaqe children's choir, school / village tours, always something to keep the whole family entertained. Not forgetting the wonderful ladies at reception, who always had a smile and a big Bula for us all. For some it was their first visit , but not their last, for others many time returnees and definitely not their last.

Until we all meet again Sota Tale

Overall it was a great trip. We spent 7 nights and the grounds were beautiful, the sea water was perfect for snorkeling, the food was good but, we paid to a Deluxe Beachfront Bure and we never got into one. I think we ended up in a Beach Front Bure which had not been refurbished. Lets say it was showing the years of use. No matter who I talked to at the front desk I was never given a reason for not getting the room I paid for which put a damper on the entire trip but we made do with what we were given. We will make another trip to Fiji but not the Hideaway Resort.