Short Review I was just there and found it adequate. The rooms are very attractive and modern, service spotty. For example, I had both breakfast and lunch at the main restaurant and, though the reuben sandwich was an unexpected, pretty good menu offering, the service was very poor. The "Ramadan tent," which at most other five-star hotels in the UAE is a lavish, festive affair, was a meager, phoning-it-in venue also with horrible service. Servers were absent, and inattentive when they were present, and didn't speak English. The St. Regis down the road had perhaps less interesting rooms, but a higher level of professionalism overall.<br><br>In my experience, cold towel/face mist/water are not standard in that part of the world. Any five-star resort will have food/drink service by the pool, and they did there (it was even open during Ramadan), but the little thoughtful extras that you mention are not standard most places I have been. E.g., I don't remember them at the Park Hyatt in Dubai, though admittedly I guess I've never spent a lot of time by the pool there.<br><br>The best thing about Saadiyat Island is the sea. It is by far the best water -- relatively clear blue and more refreshing than the typical bathwater -- that I have seen in the Gulf. They told me that it was because the beach was more in the open water than elsewhere in Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Doha, Bahrain, etc., which are more like bays. The sand isn't great (a bit rocky), but the ocean is excellent by regional standards.