newshound

What a difference a year makes...

Have been fortunate to stay at the property several times pre and post pandemic, my most recent being 5 nights in one of the lagoon villas last year. One of the reasons for my loyalty had been the outstanding F&B, particularly the evening buffet at Boneka (I held a welcome reception for my wedding guests there a few years back).

This year, despite not staying at the property, I wanted to at least drop by for the evening buffet and boy was I disappointed :/

The quality of the buffet food appears to have taken a noticeable dip in quality and selection. They mentioned the selection had been limited a little as they had widened their menu order items (now calling it a semi-buffet) but I found the selection to be pretty uninspired and portion size tiny eg the King Prawn risotto dish was barely larger than something available at the buffet and the individual prawn was embarrassing, my expectation was something like a tiger prawn but it was like something you'd expect to see in a prawn cocktail!

The staff also seen to have taken their eye off the ball (perhaps an off day?). Other than the server dedicated to our table, nobody else seemed to have a clue... I ordered sushi which never materialized, I asked the staff dedicated to the desert area for more information regarding the dishes and they just stared blankly at me, etc etc. Very disappointing compared with the highly attentive and trained staff I encountered last yr.

Finally, the ambiance was terrible. My romantic dinner was set to the sound track of 'the wheels on the bus' and paw patrol!! I appreciate parents want to keep their kids occupied during dinner but having the audio blaring with the staff making no attempt to talk with the guests just ruins it for everybody else. No other seating options were available as they had closed the section further away so that was just the nail in the coffin.

I was planning a stay next year, the villas are absolutely lovely, but this is giving me serious pause for thought.

kaizen7

Haven't visit St Regis Bali for some time.

Unfortunately, staying in hotel during holiday seasons tends to have these kids with ipad blaring their Baby Shark songs like crazy.
And seems like Indonesian hotel staff don't dare to tell them off.
Happen everywhere.

daberlin

Hi. I'm struggling with this same question. What did you end up deciding?

We are staying 4 nights at St. Regis Bali after doing 5 nights at Rtiz Mandapa on a points stay. The cost difference at St. Regis in September 2024 between the standard rate (elite breakfast only) and the gourmet pass rate is $104/day++. Agree with the argument made as we also eat late breakfasts, and in Bali the breakfasts are so well presented it seems a bit pointless to do an afternoon tea and dinner nightly. That said, I do absolutely intend to spend the entire time while at St. Regis on property, as we'll have gotten our fill of eating out in town having been in Bali for 16 days before showing up at St. Regis. For $104++ seems as if we might as well just do it and if we want to eat dinner at a different location on property, so be it. Thoughts?

steveholt

I would look at the dinner menus for the restaurants and price out the meals. How often are you likely to spend $104 on food during those meals? Is there any chance you'll just order something from Grab for dinner, even once? Personally, I would rather just chance it given the likelihood that I'll spend less than $416 on dinner food at the StR during my stay, but YMMV.

Kacee

It would be very easy to exceed $104 per day for two persons on dinner here. The days of relative bargains at Bali luxury properties are well past.

usefuloxymoron

does anyone know if the gourmet pass just includes boneka for dinner?

reggiekush

You would order Grab to an StR? even at LCs i find that akward. Maybe i have a bad perspective?

SHLTP

Wise man once said save money when possible

Kacee

lol, I get it, but that wouldn't stop me from ordering local. When we quarantined at LM Bangkok in 2021, we ordered a ton of Grab and after a while of this, staff called to ask if there was a problem with the hotel food.

kaizen7

Some hotels in Bali doesn't allow you to order grab and deliver it to the hotel. but nothing prevent you to meet the grab driver outside hotel ground and take the meals inside yourself.

(Some locals in certain area did prohibit grab drivers entering their locale. this admittedly make grab fooding stuff even harder.)

steveholt

You're entitled to whatever experience you want! I would have no qualms or reservations about ordering food on Grab (or equivalents outside a country) to a hotel.

bizum

We had a great 6 night stay here in May 2023. IIRC, had booked a suite with pool. On arrival, we (Plat) were upgraded to a 1 bedroom Gardenia Villa - which was the nicest upgrade we've ever received (even compared to years we've been Titanium). The villas feel secluded and quiet, even the one we had close to the main buildings. Staff all went above & beyond, theres a children's club which was really great and our toddler really enjoyed (I think it was 1 or 2 free hours per day, not sure if that was a villa/elite perk).Breakfast at Boneka was a great spread, staff would even bring sample Indo dishes every day. Gourmet pass would have been too much for us. We usually just had an early dinner at Gourmand deli or ordered room service. We did try the Buffet Dinner at Boneka one evening and it was too much for us. The Afternoon tea was not worth it (we were the only occupied table).
Beach/pool was beautiful. Mostly couples and a few families but it never felt noisy or crowded anywhere. Beach facing villas look amazing, a few were occupied. The lagoon villas are around the lagoon which is not private (I think people assume it is) and don't feel as private as the garden villas since they open to the lagoon.
We did venture out on two days with a driver but the traffic was exhausting. We found the driver on Whatsapp thru our Indo friends and was easy to arrange.
will add a few pics later this week (and updates for anything I missed)
Also, we didn't really use the butler service for anything.

Pool bar


Walkway to beach from garden villas

We walked few mins to the adjacent resort which were busier

Beach villas


Gardenia Villa living room. Elite welcome gifts were some tasty cookies, nuts and kids beach toys

Daily drum & fire ritual

Lobby stairs to grounds


Beautiful walking paths


Kiddie pool on Left

daberlin

Appreciate the input. Thank you.

maisondubonheur

Shall we add, in my opinion the best brunch in Bali. Best deal is actually the Saturday brunch.

Kacee

Perhaps if you don't have small children running back and forth between the tables, as we did last July . . . .

I would concur though that the breakfast itself was better than FS or Capella.