If there is one thing I deeply loathe, it is publishing a possibly damaging blog post about a negative experience in the country that I am proud to call home. It has the potential to make it back to locals and travelers who contemplate giving this establishment business, allowing others to form an opinion of a restaurant based on my poor experience. With that expressed, it’s just as meaningful to share these unfavorable incidents.

Following an afternoon of activities in the south, my sisters and I chose to stop at Island Breeze for dinner. We’ve heard nothing but amazing things, and with our stomachs on empty, it was the closest restaurant around. Thrilled for good food, we made our way into the crowded establishment. Before I resume, if you have been here before, you know that I split restaurant reviews into three classes: atmosphere, food and drinks, and service. Let’s get into it.

Atmosphere

Attempting not to allow my unsatisfactory experience to trickle into different categories, I acknowledge that the aura upon arrival was pleasant. Located by the water, pretty lights twinkled among the large groups that set tables together to guarantee they sat close. With the absence of music, noisy chatters deriving from the tables were heard from the parking lot. The outdoor establishment was satisfying. Every once in a while, the waves from the sea would collide, operating as background noise. It appeared to be a cute, relaxed date night venue.

Food and Drinks

If you haven’t guessed by now, I am a tiny bit of a foodie. As daring as I can be, I also adhere to what I know with what I consume. So, like the majority of my reviews (particularly for St. Lucia), I ordered a local meal, which of course, contained fish. I requested the grilled fish for my main course. Given the options of three sides, I selected macaroni pie, breadfruit sticks, and fried plantain. Allow me to preface: it was a busy night with the kitchen closing within the next hour. Perhaps we were served what was left. There’s no issue with that, except the meals could have at least been heated thoroughly, right? The fish was okay. Though grilled well, it tasted as if someone skimped on the seasoning. In any event, it wasn’t bad. It was the highlight of the meal, really. The remainder was mediocre. Don’t get me wrong, nothing was terrible per se, but the meal wasn’t even lukewarm and lacked flavor. With reasonable prices, I wasn’t excessively annoyed.

Service

Now, the moment we’ve all been waiting for (or maybe just me so I can vent) the service, or lack thereof. Frankly, if it were for the food and atmosphere alone, I’d most likely rank this venue 3.25 stars, and clearly, that’s considerate. What destroyed this venture from the moment we strolled in was the service. We eventually waved down a server to be seated and were standoffishly greeted with rolled eyes and folded arms. This individual utilized a pen to signal my sisters and me where to sit. As if it couldn’t get more flawed, the table was filthy. We sat and waited for our waitress, who never showed. I flagged someone down to clean the table and get our orders started. After glancing in our direction, she returned with a pail of highly concentrated bleach water and a cloth to wipe down the surface. The waitress could not be concerned and didn’t take our drink order. Once again, we were stranded. After flagging down the third team member, a pile of menus was left on the tabletop. The process of continuously peeking for a waitress to support us persisted. No assistance was offered by those that previously visited our table, and if I didn’t speak up as extensively as I did, we would not have gotten served. The attitudes we encountered were absurd. The team was not attentive and did not care that anyone was seated without being helped. The server who carried out our food was the only staff member who even cracked a smile during our time there. Flawed doesn’t accurately depict the service acquired.

I would like to blame this incident on an unpleasant night for the restaurant. The thing is, I am doubtful if it was just an off night or if this is perhaps the norm. I have heard good things, so I can speculate that’s what it is, but I can only establish an opinion on my own experience. I would say that I’m willing to try again to revise this in the future, but no thanks.