Editor Pick
One for the Star Spotters...?
- July 2, 2009
- Rated 3 of 5 by
Cat19 from Stocking Pelham, United Kingdom
Another week into my new role in Bermuda brought another set of corporate visitors from Europe. It is surprising how many people need to spend at least a week here on essential business matters around this time of year. I have never felt so important. Anyway this was a good opportunity to try out another of Bermuda’s expensive restaurants without too much concern for the budget.
The venue was chosen by a member of my finance team and when I mentioned it to my husband in a bar that evening, a Scotsman sitting on my other side overheard and informed me that this was Michael Douglas and Catherine Zeta-Jones’ restaurant, very famous and that he (the Scotsman) designed it.
In fact the restaurant is based within the Ariels Sands Hotel which is owned by Michael Douglas’s Bermudan family. The actor is merely a shareholder but about five years ago he paid for a huge refurbishment transforming what was apparently a dilapidated old hotel into the stunning, small resort hotel that it is today.
The restaurant has indoor and outdoor seating. I thought that the interior space was quite bland with plain red walls, wooden floors and no eye catching ornaments or décor at all. It had not attracted any diners the night of my visit.
On the other hand, the outside tables were all taken and not surprisingly as the setting was simply beautiful. The tables were on two levels, some on the verandah and the rest down some steps and on a wooden deck situated on the beach itself. There were about fifteen tables of varying sizes here, nicely laid out and spaced out. We were on a round table for six and I was very pleased to bags one of the seats looking out to the ocean.
We were presented with our menus to peruse over an aperitif, it was an extensive menu and the dishes sounded wonderful and inventive. There was a strong bias towards seafood as one would expect from the name, but there were a few meat and vegetarian options as well. I decided upon scallops for my starter and a lemon crusted rockfish for my main course, but unfortunately it was shortly after making this decision that things started to fall apart.
Firstly, it took a staggering 45 minutes for us to have our order taken. I have been told that service is slower than one expects in London but I have eaten out a lot since I arrived on the island and have not noticed this anywhere until now. After 30 minutes, one of the Swiss visitors told a waiter that we were ready to order but it appeared that the waiter did not know what he meant by this and after a few minutes he just wandered off without taking any action. Fifteen minutes later we tried again with another waiter but after taking the wine order we were dismayed to see him turn his back and disappear before we could stop him. Fortunately he returned shortly afterwards and we finally placed our food orders.
The wine arrived after 15 minutes, I thought this was a little slow but the delivery of the starters and main courses was about what I would expect. Our six starters all arrived at the same time and were beautifully presented. The scallop dish I ordered for starters comprised four or five scallops with a salad and my main course rock fish was on a bed of vegetables, the portion sizes were just right. Everything was cooked perfectly although could have been a touch warmer, but it was definitely high quality fish and very tasty. My colleagues had also all chosen fish of one description of another and there were many beautiful looking dishes served and empty plates at the end.
Unfortunately the service problems persisted, mainly because it seemed to me that the waiting staff simply will not tolerate a customer making any requests or asking questions and in fact they had the attitude that we should only speak when spoken to (by them). For example, one person at my table asked for dressing for his salad and was treated as this was the most bizarre request that anybody had ever made, another mentioned that his order was not quite right (he has asked for something he didn’t like to be left off but it was not) and again was treated with open hostility. I was also treated with the utmost contempt when I dared to ask where the bathrooms were, the waiter I asked gave me a filthy look and nodded over there over his shoulder as he stalked off.
I did not see the final bill for the evening as this was a business dinner, however the average cost of a starter was about $15 and a main course about $35 (say GBP8 and GBP 20 respectively). There are a few restaurants that are more expensive than this and even fewer that would be cheaper, so I would say that these prices are very typical for a restaurant in Bermuda where there is less of a range of prices than in the UK. Unfortunately I did not see the wine list at all, but generally I find wine a little cheaper in Bermuda restaurants than in London restaurants and it is unlikely that wine would be prohibitively expensive, I have found it very easy to find a good bottle for about GBP 25 in every restaurant I have been to. All restaurants in Bermuda will add 15% gratuity for your convenience and the extra box says "additional tip" if you were completely overwhelmed by the fantastic service.
Summary
I certainly enjoyed my food at Aqua and judging by the empty plates so did everybody else in the party. The view, setting and the proximity to the beach and ocean were all fantastic and a meal here would be a memorable experience for most people. I think couples would love it in particular as it would be an extremely romantic venue.
That said, these positives were not enough to compensate for the incredibly rude staff and dreadful service. In fact I think that the staff and management must believe that the beach setting and the famous person link are enough and act as if diners should be grateful to be there at all.
Unfortunately they could have a point as a lot of their custom will be from holiday makers and they won’t expect repeat custom anyway. So, if you are going on holiday to Bermuda, I would say give this one a miss, it is not the only restaurant with an ocean view and I personally would not be prepared to sit there and be treated like a huge inconvenience just because it has a famous shareholder.
From journal Dining in Bermuda