Lynda
Google
We stayed nearly a month here in December which was our 3rd or 4th stay over 8 years. Some changes I personally didn’t prefer as much as in the past like breakfast - I wish the hot bar had western protein foods again like scrambled eggs, better sausages and bacon ready to eat instead of having to wait a very very long time at the egg station on line or unpleasantly pick at old cold bacon and what looks like sausages premade and sitting on toast. Fresh Egg station should still be there as always but option to eat warm western protein staples quickly would be preferred as the layout of the restaurant isn’t conducive to waiting or coming back up and down stairs. This may not bother those staying one or two days but more starts to sink in. Hot stations aren’t right for starch dishes like delicate Vietnamese rice, noodle or dumplings which became overdried and stuck to each other. Wasn’t fresh and taste also was meh. The Vietnamese cold station could use more diversity of well assembled tastes over large scattering of random salad ingredients. I remember prawn pomelo salads and mango seaweed salads in sesame dressings in the past. And what happened to the abundance of beautiful delicious overripe fruits? At breakfast and service plate for the room(nice gesture) - fruits “looked” nice but taste wasn’t fresh, weren’t ripe and sweet. Sometimes mangos were ripe, sometimes not, pomelo was sawdust dry, jackfruit was dry and only a handful, papaya was gone after few minutes. In past there was always abundance of ripe mangos, ripe papayas, fruity juicy jackfruit, passionfruit -every day that would start the day with the feeling “I am in a beautiful tropical paradise.” This time I just felt there was a lack or limit of good fruit I can take which felt disappointing. Assortment of room fruits look nice but taste was dry, not all that great.
While on the restaurant, dinner and especially bbq was entirely disappointing for the price - and this was unanimously the number one comment and concern of every guest that spoke to us over the month.
But my husband loved the lunch sandwiches, I thought the burger was the best on the island.
We just wish there was more consistency to the level of tastiness and execution of Vietnamese dishes, at a more reasonable price that didn’t easily drive us to go elsewhere to find. Over the years there’s been general management by Swiss, Italian, now Viet- and the resto has some major identity crisis as it seems. All the Guests that spoke to us want diversity of simple, tasty, well executed staple foods both Viet and western at a reasonable price. Not try too hard menu not executed well for pretentiously high price.
Other than this, Chen Sea is EXCELLENT. I love the grounds that seem to be more beautiful than before. I love the rooms. I still feel staff can’t do enough for you, from the gardeners to sports team to cleaning staff(outstanding) are confident, well trained, professional with the quiet elegance that sets Chen Sea apart from the rest and for this alone we will be back to its immaculate grounds again next year for sure. I really hope the hotel can keep the sand from disappearing more into the rising waters which seems to be a test for many on the island. Thank you!!