King Fisher Village — Hotel in Santiago

My review could serve as a little wake-up call to the owners/ the management. We really love your accommodations (our superior two-bedroom apartment was amazing!) because of the privacy, the peaceful oasis-like environment, and the beautiful sea views. HOWEVER, our experience with the kitchen (with the exception of a decent breakfast) has been APPALLING: on day one, I ordered chicken nuggets for the children, and home-made pappardelle for myself. The nuggets were burnt black and impossible to bite off they were so hard. My pappardelle were undercooked and inedible. We remained hungry, despite paying a hefty price for our meal. The day after, for lunch I ordered two super-bowls (?) with couscous Maroquino and some cubed raw tuna on top. The couscous was SPOILED. The tuna was SPOILED. Myself and each of my children took just a couple of small bites, and this was enough to sicken us all .The next day and the day after, my 9-year old daughter spent laying down, unable to play or eat. The same happened a bit later in the day to my 7-year old son and myself. Later that day, I approached the kitchen, which is a great-looking modern kitchen, to take a look: there was big canister of cooking oil, dark in color and nearly empty. I asked permission to see WHAT oil is that. The kitchen staff explained they use this for frying : the ingredients were printed in such a microscopical print --no one could read them! The kitchen staff DON'T KNOW WHAT THEY USE! Furthermore, the chopped egg-plant on the cutting board, being prepared for someone's meal was COVERED IN FLIES! Last but not least: during breakfast, the little jars of fruit preserves are NOT placed on ice, and remain in the warm environment for several hours. One of the jellies was served SPOILED. King Fisher serves UNSAFE, inedible food to their patrons. The food is not properly stored or refrigerated and served to patrons SPOILED. I have paid about 540 EUROS for a two day stay, and my child spent the entire second day with a high-fever and ill in bed. The restaurant menu is very limited and shamelessly overpriced. The inflated prices are about 30-40% higher than the perfectly fresh food served right across the street at Pensao Por Do Sol, for example. King Fisher is price-gouging their patrons and serving them spoiled food. Overall, this experience made our stay a fiasco.

MY sur-reply to the Management: Having lived in Tarrafal, I know all of the local foods and restaurants in town first hand (some are better avoided as alimentary poisoning is very real here, as I found out from painful first-hand experience more than once). The unique and beautiful King Fisher Hotel,, on the many occasions that I visited their restaurant throughout 2021 and 2022, has consistently served lack-luster food, at greatly inflated prices from a very limited menu. However, when I stayed at King Fisher, they pleasantly surprised me with their own freshly-baked breads and pastries for breakfast, with a variety of homemade fruit jellies, honey, impressively good coffee and omelettes made-to order. I guess, If you are OK with flies crawling all over your salads and all the other foods, and you don't mind spoiled food being served to you and your kids -- then King Fisher should be your first choice! For they truly have amazing, tasteful and spacious accommodations, spectacular sea views, a beautiful natural ocean pool, great out-door showers, well-groomed grounds with many authentic and lovely touches, with plenty of wonderful hot and cold water for your showers that they (impressively!) desalinate on location! However, seeing my child laying ill and lifeless on the the second day of our short vacation, instead of delightedly jumping into the pool and curiously trying out some new foods at the expensive restaurant -- was VERY UPSETTING to say the least!! I hope the Management, will take a close look at the operation of their kitchen and restaurant and take action to serve food worthy of their great location and the inflated prices that...

Pros: Nice hotel with its own bay. The rooms are newly renovates and look super modern. Minimalistic but perfect to rewind. No TV, just the basics. Very comfy bed and super soft bedding with a mosquito net above the bed. Also the windows for air circulation had mosquito gutters. We had a garden view room with 2 nice little terraces with sun chairs and a drying rack. The shower was spacious and had a rain shower. The whole premises of the hotel are big and very green with some nice spots to relax. The reception is cute and the hotel offers to rent everything you need for activities: surfboards, snorkeling gear, bicycles… The staff is friendly and attentive. Breakfast is really good, dinner also but pricy for CV standards. You can change money at the reception and they will help you organize tours and excursions.

Cons: It was very loud in our room as the doors do not absorb any noise. We could constantly hear the kitchen noises, the clatter of cutlery being washed, people talking on the hallway, doors being slammed shut (as this was the only way to close them properly unfortunately) etc. so we didn’t really have a quiet sleep.

The pool area is not designed very well. You do not have any afternoon/evening sun as it does not open into the sunset (which it easily could as theres plenty of space towards that side). Also it is very dense. You lie sun chair to sun chair next to each other with very little privacy. This is due to the fact that the pool and the restaurant share the same area. Also a badly managed architecture. You are constantly observed at the pool by the restaurant guests and the other way around you watch the guests eating while crammed at the pool. Not really pleasant experience. The pool is also waaaay smaller than the pictures suggest. This could have been designed much much better.

Wifi in the outdoor areas including the pool does not work at all.

Another con is the location. To be fair Tarrafal is not big but there are hotels located much closer to the city center and the beaches that Tarrafal is famous for. At night we often decided against going to the city to eat sth. As it was a bit dodgy at night time all alone in the streets surrounding King Fisher Village and there are straying dogs all over the place. Around the hotel there really isn’t much. It’s at the end of a road that at night time is...

We had the most wonderful week on Santiago and in King Fisher Village.

The team is fantastic, the location sublime and the food simply amazing. We ate our lunch mostly in Tarrafal or on our excursions but made sure to book our dinners in the restaurant every evening as we loved the magic that the cook did with the daily fresh fish.

We occupied a fantastic room facing the ocean where we could observe the surfers in the evening in the sunset and the fishermen in the morning. We enjoyed our evening cocktails on our terrace.

We received all the information and help we requested and needed. We planned a wonderful hike downward in Serra Malagueta with a very good guide, Diego; through the hotel reception. We did some snorkeling and swimming in the natural bay a few kilometres from the hotel.

We enjoyed Tarrafal and did a hike to a blackstone beach based on a recommendation from the Food and Beverage management trainee. We also did some snorkeling there and we were warned to be aware of the strong current.

We visited Cidade Velha and the Plateau area in Praia with our own rental car. We went to the amazing market in Assomada and enjoyed lunch in the main street where we witnessed the youth parading to draw each other's attention.

We bathed in the natural pool south from Tarrafal and visited the nearby beautiful black beach.

We strolled along the bike/running path to Tarrafal for our (evening) walks and enjoyed to see people having fun on the beach.

This is the closest to paradise it can get for me personally for a week 'close to home' (ie 6h flight with one stop) : I love the authenticity, friendliness and quality of life that the place is breathing. We do not easily plan to go back to a place as there is so much to see in the world yet here you might likely see me again for a...