Olive Garden Hotel — Hotel in Municipality of Rhodes

We went as a couple for a short break.|The hotel staff are generally welcoming and helpful although the reception staff were sometimes surly, and tried to con me out of a room key deposit when I returned the key.|The bed in our room was very comfortable ,shower gel and hand soap were provided and the rooms were well serviced each day. The air con was very good and the room was quiet. However, the room was dated and basic, no drawers or places to put clothes other than a few hangers. Everything had to stay in a suitcase on the floor as the suitcase stand was too narrow, only big enough for one case and the case kept falling off. There was also a large damaged section of the balcony fly screen.|So much light comes in from outside at night, that it was difficult to sleep. Couldn't sleep in the day either due to the music from the pool area. |Depending on which way the wind blew, our room smelled of chlorine and damp air from the pool or the foul smell of sewage which was ever present all over the hotel. This is a major problem.|Restaurant staff are very attentive and friendly, some, especially Aris, the outdoor area waiter were great with kids. Bar staff very friendly, as were the staff in the Gyros and pizza stations.|The food was mixed quality, on the first evening we ate around 8.30 p.m. and there was very little left, what there was seemed to be dried up leftovers.|The second night was excellent with a wide range of very tasty, fresh dishes. Thereafter we ate out .|Although advertised by Jet 2 as all inclusive, there is no tea, coffee or water provided in the rooms, indeed, not even a glass for water or other drinks. Jet 2 have their description wrong, as beer and local spirits are actually provided, as is a very limited range of "cocktails". However, the spirits are firewater, the cocktails are vile chemical concoctions that taste totally artificial . Undrinkable.|All served in plastic glasses stamped with an instruction to return them to the bar.|The bar and pool areas are smothered in a fog of cigarette smoke.|The pool had adequate sunbeds which were still available around 09.00, the separate, kids pool looked great for small kids, although on the one day we visited it, the entertainment team had taken it over for water polo as there was broken tiles in the main pool and people had cut their feet .|In fact, broken tiles and damaged areas were a feature of the hotel paths, walkways and stairs.|The water park is fine, with a small area for young kids up to 8 years old, and large slides for those over 10. However, if you have kids between 8 and 10 years, they cannot use either.|The grounds are fairly well maintained, just a bit rough around the edges where details are not attended to.|The hotel is in a very quiet area of Lardos and is near the beach, however the beach nearest the hotel is gritty, stony and has a significant area of boulders snd stones to cross before you get to sand. Strong water shoes are essential. There is one restaurant and another bar and sunbeds are available. On the two occasions we used the beach, no one took any money for the sunbeds as the beach did not seem to be attended. This section of beach has a busy main road on one side, a constant flow of delivery lorries, and a stagnant river and muddy / swampy area on the other end where the river is dammed to prevent it draining into the sea.|The river separates the Olive Garden from the rest of the seaside part of Lardos where you find the popular beaches, bars, tavernas etc, so you either have to walk through the mud at the end of the stagnant river, walk a long way by road or use car, taxi, or bus to get to any bars, tavernas, or anything resembling a holiday resort.|However if you are happy to use buses and taxis, then Lardos, Pefkos, Lindos, or even Rhodes are easily accessible. We spent most of our time in Lindos which has a much better beach, albeit with very expensive sunbeds.|This is not a hotel I would return to or recommend as it is simply, not my kind of holiday.|However if you like sitting by a pool, listening to rap music, smoking, drinking beer and eating all day in a constant smell of sewage, then this is the...

First time visitor - arrived home a few days ago

My cavet would be I visited this hotel in the off season, so maybe during high season food etc is better?

Officially this hotel is a 4 star hotel Jet2 rating : 3 star plus My rating: 3

Positives: Overall the staff where so friendly & helpful. If it was not for the majority of the staff this hotel would be a 2.5 star in my opinion - loved the majority of the staff Location - next to a main bus stop (buses cheap and frequent) Location - beach a short walk away though we did not visit it during our stay Road nose was very minimal bearing in mind hotel was next to a main road Maids where quick, pleasant and very efficent Free room safe - not advertised at all, but a great feature Our room has effective independent air conditioning (had to turn it off at night due to rattling noise) Two pool areas where kept very clean

Negatives: Food - limited choices, even the children's only section had basically the same menu everynight. Also as an adult I had to venture into the children's only section to get some chips (made me feel awkward initially). Their is room to create additional serving areas which would improve food choices (also if salad was not offered at breakfast if would allow for more tradional breakfast food options to be severed) Food labelling - was not provided for the desert station. Also food labelling was hit & miss for the mains for example an item labeled chicken was actually pork! Also when I asked a member of staff as to what type of pizza was being served in the pizza hut i.e hawian / margarita etc I was told pizza - not very helpful No filtered water bottle re-fill machines, so guests used the machine in the main restaurant (so when they filled up 1 litre bottles it created a queue - espically at breakfast) Only one juice machine in the main restaurant Juice (was literally called "a taste of") and fizzy drink was not pleasent please invest in better quality soft drinks Poor AI - apart from the 3 main meal options, food choices was very limited between meals (only option was basically pizza, however not acceptable if you are lactose intolerant or dislike pizza) No day time entertainment Evening entertainment consisted of one activity per night (this could be due to us visiting during low season) and was mixed in terms of entertainment value (karaoke could be improved by using large screens, so audience could see the words as well) Aqua Park - we did not go on the flumes, but we did go on the "lazy" river a few times, which was so slow it should be named the "sleepy" river. I reported to the life guard that the river was too slow, as you had to paddle / kick constantly to get around it - lifeguard responded jets where on & working We was in a deluxe room, which had a open fronted wardrobe, 4 coat hangers (at a guess) and two small bedside cabinets so limited clothes storage options *Extremely unpleasant stench of sewage - in the evenings, next to our block which sometimes was smelt in the main pool area Maintence issues where a concern, broken female public toilet near restaurant was broken the entire 7 nights we was at the hotel. Also luggage scale broken during our stay

Currently I believe this hotel is more of a 3 star in my personal opinion, but with some additional investment it could be a great 4 star hotel.

Would I return to this hotel in its current state - no Would I recommend it to others - no unless...

First experience of the olive garden and I'll give an honest review.

Family of 4 with two kids 7 & 4

When we arrived late at night and the place was in darkness we were very apprehensive. We were greeted by a lovely gentleman on the front desk who was very very helpful and accommodating, had food and water waiting for us on arrival.

When we first entered the room we thought about asking for a new one it was older in style and the bunk beds looked ragged but it was very clean, we decided to stick it out and glad we did! We were in block two and it was quiet and away from the busy road near the front of the hotel.

Hotel staff were amazing and very friendly, special shout out to Lorenc on the bar who was excellent with our kids and an amazing barman in the evenings.. also George during the day who always looked after us with a smile.

Entertainment was the best we've experienced at a hotel. Tomas and Spaghetti the animators were the best in the business, whatever they pay these guys is not enough, they work from morning to night providing top quality entertainment for all ages. We were greated on the first day by Tomas he was very genuine and extremely nice. He gave us a full itinerary of the entertainment and encouraged us to take part and we are glad we did because it really made the holiday so special and allowed us to interact with a lot of new people.

3 pools was a big plus, kids pool up at the top was smaller and quieter. Main pool had all the entertainment and music playing with a great relaxing atmosphere. Water park and 3 large slides and a kids play area with smaller water slides. 4yo was devastated when he was told he was unable to use the bigger slides due to his height by a very rude life guard. (Just doing his job I suppose) But got away with using them under my supervision for a while.

Food was of decent standard in the buffet probably a lack of rotation but definitely better than a lot of other places and what you would expect from a buffet.

The poolside snacks were unbelievable Papa pita and Mama pizza were some of the best gyros and pizzas we have tasted. Especially loved by the kids which is always a plus.

Good selection of drinks at the bar with around 10 cocktails, variety of spirits and local beers and wines. More premium alcohol could be purchased at extra cost.

Also offered kids mocktails which were good, soft drinks obviously locally produced but still not the best

Location is semi isolated not ideal for a party goers but more ideal for families or couples looking for a quiet get away.

Beach is about 500m walk down the road and is beautiful, exactly what you expect when you think of a greek island beach. Has a seafood restaurant and a large shop and multiple other hotels.

Also some hills and mountains around if you fancy a good hike while on holiday.

Small town located nearby called lardos with beautiful restaurants and bars, the locals were lovely.

Bigger towns like lindos and pefkos were around 10 mins drive away which was about €15-€20 in a taxi which was cheap in my opinion.

All together we had a great stay even after reading some negative and unfair reviews and we would definitely love to come back to the olive...