Lochmara Lodge — Hotel in South Island

We traveled all the way from Australia with our family, drawn back by the fond memories of a few years ago, at lochmara. We thoroughly enjoyed the beautiful location, engaging in activities, and the overall leisurely atmosphere. However, I must express some concerns regarding the food and ordering services, which seem to have experienced a notable decline in recent years. The prices are quite steep, and the menu selection is unfortunately very limited, not to mention the obvious challenges the kitchen is facing.

Specifically, some of the dishes like the fish tacos and calamari left much to be desired in terms of flavor and freshness - tasteless was the only word to describe the food. The chips were cold and soggy, and the Mexican bowl and big breakfast were lacking in taste and creativity. Despite order our children’s meals first, they came out last, 5 minutes after the 10 adults had finished their meals - not impressed.

It might be beneficial for the establishment to consider a revamp of their culinary offerings and perhaps discuss urgent and immediate improvements with the chef?

Additionally, the dining experience was hindered by logistical issues, such as a severly limited amount of menus for a full restaurant made up Of many sizeable groups, causing obvious frustration among patrons. The ten-minute wait in line for ordering, & extremely slow process of “one person” serving the entire line also contributed to a less-than-ideal dining experience. Implementing a more modern QR code system could enhance efficiency and contribute to a more seamless experience, aligning with the desired "resort" ambiance.

Despite these concerns, I want to commend the outstanding front-of-house staff for their friendliness, hospitality, and warmth. They significantly contributed to making our day enjoyable.

In conclusion, we had a lovely day overall, but I felt compelled to share these observations in the hope that they might contribute to improvements, especially considering the financial investment made by visitors who choose Lochmara as a destination...

Worst experience ever! We frequently visit the Malborough Sounds and surrounding Malborough area and we a very familiar with the quality of the dinning options available. Lochmara Lodge disappointed us all on so many levels.

We went there as a group of 7 by boat for brunch, the process of ordering took us over 20 minutes, once our orders were placed the food arrived at a reasonable time, however three of our party ordered eggs and all of our eggs were hard (this was strange as we specifically asked for runny eggs), we asked politely for more eggs and we're told the chef was too busy and we had to have our food as it was but we could have a free coffee, none of us wanted a free coffee as we had already ordered paid for and drunk our beverage. The food was dry and not please at all to eat.

After we finished eating two members of our party approached the waiting staff, one of those people was given a refund (after asking for it) and the other members we told too bad! The attitude of the cashier was rude and totally out of order.

This place charges high prices, which I don't mind given they are in a remote area, however the service and attitude of the staff is awful, so is is not worth it and will leave you with a bad taste in you mouth.

On an additional note, if you are taking children there, please stay away from the hammock which is strung up over a deep stony drop with a river at the bottom. Whilst we were there a 6 year old boy fell off the hammock and ended up in the river. He knocked his head on the rocks on the way down and suffered cuts and scrapes all over his body. THIS IS A HAZARD! I am supprised further damage was not caused, it could have been fatal. Once again, two waiting staff witnessed this and did NOTHING, they didn't even ask if the distraught boy was ok or if there was anything they could do to help. I ended up helping the family myself.

There are many, many options to choose from in the sounds - stay away from this one and choose somewhere cares about their patrons and appreciates and...

We stayed for a night with my partner and I can say it was definitely a perfect choice to celebrate our anniversary.

The most amazing surprise for us was that even though it wasn't advertised anywhere, we saw some bioluminiscence activity in the shore! It was surreal to see that and definitely what made this an unforgettable place.

We went to the underwater observatory and we really liked this experience but definitely because our guide, Sophie, was very knowledgeable, educational and nice. She answered all of our questions and you could tell she genuinely loves animals. The other side of this is that we were dissapointed because the windows of the underwater observatory were dirty, even though they were last cleaned a bit more than a week ago. They told us they get dirty faster in summer. In our opinion if this is the build up you get in 1 week, the cleaning should definitely be done more frequently.

What makes this an amazing place: Friendly staff Free kayaking Hike nearby Nice beautiful accomodation Bioluminescence!! Beautiful nice little beach

Things that could improve: Written tips or guidance on where to go kayaking with better maps. Even though we really enjoyed lunch and breakfast, we had the special pasta of the day for dinner and it was so dissapointing.. it was flavorless, not good and not too bad either, it was just okay.. Underwater observatory windows Edit: something important I forgot to mention, we wish they sold packages including dinner breakfast lunch and transportation, as there were only 2 package options and they didnt have transport and food at...