Potato Guest House（土豆客栈） — Hotel in Galle

We stayed here for a solid week as we are travel bloggers, so we know this place well. Here are the pros and cons: ||Pros: ||1. The place is very clean. ||2. Their Wi-Fi is the BEST that we've had before or since. ||3. The 2 ladies who keep the house are VERY kind and friendly. They like to talk to you and get to know you but also let you have your own space. ||4. They have a price list displayed for 2 tuk tuk (3-wheeler) drivers for you. You call them and the will take you wherever you need to go. Because the prices are pre-negotiated, you do not need to worry about having to haggle every time you need a ride. The prices are much lower than going up to a random driver. ||5. They do your laundry for you (for an extra charge). ||6. We mostly had the place to ourselves as we were there in the off season. ||7. Good a/c in the room.||8. The dog and cat that they have are very friendly. ||||Cons: ||1. You do not have access to the kitchen. This was okay since we did not need to cook here, but it would have been nice to have the option, as we did in some other places. ||2. The breakfast is very basic: only one fried egg, packaged white bread, margarine, sugary jam, watermelon, and coffee or tea. The do not serve a traditional Sri Lankan breakfast, which is what tourists would like to try. They could definitely upgrade the breakfast: serve 2 eggs, get good, fresh baked bread or some roti, have a good quality butter, etc. ||3. This is not only a problem here, but with all other Airbnbs we've been to: no one uses pillow or mattress protectors. The pillow cases are not enough to protect you from the dead skin cells and sweat stains in the pillows and in the mattresses left by everyone who has ever slept there. We bring our own waterproof pillow protectors and mattress pads and use those. It would be great if Airbnb could start requiring homes to use these, as most hotels do. ||4. The price could have been cheaper for what you get. We have paid less with a fancier spread of breakfast elsewhere. ||5. The room is not completely sealed, so you will see geckos in the room and other small bugs like mosquitoes. The geckos are fine, since they eat bugs. But I did see some other quick moving lizards or bugs or something scurry away from under the waste basket one night, which was scary. We tried to close the door as soon as we would enter and not open the balcony door to keep mosquitoes out. They have insecticide mists and coils, but we prefer to use natural herbs to keep the mosquitoes away. The fan in the bathroom: if you do not keep it on, it is completely open with no screen, so you will have critters coming in through there. We just left it on. ||6. The bathtub and shower: This was the WHOLE reason why we booked this place. We were looking forward to using the bathtub, as most Airbnbs on the island do not have one. So we immediately booked this place for its bathtub. We were greatly disappointed! The bathtub has a plastic or fiberglass liner that moves when you step on it. It is cracked, and they put a glob of brown glue on it to seal the crack (but a hair got permanently stuck to the glue in the process...yuk). It was not one to make us want to throw a bath bomb in it and relax. Furthermore, the shower head is not firmly attached to the bar, so it slips down. The shower head also needs to be cleaned or replaced, as water only trickles out of it. The water pressure is terrible and the water temperature fluctuates between cold and warm or warm and hot. There is also not curtain or door, so all your shower water ends up on the floor, which is a hazard, because you have to step out of a higher point onto a lower point that is wet. There is no squeegee to wipe the water away. There is a rubber mat, but it has mold or mildew on it. ||7. The toilet seat: It is the wrong size for the bowl. It is too small, so when you sit on it, the skin of your legs touches the rim of the bowl. ||8. The toilet paper dispenser is in the corner behind you, so you cannot reach it while you're sitting! A completely useless installation of a toilet paper dispenser. It needs to be moved. ||9. This place is about a 20-25-min. drive to the fort and to the beach, so you do need to hire a driver to get places, or you can walk about 45 min. to an hour to get to these places. We would have rather booked a place in the fort or...

You know how sometimes you see restaurants, airbnb's or other places that are incredibly well reviewed, but when you go there you don't understand it? I feel like that's my experience here. My bedroom had good working AC and a good bed, the included breakfast with fresh fruit in the morning was basic but nice. The shared bathroom is pretty large, but only accessible through the living room which is a bit annoying. There's almost no noise isolation against the dogs barking at night.

I discussed some of my issues with the host before publishing this review, so some things will be solved. When I was there the WiFi was terrible at 0.1Mbit speed, making even using TripAdvisor or checking simple websites almost impossible. It also wasn't described that one of the housekeepers/aunts would sleep on the couch at night, which might be a bit uncomfortable when you pass it when walking to the bathroom at night. Their English understanding is also very low which caused some confusion and annoyance for me when simple things couldn't be understood, but that can be forgiven.

The location in the listing is accurate, but still, there is really nothing around, not even a restaurant, so plan your meals accordingly, or buy food to cook yourself in the kitchen if you don't want to be dependent on tuktuks.

Concluding, the price/quality ratio was definitely not right for me during my stay, but it has been solved a bit. If you know what you're seeking in accommodation, it might be...

This comfortable home stay is owned and managed by a very friendly foreign lady. The house is named after her pet dog "Potato". I love animals and I love the fact that the pets Potato and Tomato live in and about the guests. They surprised us with a wholesome breakfast during our stay. The rooms are large, clean, comfortable and modestly priced. The bathroom too is spacious but they need to looking into some repairs. Overall...