Hotel Julius — Hotel in Maghreb

So I wanted to spend a few days in ElJem to soak up the history. I walked into the hotel and booked a room to save money. Decided on half board option but asked do you cook vegetarian? Reception said yes so went with half board. First night salad, pasta, fries and sad looking veges followed by a tiny apple and a few grapes. No drink offered not even water. Very poor really, no protein at all. Most chefs know about protein. Second night bland potato soup, and then the same pasta fries and old vegetables, literally. I showed them the first nights pictures and left the food. Explained the need for protein. They asked me for a suggestion and mentioned pizza. I looked at the a la carte menu which had a nice looking vegetarian pizza. I said yes. Waited and a cheese pizza appeared. It was just hot runny cheese, frozen base. Bland and fatty. Nothing like the picture of the vegetarian pizza. I was given ice cream to finish. So the dinner experiences were very poor and the disregard shown for food preferences in a tourist hotel very unprofessional. I was kicking myself because there are great little fast food locations nearby where great food can be had cheaply. The actual restaurant atmosphere is also dire and lifeless. There are great vegetrian dishes in Tunisia using lentils and chickpeas and beans etc but I imagine it would take effort and imagination...If they build more hotels the Julius empire will crumble. Very disappointing. Another disappointment was the wifi. Unstable and very poor strength, appallingly slow. Could not even load google..most times...modern amenities are important. I'm sure the staff get embarrassed dealing with these managerial blunders...I'm sure there will be some bland protienless response to this review but there's no way around it, these failures in hospitality...

The hotel is conveniently located close the amphitheater with parking available outside the hotel. Indoor smoking is allowed in this hotel, I have never in my life seen so much smoke in one building, it was as if there was a fire inside. The smoke naturally travels into the rooms too which don’t have any windows that you can open. My clothes still smell of smoke from my visit and I do not even smoke. It really is unpleasant for a non-smoker staying in a room with smoke coming through the door. The food was not bad but not good, the pepper sauce tasted only of water and the veal was dry and tough. For me the positives would be the location and the staff who were incredibly friendly. Personally I would not visit again as I do not want to stay in a room with smoke coming...

Rooms are loud and smell like cigarette smoke in spite of the cleaning done. I’d assume that this is due to the HVAC sharing a duct or plenum with the main lobby, the door seems to be sealed well enough.

If you insist on staying near the amphitheater then this is probably your best option, the other noise reviews are no joke, fortunately the bathroom fan was loud enough to drone over the noise, also we were on the 2nd floor.

The breakfast isn’t anything special but you will definitely find enough to not leave hungry.

Lastly the staff here are...