Swings Restaurant & Bar — Restaurant in Belize District

Let's start with the objective: Ordered a simple drink, had no alcohol in it. Tried to order Lobster (see menu it's $25) we were told the "$25 lobsters were gone they only had the $30". This is a classic bait and switch run by dishonest people. There is not even a $30 lobster on the menu we had. We were charged for 3 drinks, only ordered and received 2 drinks. Had we not reviewed the bill it would have been our loss. Another act of blatant dishonestly. Someone added the exact drink we had when none was ordered or delivered. Even a seasoned shyster would have put a different drink instead for plausible deniability. We were asked to go face the person who makes the bills. The approach here is half of all people won't do that, they win the scam 50% of the time. When we faced the person again had to say, we only ordered and received 2 drinks. After bill was corrected the "sales tax" was not corrected. In other words after reducing the food and drink bill the 'sales tax' would obviously be reduced, but it was not. Had to again fight that. "Sales Tax" - There is a sales tax in Belize for goods and services, it's a GST tax. It is 12.5% and by any honest business it is customarily included in the price of dinners, etc. After 3 weeks in the Country this was the only place we saw sales tax added (not on menu by the way). One exception is the big resorts. They add GST and a 'resort fee' (not cool but different subject). When asked what sales tax was the lady said 10%, well that is not correct, and it is customarily added to the price of all dining (again except big resorts). That was also a lie, it was a blatant money grab. Summary: Our bill should have been $62 Belize (two lobster at $25ea, and two drinks at $6ea). When we received the bill it was $86 (two lobster at $30 ea, 3 drinks at $6ea, $8 "tax"). That means an additional $24 or 38.7% charge above what it should have been.

Moving on to the subjective: After 3 weeks of traveling over 1,000 kilometers and at least 55 different dining experiences, Swing's Restaurant and Bar was the only blatantly dishonest place we encountered. The resorts at least state on the menu "12.5% GST and 20% resort fee not included". After 3 weeks of travel in Belize we found the Belizean people to be kind, helpful and honest! Swing's restaurant is blatantly dishonest. You can do way better than this place even if you leave out the fact they are blatant crooks. The food was marginal (subjective). We had amazing food in Belize, it was one of the great unexpected surprises. To SRB - you will be more successful ripping people off if you at least put alcohol...

I was super disappointed visiting this establishment. I imagine it’s called “Swings” because they have swings for people to sit on… it’s the reason that I specifically chose this place. Anyway.. I show up to the bar and sit on a swing. They’re busy, so I’m pretty much ignored for the first 10 minutes. That’s fine.. I waited. After waiting a while, I decided to speak up and order my drink…rum and coke. They served me my drink, so I was sitting there, enjoying it, when the bartender randomly told me that I had to move. He said no one was allowed on the swings...Weird. Every time that I ever walked pat this restaurant, I always saw someone on the swings. He had no problem with me sitting there for the 15+ minutes previously, so it was weird that he asked me to move after a few sips in. He said no one was allowed to sit at the bar because of COVID, and yet he was telling me that I could move to a different section of the bar and that would be fine. It didn’t make sense and I was frustrated by the conversation, so I just left and found a different bar with swings and...

The happy cocktails were such a good deal here! We got two for $24 BZD. Ever since coming to Belize I have fallen in love with the Pain Killer. It tastes like a melted Pina Colada to me.

We also ordered some food. While we found the drinks super yummy and the best so far in Belize, the food was just good. I had the combo skewers which came with coconut rice, coleslaw, and garlic bread. The skewers were good and had shrimp, fish, and lobster. The coconut rice could have used more coconut flavor. The coleslaw had a little too much sauce. And the bread was soggy, I would have liked it crispy and toasted!

My bf has the jerk chicken and chose medium for his spice level. The jerk chicken sauce was very good and the chicken was tender and juicy. But again the coconut rice could have used more coconut, and the bread could have been toasted!

I don't know if I'll order food here again but we do loveeeeeee the drinks!

They also have the coolest swing chairs by the bar here. The whole vibe of the resto is super easy going and chill.

Would...