Bambooze Beach Bar and Grill — Restaurant in South Caye Caulker

Pardon my language, but I have to say dogsht. Absolute dogsht. This place was the only bad experience of our otherwise amazing trip so far. When I went to the bar to get drinks an hour after midnight on New Year’s Day for our friends that we were traveling with and new friends we met on the island, I was met with a pretty nasty attitude. One local young man roughly shoved me away from the bar as I approached and he passed going the other way signaling to me that I didn’t belong. There was room for us both to pass and there was no issue. I should have heeded this message, but I ignored it, kept smiling and enjoyed the music while chatting with locals while waiting at the bar. I waited over 30 minutes and watched as 30+ only local patrons were served. It became very VERY obvious that we were not welcome.

When one of my friends from France (now in London) came to find me, because I was taking so long, she didn’t believe me that this seemed to be the problem. She has a darker complexion and assured me that I must be wrong (I still hoped that she was right) and that she would get the drinks for our group. There were 5 bartenders behind this smaller of two bars in the establishment. It took her just a few minutes to realize what had taken me 1/2 hour to understand, so we all got the F&CK out of there. A couple of locals offered to place my order during this time, but were turned down by the bartender and were only served their own drinks. Our entire group was relatively sober especially since drinks are so hard to get on a NYE Holliday anywhere.

Before this visit we, and our friends, had visited bambooze a couple of times when it was relatively dead. Nothing noteworthy, and nothing particularly bad. It could be that this is a much better place every other day of the year except New Year’s Eve/morning. I wanted to compliment the main bartender on her beautiful sparkling silver dress, but I don’t think I have any compliments now. The “Sport’s Bar” next door is under the same owner and was FULL of a mix of 50/50 locals and travelers all celebrating together and, though we had fun there, I wouldn’t patronize either establishment ever again.

This experience was particularly sad because one of the most amazing aspects of traveling here is the welcoming and inclusive attitude of people here that encourages everyone who travels here to be open with each other. Before I got to the crowded bar I helped a group take a photo so that everyone could be in it. I’m a nice and good person to everyone that I encounter. Until these moments I couldn’t wait to plan another visit to this island, but this experience makes me worry about changes to come for this beautiful place that will make it so much less beautiful and...

We used to go to this restaurant often when we visited the island. Not anymore! I told Jerry the waiter ten times that we don't want BBQ sauce on our wings, we want hot sauce. Another lady brought me and my father the wings with BBQ sauce on it. I tell the lady no we told him over and over no BBQ sauce, neither of us can stand BBQ sauce. She says she is not our waitress and we have to take it up with our waiter. So when he walks by I told him as well and I thought he said he would take care of it. Enough time went by so I started eating those wings anyways. Keep in mind I was starving. It was dinner time and the only thing I had eaten was potato chips all day. When I see the girl again I asked if our hot wings were coming. She says she can't do anything about it because I had eaten the wings already. Well if she would have fixed it in first place I wouldn't have. So I ask to speak to the manager and was told she wasn't there. She then says she doesn't have the authority to replace our wings but she wanted to sell us more for half off? So we paid and decided to come back and talk to the owner tomorrow. When I explained what happened to the owner she said she would take care of it and replace both of our wings for lunch. Then after talking to Jerry she calls me over to the bar and says she will only replace one order of wings because we ate the wings last night. I told her yes we did eat them because when I told him they messed up our order they did nothing to fix it. The waiter said that I ate the wings before i complained, which everyone in our party knew that was not true. Then she starts yelling at me and calling me a liar! I told her we will just cancel our credit card payment for the entire meal. Why shouldn't I? We were celebrating a beautiful wedding and they ruined it for us. So instead of replacing a few dollars worth of wings she lost payment for all 4 of our meals. Not only will we not return but everyone we travel to the island with will not go back there either. All 4 of us are putting 1 star reviews so her 4 stars will probably go down to 3. It's just ridiculous, even if I didn’t have anything better to do then go there and lie about it she does not know the first rule of the restaurant business that the customer is always right. Keep in mind, I don't ever give anyone bad reviews. If I can't compliment a place with 5 stars I usually leave it alone. This was just horrible how they treated us though. I don't want anyone else to have to go...

I had high hopes for this place, however I was left disappointed.

This review is of 3 of the 7 dishes.

Medium Fry Fish (snapper) with white rice and beans - Fish was delicious, white rice was cooked well, however the beans seemed like it was old (slimy texture).

Fish fillet (Snapper) with mashed potatoes and steamed vegetables - Fish was dry, mashed potatoes were lumpy, and vegetables were undercooked.

Boneless chicken breast with mashed potatoes and Belizeans coconut rice and beans. Chicken tasted average, nothing special to write home about other than it was tender/moist. Mashed potatoes are lumpy and seemed slimy. Rice and beans was okay, kind of bland. The rice was cooked well, but the beans were only okay.

Vibe vibe was great and lively, easy to talk. Lighting was fun with all the strung lights but there was not any lights to help us read the menu in the dark. Swings were fun and great to feel the cool ocean breeze with sand on your feet.

Staff Staff was kind and attentive. Nothing but a good job was done!

Kitchen Food took long to get to us, but we are on island time so no deductions for this. Food takes long everywhere it seems like lol.

Altogether it was average, not a bad place to eat or the best place on the island. It felt like a typical sports...