Ganesha cafe — Restaurant in Kuta

To sum up - Ganesha cafe on jimbaran beach - expensive, dirty ,overpriced, Average - poorly prepared food, Poor ambience and non-existent service. A HUGE bill with a hefty 21% tax and "service" added left us with a sour taste that we had been fooled into this tourist trap. AVOID AT ALL COSTS!!

With no WiFi to check reviews beforehand (which I always do ...) As I love seafood Jimbaran was recommended by our resort reception with an offer to be driven there and back (no particular restaurant name was mentioned) So we were driven way out from Seminyak (30+min) and dropped of at a place that I can only describe as an expensive tourist trap!!

On entering this restaurant to see dirty plastic furniture on the beach and tables of tourists we questioned ourselves but decided to stay since it was late and our driver from had left and it was a long drive out. I know my fish so although we were cajoled to select life fresh fish I selected the freshest looking fish from the non life selection (and thank &@&@ for my bank balance!) Even at that point the rushed unfriendly temperament of the staff on our asking to weigh while we mentally tried to calculate the price was an annoyance! As other reviews said there surely is a scam with how they weigh so they are very quick to rush you with your choosing! 2 very average frozen margaritas were ordered while waiting for our food and along with the plastic cutlery we were presented and the lack of ambience our regrets at our decision to stay only grew.

We were served up average quality tasting food accompanied by COLD rice and veg. We asked a waiter for hot rice and veg he said they didn’t have/serve it hot!...Really! Let’s just say we didn’t dare to eat them. Only 1 or the 4 sambel accompaniments was good (we asked for another bowl of this sambel but it didn’t turn up!) The grilled snapper was the ONLY thing cooked well that was hot and had a good spice taste. The 4 king prawns (the most expensive item!!) again utterly utterly tasteless! and the squid was like rubber and tasteless. With ZERO service and ZERO ambience we ate what was edible and went to pick up the bill and to say we were shocked is an understatement! 1,410,000 IDR for 2 people!! for a meal that was 2/3 eaten!! The Absolute WORST and most EXPENSIVE meal we had in Bali!!

I seriously considered calling my credit card company to say this was a scam I was that p@@@@ off!!

AVOID...

TOURIST TRAP, AVOID AT ALL COSTS. Do not listen to your driver / tour guide when they tell you to go here - this place commissions drivers to bring tourists here.

In short: rude staff vegetables cold ridiculously overpriced (paid 2 million rupiahs for 6 people) presentation of food is non-existent food was flavourless and tough and obviously not fresh scales rigged to make you pay more venue dirty (toilets were wet on the floor and hadn't been clean in a while)

In long:

We were dropped off here by our driver, who we trusted would bring us to a good restaurant. Our first impression was not a good one - the floor was dirty and the restaurant itself was run down and unclean and there were a lot of stray animals around. We weren't too phased though since we knew we were in a developing country and first impressions here often don't mean much.

Looking at the menu, the prices were very high, about the same price as a higher end restaurant on the beach in Australia. When asked what flavour we wanted the prawns to be, they only had 2 options: spicy and sweet and sour. We suspected that they made these in large batches.

When our food arrived, the presentation was so bad that we thought we could do better by ourselves in the resort. The prawns, for example, were just swimming in sweet and sour sauce on the plate. Our vegetables were COLD when served - they probably cooked these in a large batch and just left them. For such exorbitant prices, you would expect better.

In conclusion, just avoid this tourist trap. Ask your driver to...

We visited this cafe yesterday after a long day of touring south Bali. Our driver recommended this venue as he has brought other tourists previously. The ambience of the restaurant was nice and the staff were very polite and helpful. There was also a acoustic band of 4-5 musicians playing tunes on demand at the customer tables. We ordered the prawns and fish dishes (Red snapper & Grouper), where I was requested to pick the dishes and shown the exact weight (seafood is charged per weight). The staff picked a grouper from the icetray, and I quickly noticed that the fish appeared rotten or a bit disintegrated. I pointed this out and the staff agreed but put it back into the tray and picked another one which was a bit better looking but I still had my doubts. The kitchen proceeded to grill the fish and 15m later we were served all the dishes.

Later in the evening, my wife had bouts of diarrhoea and stomach cramps and I developed the same symptoms with on-going severe cramps and fever. We suspect we had food poisoning from the grouper fish as only my wife and I consumed it and prayed our lucky stars that our elderly parents and little children were spared.

I personally find it unacceptable of a restaurant purportedly serving "fresh" seafood to serve rotten fish, and that too casually "recycling" what I pointed out as decayed. This incident marred our tour programme for the following day or 2. Simply a disgraceful case of profit over health and safety :(. I will pursue this with the local authorities...