Black Lava Camp & Cafe — Restaurant in Pulau Bali

First of all, positively, this is a very beautiful location. Mount Batur, Abang, and Agung all in view, I don't think I've stayed anywhere this stunning before. The rooms themselves were really nice (at least where we stayed). We stayed in the Potato 8, and the bathroom itself was stunning along with the bedroom. Most of the staff are really polite and helpful, and apologised upon any inconvenience that was caused.

There is a laundry list of negatives though, and that's why we will never come back. From the beginning, the pickup was a total hassle. We were asked what time we would be there only for the driver to show up 1.5 hours later. I mean, the guy sat in a random construction site across from the designated pickup in his car for 10 minutes. We had no idea he had just been sitting there (no car branding). Not a good start, but at least he was polite.

Receptionist was polite and really friendly, but once you enter the place past reception you notice how quite rough the site is around the edges with really poor maintenance. The tents are all quite dirty, rusting, seals deteriorating, patches of mould. Nothing like what they post on Instagram. They also don't turn the power on until an hour after check-in. Furthermore, they only give you one bottle of water per day of drinkable water, the rest you have to pay for. That's pretty bad. You have to do a decent shop of snacks, water and bug spray before you come here, otherwise your time here will be very miserable. Not ideal with the prices they're charging.

Upon entering the room, it was incredibly hot, almost like an oven, even though the conditions outside were pretty cool. That's a consistent complaint that we've seen here, along with the flies. We weren't too bothered by it since it's what we were expecting, so we decided to check out the restaurant and pool.

The pool itself is in a similar shape, poor maintenance, where the water was this murky green colour, so we decided not to risk a UTI or some other disease. That particularly annoyed me since that is supposed to be a part of the highlights here.

The restaurant itself is just really poor aswell. One of the male staff members who has been called out in a previous review was probably one of the most unprofessional and miserable staff members I have ever encountered. Finished cup of noodles left on the table from another staff member just left on the table, we had to move it on his behalf even though he came past our table 3 times (we were the only ones there). His general demeanor was unfriendly, didn't even want to look at us. Thats before the food came.

The food was also poor. They clearly cook it all in big batches and reheat later, but staff members still take their time. Half of the food options are out, but they don't tell you until you've been sitting around for 15 minutes being swarmed with flies.

We originally booked two nights, but after reading some of the reviews, we decided the price just simply wasn't worth it and went for one only. Even doing the booking amendment was painful. Staff don't communicate with each other so 3 different staff got confused and tried to charge us for 2 nights. I'm glad we made that decision to leave early. It was by far both our most expensive and disappointing stay, the whole place just feels like a giant cash grab. The hostels here can and do a better job in all areas for a third of the price.

In summary, this place needs a change in management. They've just relied on Instagram hype and the views to get by, and I can't see this place lasting much longer if things don't change, especially with the prices they're charging. Do yourself a favour and go elsewhere where they aren't...

Let me start with this: I wanted to love Black Lava Camp. My friend and I splurged booking this place, as the rest of our accommodations were hostels, and we were SO excited. The photos looked beautiful, the setting with Mount Batur was amazing, and the room looked fantastic.

Sadly, we could not enjoy our stay and had to leave early. When we got to the room, there were at least 30 flies inside—on the bed, the snacks provided, the curtains, EVERYWHERE. No effort was made to alleviate this situation before our arrival, and when we asked, they gave us a nearly empty can of fly spray. We decided to go to the restaurant while the room was still fume-y, but couldn’t enjoy this either. To start, half the menu was unavailable. My friend tried to order three times before asking what they did have, which sounds like a common experience based on other reviews. There were flies everywhere, including in my pasta when it arrived. I repeat: there was a fly dying in my pasta as it was placed in front of me on the table. I have worked service jobs before. I try my best not to complain or make service workers’ lives harder. But this was absurd. I was so nauseous I could not enjoy my food, and my friend described it as feeling like a cow with all the flies that kept landing on them.

We informed the staff we would only stay one night and asked if we could get our money back for the other two nights we had booked. They initially told us they couldn’t refund us at all, but the very kind women working the desk called their boss and were able to get us a refund for one night. Regardless, we ended up losing $100. They also gave us a 450k IDR voucher for room service that night, which was very kind. I truly do not think it was their fault—to me, it seems like an issue with management. They told us that we were lucky as we booked through WhatsApp with them directly, because most people book through third parties and thus are ineligible for any refund at all.

Beyond the aforementioned fly issue, there was a general lack of cleanliness throughout the establishment. We found stains on our bedsheets and pillowcases, as well as on the provided towels, and the one blanket was clearly unwashed. Along with that, there was an issue with how remote the room was—we had to get a shuttle to and from the main building, meaning each time we wanted to go to our room or the main area, we had to text them and wait for them to pick us up.

I really, truly wish this had been a better experience. I wanted to love it. The room would have been beautiful had it been cleaner, and the view is hard to beat. I have never had to leave a hotel early in my life, but I had to leave after only one night here. I sincerely hope the management does better and provides better conditions for both staff...

A really nice location and very instagramable. You get a lovely view of the 3 mountains and the lake and it’s a fairly quiet area. However that’s all that we found was good.

We were told to meet at a cafe for pickup. They asked us when we were going to arrive and we said 1pm. They said that’s fine. We assumed we could be taken there earlier and wait around until our room was ready as check in starts at 2. We were waiting at the cafe until nearly 2:30. The driver said he was there waiting for us but we later found out he had parked his car down a dirt road in a construction site where we couldn’t see him despite telling us to meet in the parking space at the cafe. This was really frustrating but he was at least very friendly when driving us there.

The staff were friendly upon check in and even carried our bags down to our tent. This was nice of them and the Potato 8 we stayed in was also a nice room with a great view and great shower. It does get quite warm in the tent and there is no aircon. They provide a fan however when we checked in we didn’t have any power or running water in the shower. We thought we would go for a swim in the pool but the water looked murky and green and hadn’t been cleaned. The bed was comfy but the tents could use some maintenance. There are a lot of flies and other insects around so definitely bring bug spray. It would be good for staff to provide some insect repellent and fit each door with a fly screen.

Most of the staff were friendly except one guy at the restaurant. He seemed like he didn’t want to be there and made us feel very unwelcome. I’ve noticed a few other people complain about him as well.

The food can take quite a while and was pretty disappointing. I ordered the yoghurt, granola and fruit for breakfast the day of check in. The next day they confirmed my order but left me waiting 20 minutes to tell me they didn’t have any yoghurt or granola. I got the noodles instead and they were a bit bland not very hot and were stuck together. Our meals took a while to prepare and were obviously not cooked fresh for us. There is also no access to free drinking water and they only provide two 600ml bottles in your room. You can’t get in and out of the camp unless you pay them 200.000 for the shuttle so stock up on snacks and water before you come. We’d also just recommend buying two minute noodles for lunch or dinner instead of having their food. Keep in mind there’s no fridge in the room.

It was overall a nice location but needs much better management and maintenance. We won’t be coming back or recommending it to others. It’s not worth the price we paid and you can easily get nicer accommodation for a...