Bamboo House SXM — Restaurant in Saint Martin

If don’t want to read this whole review.

Summary Lacking service on multiple levels Cold food

Opinion Save your money and skip this place unless all you want is a great view.

Arrived at the location for the shuttle and we were greeted by a very polite and friendly gentleman. He took us right up to the restaurant and we were seated promptly.

The service started a little weird as I asked the waitress for an opinion while taking our water order, she said she couldn’t multi task. So no worries I laughed it off and said me too.

What I didn’t realize was how much of an omen this was. We ordered drinks and we noticed the service wasn’t prompt. I ordered a beer and 10 minutes later it came. But it looked like it had been sitting out for 9 of the 10 minutes.

We ordered appetizers, Bamboo Crispy Rice with Yellow Tail tartar, Crispy Calamari &Duck Nachos.

Crispy Rice with Yellow Tail Tartar, delicious. Crispy Calamari tasted burned and had to be sent back. Duck Nachos flavor was good, however duck was not temperature hot, some of the wonton nachos were greasy and chewy.

The drink service was very slow, at our table some of the party had ordered a bottle of wine. We had to ask for the bottle of wine more than once. When it arrived, after the first glass, I was the one pouring the refills, that is not what I expected from place with this price point. I also had to ask a bus boy for another beer.

On to the mains, we ordered the Wagyu Beef Dumplings, Stir Fry Udon noodles with beef, the original angry dragon roll and Korean Stone Pot Rice with beef served tabled side.

Wagyu Beef Dumplings, flavor was good however dumplings need to be served right away. These sat for a while before coming to the table as they were soggy and not temperature hot.

Stir Fry Udon noodles with beef, flavor was fine, however the beef was tiny which meant over cooked and chewy. Another miss on temperature because it was not hot.

The original and signature meal angry dragon roll is an interesting one because it never made it to the table. After nearly an hour and multiple inquiries, what looked like a rushed version appeared, it was sloppy, uneven cuts and missing Black Tobiko. It was also sent back, this ended up as a to go because we were 2 hours in at this point.

Korean Stone Pot Rice with beef served tabled side, this was probably the most disappointing. First and I think important note is it was not served in a stone pot. It was served in a CAST IRON SKILLET. After I got over my surprise, the next debacle was the rice at the bottom burned. Burned as in charcoal and tasted like burnt rice.

Sent it back, new one comes out and while the rice was not burnt, the beef was over cooked and leathery. There was too much gochujung used so it lacked balance, it was just over powering. For the price point I expected better.

Now on to service, our waitress was sweet but absent. We would have had more drinks but didn’t have the ability to order them.

So as this all came to a head with one of the party not getting dinner because they simply couldn’t get the sushi roll out. I asked to speak to manager, the person that came over, and started out by simply offering a free bottle of wine. So I asked them to allow me to explain all the missteps. They didn’t really seem interested. I explained that at this point sitting around and drinking another bottle of wine after being here for 2 hours was not something I wanted.

While she was “working” on the check we were not even offered a seat somewhere else watched her serve multiple other tables. While we just sat there waiting on the stairs to pay and leave.

The mandatory 18% service charge also annoys me because I had to pour the wine and flag people down for attention to order stuff. Later in the evening my daughter was sick as well as my cousin after we got home. Culinary expertise and attention matter and this was a fail by...

Here are people only a number and they don’t give a….

That Bamboo house is way overpriced we know, but yeah once a while, it’s our friends birthday and we want to celebrate it the good way. The last time we also had a bad experience but everybody needs a second chance. I left home early because traffic can be worst and you can be stuck easily for an hour. Of course you don’t want to be too late at a surprise dinner and I was organizing it.

Surprisingly there was no traffic at all and I was there at 5.15. A few friends should arrive at 5.45 and the birthday boy should arrived at 6. The shuttle was not driving till 6 so a few friends missed the surprise entry. Why start the shuttle driving at 6 when they open at 5? Making more money with the $ 10,- valid parking? Cause it’s the only way to get there.

The seats where dirty and even the cushion was not safe and somebody fell off the sofa because of that, 100% sober. In my mails and reservation I mentioned that a few friends where coming late. I Asked for a table to see the sunset, we didn’t get that and couldn’t see it. Unfortunately but I can understand and didn’t say anything about it.

We were still eating and had to go because the next table was coming soon said the girl who is placing people. With an attitude that nobody understood. The bill was almost $ 800,-. More friends were on their way. I gave candles for the dessert. Again we were still eating. Huh, what was happening?

Of course is their core business to make money, but at least make people happy and satisfied on the second place. No here are people only a number.. They proudly say that they are having 300 guest every night, all 300 will never come back so the candle will dove soon.

I got a few e-mails before with the questions for my creditcardnumber, that we had to take the sharing-family style, also don't do more than 4 split checks and don't accept more than 4 credit cards for payment but NEVER that we only had 2,5 hours time for dinner. If we knew that before than it was okay and where we going there with a different mind setting and for example you will end up drinking cocktails somewhere else. Also fine, but in our case this was not our plan.

So the “manager” came with also no understanding. And again we were still eating. Yes we needed to go now, because it was normal that you only have 2 hours time. That they where making an exception, that I was there 3 hours already and that we had to be happy with the extra time because it was now 8.15. The timer was started from the minute I was sitting there at 5.15. No excuses nothing. We were a quite table of 10, not drunk, rude and shooting or anything. I think she and the placing girl are a bit overworked cause the 300 complaining guest every night. I totally understand if you work with time slots. And if that’s communicated in front it’s totally fine. But now it was NOT DONE!

The surprise dinner ended up in a fiasco. Our parents were excited for a night out, but where home in a bit still hungry. We had to wait more than 15 minutes for the valet parking. The rest ended up walking cause the cars where stuck everywhere. A 77 old man needed to walk all the way. In my opinion, maybe take less guest and give the coming guest the time what they deserve, they are spending a lot money what isn’t worth it! All of us you will never ever ever see anymore and we will...

I am very sad to share this review as I have had some REALLY good dinners at this restaurant, however the overall quality has been on a steady decline since the first time I ate here.

Service: Needs work. On my past two visits, my table has been severely neglected by waiters/waitresses. One of the times I was in a group of 5 "younger" looking people and we watched the waitress tend to the tables around us at least SIX times without even glancing in our direction even though our drinks were empty and we didn't receive soy sauce when the food arrived (which the waitress didn't even bring to us or make sure came out correctly). After handing her our card and asking for the bill she watched over my friends shoulder to see what kind of tip she was getting; she was disappointed when it wasn't as much as she liked and walked away in a huff. Normally my friend group would tip regardless because we have worked in the service industry but she talked to us maybe twice and a tip on top of the service charge was unwarranted. I still gave this restaurant the benefit of the doubt when my mom came out for a girls trip, thinking being in an older crowd would be more appealing to the waitstaff, but the service remained unattentive and I was somewhat embarrassed that I talked this restaurant up so much.

Drinks: The lychee martini at Bamboo used to be my favorite drink on the island but they must have changed the recipe or something because it is very different and now bitter. I had sips of other drinks (don't remember specific names) but decided I was better off getting a glass of wine next time or just sticking to water. side note: the drinks did not get to our table until after appetizers were half eaten even though we ordered drinks way before

Food: Quality of food is still superb in my eyes, can't think of anything bad to say about the quality here. Stone pot rice is incredible for a hot option and I haven't had one bad sushi roll. For appetizers - don't sleep on the crispy dynamite shrimp or duck nachos. One thing though, when my friend stood up to take a picture, she returned and her barely eaten stone rice pot was taken away without the waiter confirming she was finished. When she tried to ask him about it, he admitted to throwing it away but later came back with a box saying he "found it in the back" but upon opening the togo box - it was another lady's half eaten rice pot with a completely different meat. Needless to say, the box was left at the table.

Overall - this restaurant has SO much potential with the ambience and view, I hope that some of these problems can be addressed so it can go back to the top of my list. It is sad to see how much has changed in such...