La Fiesta at Mandarin Bay — Restaurant in Malay

Overall: this resort food outlet needs a lot of training. They have a lot to learn still to become a successful establishment. I would not dine here even for free. I don't get a resort feel when dining here.

Food: They cannot keep up with the guests. Food is not replenished timely and the daily breakfast and dinner is low in quality and selection. Egg orders are lost, fresh pancakes are rubbery, salad and antipasto station is messy. The food needs a lot of love and skill. A lot of food is wasted because the preparation is wrong ie bacon stuck together in one mass, undercooked eggs, etc. Dinner is expensive for what you get ie: dry old breads, overcooked tough cuts of meat, powdered potatoes. Try other places at different stations as this is similar to airplane food.

Service: everyone is kind and helpful, but it is clear the staff is undertrained and get overwhelmed by guests. Many stations are neglected and requests are delayed or forgotten. The omelet and griddle station cooks work hard. They are also untrained to recognize safety hazards ie a guest with no shoes and no shirt and no staff advised him.

Atmosphere: the buffet line is narrow and cramped. Guests and staff look unhappy and confused. Decor is nice. Buffet holiday displays are falling apart.

Try other food on the island or order alacart. There are just too many cut corners for a 'soft...

My partner and I felt we had to write a review after dining at La Fiesta Mandarin Bay. We walked in after being drenched by the rain and the staff were so accomodating in getting us towels so we could dry off and allowed us to use them for the remainder of our meal despite not being guests at the hotel. All the staff were so warm when welcoming us in and despite our very wet and cold clothes we felt so warmed and welcomed to be there.

Our highlights were the Japanese Corner with delicious Maki and Sashimi, we also loved the Prime Rib station (cooked to our liking), the roast Lamb Leg, and of course, the duck was sensational as well.

One of the lovely waitresses saw my partner struggling with Halo-Halo as we had never had it before and made one up for us which was absolutely delicious. Cannot thank her enough for that!

The buffet was so good we are even considering staying at Mandarin Bay for our next visit to Boracay! We cannot thank the team enough for their amazing hospitality and sensational food, we can’t wait to come back!

Only downside was the music was a bit loud and had some technical issues but the duo performing were amazing and with all the other benefits it is easy to forget about the small negative.

Highly recommend...

Well, a 5 star hotel, but not a 5 buffet. The most expensive one Boracay too. Although 1499 pesos is not going to break me. I feel the food should have been way better. I took my wife and daughter there for mother's day. Let me start off with the food. I saw lumpia as I grabbed one I tasted it, raw in the middle, I even showed the cook and he agreed. My wife had bite of one too and the same thing. Oh they were frozen??? Really?? Lumpia in the Philippines? Sashimi frozen, quesadillas frozen, mahi mahi frozen. Shrimp frozen, tuna frozen. Squid frozen. Why? We live on an island where all that seafood can be fresh. Mash potatoes instant, potatoes augratin not cooked. Leg of lamb chewy. 3 of the cheese's were not even there? Ok the prime rib was good, but I noticed everyone was getting it super well done on a frying pan from the person slicing it. The duck was very dry. The ice cream was water based? Oh the Manderin ice tea was very good. The atmophere was ok and the staff was very accommodating. I just want to say I never write a review like this. But I did get sick in the bathroom. Obviously it was something I ate there. I live on the island and love it here, I wish could say the same about this buffet. Very...