Stone Town Cafe — Restaurant in Shangani

It pains to leave such a bad review for a Cafe where I had good Service & great food in a top location.

BUT the environment is suffering from well known and well reviewed places such as this one & I hope by writing this management will CHANGE PLASTIC HABITS.

Zanzibar prides itself with top notch Marine Parks and attracts millions of tourists due to the Beaches & Sea life including turtles.

Meanwhile Cafe's such as this one are selling juices with PLASTIC straws.

"Millions of marine animals die each year as a result of plastic pollution.(...) Plastic straws harm sea turtles in a number of ways. As mentioned earlier, the ingestion of plastic straws can lead to health issues and death. Plastic straws can also harm sea turtles by getting caught in their nostrils or throat. This can cause the turtle to suffocate or prevent it from feeding properly. Plastic straws can also entangle sea turtles, making it difficult for them to swim and hunt for food. All of these factors can have a significant impact on the health and survival of sea turtles." Source: Myfahlo

I left 2 out of 5 stars for service, as when telling a waitress that selling juices with plastic straws is harmful to the environment & kills marine animals there was no reaction. No word of her reporting it to management or attempting to change this.

There are so many alternatives to plastic straws: No straws, metal straws, paper straws, glass straws. There is really no excuse- especially in Zanzibar!

I highly suggest in your take away services you start the same scheme as they have in Killarney, Ireland "Single Use Coffee Cup Free" and lead by example. Killarney has a National Park and the locals cherish and look after their stunning scenery- you should do the same before it is too late. Going snorkeling you can already see the consequences of mismanagement/ overuse of plastics & dead corals.

Not to mention other consequences of plastics: clogging drains, leading to increased mosquito swarms (as a result, malaria); death of livestock including goats and cows; pollution of the land & ocean; eating & drinking of micro-plastics (causing diseases incl. cancer).

If you need help with your plastic free initiative, please send me a message on Instagram: Plasticfreefi

When & Should you change your take away plastic and plastic straws, I will change my review to 5/5- as I did...

For us this was exactly what was on the the tin! We did loads of research before going on this holiday and the reviews made sense once we got there and we got a better experience than the reviews we had read. We paid for the upgrade for the sea view and this was worth it with a great balcony to watch the activities on the beach and relax in the evening. The room was a good size as was the bathroom and shower. Locally we used the bars either side of the B&B but this was only because of beer not being served at it which is in the reviews. The breakfast was great with fresh juice and fruit as a starter and a choice of breakfasts from a menu. Found Saadat and the team were awesome! If you needed to find something out, just ask. If you want a trip, walking tour Saadat and his team will sort it for you. We did prison Island and we met Joshua with his boat "Mr Bean" We swam in the sea before breakfast and did sit on the beach one afternoon for a bit. I thought this was a quieter location which was perfect but easy walking distance to "high street" where Freddie Mercury museum was. Beer is available in hotels, and some restaurants. There is a liquor store on the opposite side of the road to the Freddie museum but it was more expensive for beer than most of the restaurants. We had a massage in the spa opposite and it was very good for $30 for an hour. Generally you can use dollars or Shillings but if you don't have exact monies the change can comeback at a poor exchange rate. On the coast road to the high street there is an exchange which was better than the exchange rates in the UK. Cards get a 2-5% fee but not everywhere. We used Deedee's 15m from the B&B on a few occasions. I recommend doing the walking tour straight away as you can see so much as our guide walked in to loads of hotels that we would have never had the bottle just to walk in and we went back to a few which was nice. We also went to the food market in the evening which was great value with a kebab and chips for $3. I really enjoyed tipping the people on the trips so would recommend having $1 bills or local Shillings. Would recommend this B&B for a visit to Stone Town and go...

I took the plane to travel to Zanzibar, I stepped through the front door of Stonetown Café B&B and traveled back in time. No words can describe what we felt in this former palace converted into a guest house in the historic heart of Stonetown. The stairs, the floor, and the furniture were all made of noble wood and one feels that the builders of this property did it with great refinement and taste. Our plane had landed at 2 am, and in the morning when I opened the shutters I was amazed by the sight of the old city waking up. It's hard to choose between having breakfast on the balcony of my room or on the terrace of the hotel restaurant.||The location of the hotel is strategic, you are close to the beach, the best restaurants, and the attractions of the city.||The service was impeccable and the welcome is warm. Special thanks to Hazem with whom I made friendship during the 3 months between my reservation and our arrival. He gave me a lot of advice over the course of my stay and his advice was precious.||The car he chartered for me to pick us up and drop us off at the airport was always on time.||I also thank Ilyas and Elizabeth because they were very helpful and friendly.||In summary, for a stopover in Stonetown, I recommend Stonetown café B&B...