Kivulini Garden Lodge and Restaurant — Restaurant in Unguja

This was by far the worst meal we had in he whole week in Zanzibar! Alarm bells should have rung as wenqalled past the place prime afternoon, and prime evening, and both times it was empty.||Just thought it was a little bit out of the way, and could have been an undiscovered gem.||Oh how wrong I was! Ordered the seafood platter, 'king prawns', lobster bisque soup, and 2 x chapati. ||Specifically asked for the prawns to be 'cleaned', so as not to be eating the digestive tract. Prawns arrived uncleaned.||Lobster had an overpowering stench of Amonia, and was inedible. Chapati was undercooked - unbelievable considering everything else was overcooked! Calamari was cold. ||Ate the soup and the chips, and a few of the prawns that I cleaned myself. Gave the calamari to the resident cat.||Upon paying the bill, told the waiter to remove the lobster, and to apply the 10% discount we'd agreed upon entering.||15 minutes later, some guy shows up - super aggressive, asking what the issue is. Explained everything to him, and all he wants to know is how much we will pay for the meal.||I explained I'd usually expect for a restaurant owner to be extremely apologetic, rather than aggressive, and perhaps our feedback could be taken onboard, to hopefully improve the place.||Didn't seem interested - scrawled a figure down on the page for us to pay, and disappeared....

This was by far the worst meal we had in he whole week in Zanzibar! Alarm bells should have rung as we walked past the place prime afternoon, and prime evening, and both times it was empty.

Just thought it was a little bit out of the way, and could have been an undiscovered gem...

Oh how wrong I was! Ordered the seafood platter, 'king prawns', lobster bisque soup, and 2 x chapati.

Specifically asked for the prawns to be 'cleaned', so as not to be eating the digestive tract. Prawns arrived uncleaned.

Lobster had an overpowering stench of Amonia, and was inedible. Chapati was undercooked - unbelievable considering everything else was overcooked! Calamari was cold.

Ate the soup and the chips, and a few of the prawns that I cleaned myself. Gave the calamari to the resident cat.

Upon paying the bill, told the waiter to remove the lobster, and to apply the 10% discount we'd agreed upon entering.

15 minutes later, some guy shows up - super aggressive, asking what the issue is. Explained everything to him, and all he wants to know is how much we will pay for the meal.

I explained I'd usually expect for a restaurant owner to be extremely apologetic, rather than aggressive, and perhaps our feedback could be taken onboard, to hopefully improve the place.

Didn't seem interested - scrawled a figure down on the page for us to pay, and...

A hidden gem in Nungwi!

Jerry and Emanuel, servers and greeters at the restaurant. As well as the Muslim owners, were very hospitable and wholesomely humble.

I had a chance to eat and stay at this wonderful hotel. It was my go-to restaurant daily for lunch/dinner out of the 3 weeks spent in Nungwi. The dishes were generously portioned and filled my appetite as a 170 lbs (77kg) solo traveler.

I would recommend either the grilled tuna or grilled barracuda dish, they will provide a delicious coconut sauce with the rice option. It is cheaply priced and probably the best bang for the buck in terms of service in Nungwi.

As for the hotel it was ok. They had nice floor mats in the bathroom and bed area. Bathroom was on the smaller side. I had the "Ginger" room, AC and ceiling fan made for a decent sleep. There was also a fridge in the room, it ran cold 😀.

Do bring bug spray around sunset though, I get bitten multiple times by the mosquitoes while waiting...