Rickie's Flamingo Cafe — Restaurant in Providenciales

My 2nd day strolling up to this cliché beach bar in beautiful Turks and Caicos, I decided to patronize it. It was right off the water and a perfect set up for the day. Simple, but something felt warm about it. They served typicsl bar food and typical bar drinks, overpriced, but expected. It is the breathtaking view that made me stay. My 1st experience walking up to the bar, I ran into a woman her name started wirh an F (sounded like Froiline, but I couldn't quite catch it after asking several times). She ignored me for about 10 minutes while I was standing at the bar, no biggie, I get it, they are busy. I helped myself to a menu and asked about a piña colada, she said there were no frozen drinks, only peach daquiris. No problem, got a peach daiquiri (which was spot on btw.) I was headed out to the beach when a torrential downpour hit, so I reversed my way right back into the bar. I saw that it was a bit crowded so I made eye contact with F and waited for her to seat me (as I saw another couple doing the same). When a couple walked in behind me and sat down immediately. I got someones attention and asked "do we seat ourselves?" Yes they said, so I did just that. I again helped myself to a menu because no one was providing service and patiently waited for a server. I watch a 2nd couple walk in after me, and F almost stumbled over herself to get them a drink, a 3rd couple. She actually took a seat from another patron (who she had earlier told he could not sit where he was sitting) and moved the seat to the exact spot she told him to move from. I finally flagged down Peter who was running around like crazy and asked for food. He said no problem. Another couple walks in and again she is beside herself to get to them and get them a menu. Having that I had nowhere to go and I wasnt starving, I sat back and observed 1,2,3,4 sets of people come in after me and get seated and served. From just a couple up to a group of 6. It took about 1hr and 45 minutes for me to get my food, during which time several couples/groups had received and finished their food. I got coconut shrimp and cracked conch I'd give them 3.5/5 stars. Part of the reason I leave America and come to the Caribbean is not only for the beautiful beaches, but to escape the banal passive racism that I deal with every friggin day. And while I refuse to get my panties in a bunch about this situation because afterall, I am in the Caribbean, it truly saddens my heart that these experiences transcend through space and time the way they do. Peter was busy, but great. Eve (or Eva) was also amazing. F whether consciously or subconsciously, because I know the power of prejudice, made me feel as uncomfortable as 1 can feel in paradise. Now, I did not mention the race of any of the patrons, but I am certain if you go back through this review, you can identify which groups fit where. The views were gorgeous; the food, ok; the service, mediocre; the experience, painful. Will I go back to Grace Bay Beach again, abso-friggin-lutely, but next time I'll...

This place was a real let-down. It took two hours to get our food, and it took them an hour and a half to tell us they were out of conch salad, so one friend had to order something else really late. My friends and I did lots of research, and all read that this was the place to be on New Year's Eve! Big mistake... The music from the beach DJ was so loud we couldn't speak over the table. The DJ from 8-10pm was at least okay, playing a lot of 90s-00s R&B throwbacks and funk music, but an MC took over at 10pm and played the worst music (I'm too sexy for my shirt & cotton eyed joe) and he wouldn't shut up on the mic, so you weren't listening to the music anyway. There wasn't a countdown at midnight, they just lit the fireworks and yelled Happy New Year! The fireworks show was really short. They ended after about 5min and they lit the bond fire, but it would take an hour for it to get big, meanwhile we're all standing on the beach watching every other property across Grace Bay getting a 15min fireworks show! Extremely anti-climactic.

The restaurant and bar were obviously understaffed, which isn't their fault, but what's bad is the existing staff are so slow. Not one server or bartender moved with any sense of urgency, and they clearly don't care about fast service. In the 4hrs we were there, we got two rounds of drinks because they were so slow. When I tried to order champagne from the bar to speed things up, the bar menu was $60 more expensive for champagne than the table menus, and they wouldn't give me the table price, even though my group was sitting there. Overpriced, anti-climactic, cheap space, bad...

My family and I came here for dinner after taking sunset wedding photos on the nearby pier and were not impressed by the waitstaff’s attitude. First I asked where the restroom was twice and was dismissed until finally being pointed and grunted at by a male waitstaff. Then when we sat down to order drinks and appetizers they had virtually no seafood available on the menu that was advertised on (aside for the out of season Lobster which we were aware of prior to coming to this establishment). We tried to inquire to our waitress about which items were unavailable on the menu in order to make a decision about appetizers and entrees numerous times and each time were dismissed without answer and told she would return later (later turned out to be about 10 minutes each of the times she stormed off). My family and I decided to pay our current drink tab and continue our dinner at a different establishment (highly recommend the terrace up the street)! Paying our tab took another 10-15 minutes upon which the waitress proceeded to say that it was our fault that “we weren’t ready to order” when we were trying to figure out what was available on the menu several times. The staff seemed annoyed about our questions about the menu and didn’t seem to care about the fact that they were blaming their customers for their subpar service. I wouldn’t return to this restaurant on my next trip when so many other places have 100% of in-season items on their menu...