The Spice House Restaurant at Cassia Cottage — Restaurant in Phú Quốc

We stayed at the hotel to which the restaurant belongs, the Cassia Cottage. The first day we ate there, the food was fine, although like the hotel overpriced. The second day, we received discriminatory treatment by the waitress in charge, so we could not eat. We did not go there again any other day during our stay due to the awful treatment we received. Let me respond to you by editing my review, as you are lying and just showing once again your arrogance with these responses. I would like to copy and paste the entire email you sent me and my reply, too bad the character limit does not allow it. I will explain you again what happened to us in the restaurant (one of the problems we encountered in your hotel, although not the only one). I didn't write it initially so as not to bore people with long texts, but since you insist on discrediting me and blaming me for the problems at your establishment, I will copy it.

First of all some definitions that you do not seem to be clear about: Discrimination: To select by excluding. Racism: Unequal treatment of a person or group on the basis of race, religion, politics, sex, age, physical or mental condition.

We fully understand your situation on 24 December. First of all, you had a table warning that the swimming pool closes at 14h, but none about a time limit for ordering food (in the email they sent me few days ago, after our stay, they said that they had warned me that food could only be ordered until 15:00.). Anyway, we went to your restaurant around 14:30h (not just before de Christmas Eve reception-LIE-), and your waitress told us that we could not order food, only drinks. She did not offer us any alternative. In view of the situation, we went to dry off and change our clothes in the room to look for another restaurant. To our surprise, when we were leaving the room 15 minutes after being turned away from your restaurant, we saw the SAME WAITRESS!, easily identifiable as she was wearing a dark blue polo shirt different from the others, seating 4 people at a table and giving them a drinks menu and a food menu. This is exclusive selection, for reasons unknown to us and which the receptionists did not tell us either, and therefore a form of discrimination, regardless of sexual orientation, race, religion or beliefs, of which we have never spoken at any time. With this behaviour, they made us feel like idiots, and nobody wants to feel like that on holiday. You offered us to attend the Christmas Eve dinner if we wanted to, obviously it was an option and we made our choice not to attend, as you were offering lots and lots of food. I have no doubt it was a great dinner, but we don't like to dine too much. You seem to be very upset that we didn't want to go, and the only reason was that we don't like to eat much in the evenings. I guess the only thing you are interested in is money, not customer satisfaction, hence your annoyance that we didn't pay the $59 per person for dinner.

And as I told you at the end of my email, when someone receives criticism, they have two options: analyse the situation to see where the faults lie and try to improve, or display a haughty attitude like yours by blaming the person making the criticism for the problem. We would have liked to accept your apology, but you haven't even apologised....

I stayed at Cassia Cottage resort for a few weeks (that’s another 5 star review!)

The variety of the menu, from east to west, and the ability to handle such a wide palette without losing it is impressive. The food is wholesome with a genuine elegance, deliciously tasty and healthy - not by third party anonymous organic certificate labels but by best effort, genuine intention and some in-house farming.

I loved this restaurant so much, and highly unusual to me, I found no drive to explore every other top restaurant in the area as I always do when coming to a new place. I did check a few and there are nice ones but my favourite remained the hotel spice restaurant. Cassia became like that girlfriend who's such a joy to be with you lose interest in all the others - a first for me in hotels! That said, I did love to sneak down on a 5 minute beach walk south to La Veranda for a little serene lunch when the weather invited.

The staff are fantastic. They got a great thing going and a wonderful attitude to each other and the guests. Many clearly feel safe enough to be themselves (getting rare these days!) which translates well into the homey and casual ambience. Its lovely to see some staff are proud of the place as well. It really is a worthy place deserving of a proud staff. During my weeks here I didn’t have a single bad or even slightly “off” experience with any of them. Its easy to have every staff on an up-note first 6 months of a business startup, so with 25 years going, Cassias achievement in good vibes and can-do attitude is stellar - as well as extraordinary unusual. Im not naive saying this - of course there’s the normal human frictions and drama between the lines, but thats unavoidable being human now, and the way they keep it together is what is unusual and impressive. It all ends up in a harmonic wonderful balance. Real. Honest. Alive!

And the manager, Luisa, nailing the balance of professional and casual with all sophisticated brilliance one can ask for. It was such a beautiful encounter I consider Luisa a friend for life.

Thank you all for a wonderful stay and a sense of home...

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ A steak worth stopping time for The Spice House (Cassia Cottage) – Phu Quoc

I came to Phu Quoc looking for silence. I needed to unplug from Da Nang, to slow down, to hear myself again… and maybe figure out the next moves for the project I’ve been building with love and rebellion: La Tribu Despacito Nómada.

What I didn’t expect was to find such a soulful space where food becomes part of the clarity process.

Cassia Cottage has that rare kind of charm — the one that doesn’t shout but seduces you quietly. It’s not just the garden, or the smell of the ocean while you eat… it’s how everything feels aligned with the rhythm of peace.

And then… came the steak.

Australian beef, cooked to perfection. No gimmicks. No need for fancy words or filters. Just the most juicy, tender, real piece of meat I’ve had since arriving in Asia.

I’m no food photographer (you can tell from the picture), but believe me: that generous cut hiding under the roasted vegetables is a chunk of heaven. You’ll want to close your eyes with every bite. Pure truth on a plate.

We still have a few more days before we leave this place, (I mean we bc we are two my lovely inspiration and myself). so I’ll save the full love letter for the final review — because Cassia deserves it. This place sparks ideas. You can feel inspiration peeking from behind the trees, sitting next to your coffee, walking barefoot in the grass with you.

But for now, let me just say this: Come here. Order the steak. Let your tongue remind you what real flavor feels...