A review sent to Hotel Le Barthélemy

We have been vacationing in St. Barth since 1997, for 2 weeks each year (18 trips at 2 to 3 weeks a year). Usually we rent a villa in Vitet. Periodically we will stay at a hotel. Last night, on July 5, 2019 at 7:30 pm, we enjoyed dinner at Aux Amis (with a reservation). The waiter worked at Disney Epcot for a year. A very nice gentleman! Unfortunately we did not record his name. The dinner and atmosphere were excellent, and we decided to come back for breakfast the next day (per his recommendation).

We have discovered over the last 22 years that the best evaluation of a hotel and atmosphere is to appear un-reserved, dressed elegantly, at breakfast, when the breakfast is a buffet. How will the staff “manage” us? Will they be kind and accommodating? Will they be intent on acquiring a loyal customer?

Unfortunately, the breakfast staff at Le Barthélemy failed at all levels. At first we were unsure whether we were even welcome to be standing in the reception area. At the hostess stand at 9am, we were trembling, sore afraid that a table may not be available (the hotel was completely booked, per the hostess). The restaurant was at 10% capacity and remained so till 10:30am.

The hostess relented and allowed us to sit at a table away from the beach area, where we could enjoy the buffet at 45e per person, as lepers in isolation. The un-reserved! A nuisance. The wait staff was in all instances arrogant, conveying disdain and contempt for such fools as we must be to appear at Le Barthélemy without a reservation for the buffet breakfast. They hustled us out as soon as we were finished with our limited amount of coffee, and a few small plates from the buffet.

We have accepted this rejection, with regret. We will not be back to Le Barthélemy. We will be conveying this message to all those we know that love St. Barth.

Sincerely,
Charles and Pamela Herndon

Bummer to see this. The other night we were welcomed and treated well at WTF, the rooftop lounge,where we enjoyed cocktails and had a tasty assortment of tapas for our dinner

Sorry to read this, Charles and Pamela. Prior to April of this year, we had been big fans of Le Barthelemy's restaurants. Unfortunately, this April, we had a negative experience with very poor, and mostly rude service (the young, cocky waitress literally ripped the bill out of my hand when I had a question on an overcharge). Hopefully, the hotel reads forum posts and will re-evaluate their situation and make the appropriate changes.

Gayle

. . . also sorry to read this review. I live near Hotel Le Barthelemy & go there regularly, though not frequently. I know your reaction likely will be, “Well, they know & treat you differently.” Very likely. In any event, the experience you describe is unacceptable & should, with your communication to the Hotel, make a difference.

I would add, however, that I don’t think that showing up — even dressed “elegantly” — is the best way to assess a restaurant, at breakfast or any other time, on a single occasion. The best impression is made, I believe, with a reservation & several visits. Craig Claiborne, long time Food Editor & food critic of The New York Times, for example, never reviewed a restaurant without visiting it three or four times, always with a reservation, using a pseudonym and with two or three guests.

Mimi Sheraton, an earlier NYT food critic, similarly visited restaurants anonymously. She also candidly observed, “[FONT=&quot]I would not be a critic if I were in a situation where I was widely recognizable. It’s proven time and time again. [/FONT][FONT=&quot]You get much more special attention [when you’re known]. You get much more special food. Anyone who says differently, I’ve always said, is a fool or a liar.”

I think, as a result, that your one-shot experience isn’t necessarily representative of the Hotel . . . and would encourage you to pursue a course in SBH restaurants where you make yourself — and your preferences (e.g., with respect to seating) — known before anonymously showing-up to test a restaurant’s mettle. You’ll find, I believe, more satisfactory results.

Welcome back . . . and please tell us what you like . . . and why.[/FONT]

We ate at both the beachside bar and the restaurant there, always with the reservations, not at the breakfast time though. Our verdict is that the stuff in this comparatively pricey establishment is not trained well. They were forgetting things, or were confused, and it was not the language problem. Looked more like the owners trying to cut costs by hiring new inexperienced people all the time.

Although not an excuse, are there more inexperienced servers during low season when the regulars are on vacation?

I have a small review from before the hurricane of Le Barthelemy. I always loved the food and service, not so much after the hurricane.

I had reservations for lunch, everything was perfect, the food and service, I did ask the staff if I could have the left over bread to take home as I assumed they would be tossing it anyway. my server said of course, I will put this in a bag and after you spend some time in our pool, stop by and pick it up. I did spend about an hour in the pool with friends, then on my way out, I stopped at the restaurant for my bread, new people were there and they said we don't have any bread for you, its against the restaurant policy for us to do that. I was quite stunned, so I wrote to the manager of the hotel.

He wrote back within a day and said he was sorry, it was not against the policy to have given me the bread, and to please inform him the next time I would be visiting the restaurant. the next time I was coming was with two other guests, so I wrote the manager and let him know.

the food was great and the service was great, then the bill came and was close to 400 euros for the 4 of us, we had ordered wine and other drinks, it was a very nice dinner. As we were getting ready to pay the bill, the manager appeared and said I hope you all enjoyed your meal, there will be no charge for any of you for tonight, thanks for coming and we hope to see you soon.

Now that is customer service above and beyond. we were all speechless, we did come back many times.

That’s a nice story Diana and all over a half loaf of bread. But getting back to the original poster does good service depend on whether you have a reservation? I can see telling you that your table is reserved in an hour or 2 but absent that there is no excuse for what the poster said. I’m a visitor not a resident or villa owner and you have one shot to get it right this year.

cec1 said:

... your one-shot experience isn’t necessarily representative of the Hotel . . . (I) would encourage you to pursue a course in SBH restaurants where you make yourself — and your preferences (e.g., with respect to seating) — known before anonymously showing-up to test a restaurant’s mettle. You’ll find, I believe, more satisfactory results.

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I agree that although lack of reservations is not an excuse for a guest feeling unwelcome at a restaurant, making reservations is a good idea. Among the things I have learned from this forum is that making reservations, even very shortly before planned dining, goes a long way on the island.

This thread from 2008, started by a typically great post from Kevin, is interesting to read in the context of the comments from Dennis/CEC1 and also in the context of another recent thread (but that's another story...) Unfortunately the link to Andy Hall's earlier recommendations posted in the 2008 thread seems dead...

Kevin, once again a big thank you for all you do to help visitors with all things dining on St Barths. It is a terrific aid and resource for new and old guests. You ROCK!

Izzy, you nailed the change in the old forum versus today’s forum.
And not just the current lower level of contentiousness. Also the absence of a few missed, wise voices. The good with the bad . . .
Btw, with the French, always reserve your table. Especially if you don’t want to sit by les WC.

the forum has definitely changed over the years. If someone from years ago had a good or a bad review of a restaurant, they would post it. now most often the bad experiences are rarely shared here, how can the restaurants improve if the managers are not made aware of how the patrons are treated by the wait staff or if the food is subpar. Of course this is not required to be a part of this forum, but when I speak with other members and they share stories of bad experiences at different restaurants, I always ask them why not post this, they normally say they don't wish to hurt the restaurants. so a thumbs up to cplmsb for making us aware.

Sorry about your experience at Barthelemy. As we understand it, the Hotel is owned by a wealthy lady out of the east coast- hedge fund type- and it is somewhat of an absentee management. We all know when the cat’s away the mice will play. Unless the owner is around or paying daily attention to the details, things go down hill quickly. No question that money was spent to make Barthelemy a top hotel, but to make the experience top eyes have to be everywhere watching all of the big and little things.
We agree with you Izzy on reservations. We use Open Table, Access, email and/or the phone everywhere, including requesting specific tables and servers when possible.

We didn’t have bad service there, but the food at lunch was average and our expensive glasses of wine were served full of ice. Beautiful setting, but didn’t love it enough to go back. I’ll wait for Guanahani to reopen to have lunch on that beach again.

We made reservations for lunch there in June. Setting was lovey, food was very good and the service was okay. The waiter, a fellow from Brittany, was the most arrogant, supercilious person we have EVER encountered on the island and we've been coming once or twice a year since 1986. Lance reviewed the bill, gave him a credit card and when the "ticket" was presented for signature the waiter had added 10 Euros. When Lance called him on it, he was most offended and -- after some pressure -- gave us 10 Euros back. As we were leaving, I spoke to a young American couple near us and told them to be sure and check their bill as the waiter tried to add more. The waiter overheard this and insisted we had told him to add a tip. I told him NOT TRUE - we always tip in cash and we left nothing for him. With all of the other options available it will be a long time before we return.

stbartshopper said:

Sorry about your experience at Barthelemy. As we understand it, the Hotel is owned by a wealthy lady out of the east coast- hedge fund type- and it is somewhat of an absentee management. We all know when the cat’s away the mice will play. Unless the owner is around or paying daily attention to the details, things go down hill quickly. No question that money was spent to make Barthelemy a top hotel, but to make the experience top eyes have to be everywhere watching all of the big and little things.
We agree with you Izzy on reservations. We use Open Table, Access, email and/or the phone everywhere, including requesting specific tables and servers when possible.

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Bill . . . I don’t agree that the owner has to be “around or paying daily attention to the details.” Good staffing should address situations like the one described by cplmsb, & I’m confident that Le Barthélémy‘s General Manager &/or Director of Sales & Marketing will be embarrassed and very disturbed (as they should be) by cplmsb’s experience. I also would note that I know many SBH restaurant owners / operators who do not follow the Forum, so it was valuable to read that cplmsb’s post is titled “review sent to Hotel Le Barthélemy.”

For the record I always make reservations but I thought the poster had a good gripe once he was seated.

Two trips ago in January, we were staying at a Villa that had lousy internet in Vitet. I had business to be conducted, so I strolled over to Le Barthelemy 4-separate days. I explained my internet dilemma to the gentleman manager, I asked him politely, if I could camp out there and use their internet to conduct business. The manager was very kind to allow me to sit at the small table adjacent to the bar, next to the exterior opening. I opened up my computer and plugged into the electrical outlet for charging each day. Average time I was there was maybe 2-3 hours in the afternoon between lunch and dinner. Of course, I ordered a Mojito each day from the bar. The bartender was very kind, even brought me a large tray of free nuts and olives to enjoy with my Mojito each day. I was treated very kindly each day. I left a nice tip for the bartender each day. I personally, like Le Barthelemy pre Irma and post Irma.

I don't see how having or not having a reservation should affect the service once you are seated and the restaurant is empty enough that they aren't trying to get you out quick to fit someone else in that did have a reservation. Maybe at a tasting menu when the amount of food may be carefully measured for the day? The arrogant, "don't bother me" attitude of some in the service industry is never acceptable IMO. You are the face of your establishment. Most of us don't meet the owner or the chef or most of the other employees in one visit. I can't say I recall seeing it personally much on St Barths as I've almost always had incredible service but it is a pet peeve of mine and when it happens anywhere I won't likely give a second chance without an apology. There are just too many other options to bother. I have trouble whittling down my dining options as it is. The last thing I need to do is give a second chance to a place that didn't earn it. But, it was nice to read Didier's post and how they made good. Hopefully they will do the same for the OP. Even a simple apology goes a long way.

andynap said:

Although not an excuse, are there more inexperienced servers during low season when the regulars are on vacation?

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Andy,

It was in November and in March or April. Not high season, but in other places like Tamarin, Villa Marie, Meat and Potatoes, L'Esprit for some reason we didn't feel that challenge.