Lotus Hotel in Shkoder

My boyfriend and me stayed there for one night, and we were thoroughly disappointed. We were visiting from London and were looking forward to staying here. The service when we got there was extremely cold and unwelcoming. We felt like such outsiders even though we were paying them to feel welcomed. Once we got settled, we decided to eat at the restaurant there since the reviews spoke highly of the food. Apparently you have to have a reservation so we got seated upstairs in the smoking lounge (to our knowledge we didn’t know that we needed a reservation). After standing at the entrance to the restaurant, a waitress finally came to us and told us to be seated. She didn’t even give us menus or asked for our drinks. Also, the table we were at wasn’t even set yet with dishes or cutlery. As we are waiting for her, another group comes in (they were Albanians). Literally minutes after they were seated, she gives them menus and asks for their drinks FIRST!!! We couldn’t believe it cause we had been there for a good 10 minutes unspoken to. She gave us our menus and asked for our beverages shortly after she did there’s. Then while we were ordering we asked for assistance as to what she recommends but her attitude was once again cold. We have no idea what to get since we don’t know traditional Albanian food. After we ordered, we got our food which was the only pleasant thing that happened during our experience. The food was the only thing that deserved the one star. The entire time we were eating none of the waiters served us or even talked to us. They only served the other Albanians in the restaurant. It literally felt like we were invisible. When we asked for a dessert we had to ask a separate waiter since ours was nowhere to be found. Then instead of writing down our order, he takes forever to relay the information to our first waitress. We then have to wait on her talking with us. The dessert was mid and shocker it took forever to get our check. The next morning we ate breakfast at the buffet which was good but the service was poor. The entire time we were stared at and everyone acted like we had the plague or something. If you are European or American my recommendation is to stay as farrrrr as you can from Shkoder and go straight to Theth. People in Shkoder were very rude to us and quite distant. If we could change the way our trip went, it would have been to drive straight to Theth and skip Shkoder entirely. If you are reading this and you are either European or American, this is your sign to skip Shkoder!!!

Food was stale and tired tasting. Had the grilled goat on recommendation from the waiter. Edible, but not good. Felt like it was last legs and he was pushing it to get rid of it. Mixed vegetable appetizer wasn’t very appetizing either. Tried the Raki wine, which tasted like jet fuel, but maybe that’s how it always is.