Pongwe Bay Resort in Pongwe

The hotel is very nice but is starting to look a little tired in places. The swimming pool and beach are lovely and it's a very relaxing place to be. The food I'm afraid is not good. My friend and I arrived mid morning and we had left Arusha very early in the morning so we needed coffee and something to eat. We were given a cup of instant coffee, dried bread and a couple of stale croissants....not a good start! At lunchtime we decided to share a pizza. It was a shop bought pizza and I don't have a problem with that but this pizza was awful. That evening we went to the pier restaurant and it is so lovely there but the food lets it down. It was my friend's birthday and the owner of the hotel suggested we have the seafood platter. At $110 dollars for two it's quite expensive but we were on the half board basis so we each had $35 dollars towards our meal. The seafood platter was ok but overcooked and it should have been fabulous. The next day we went back to this restaurant and we ordered two different seafood main meals but they didn't have it. We decided just to choose a starter each My friend chose vegetable samosas and they were out of the freezer. I chose the calamari which was inedible. You couldn't bite into it and it was so stretchy I said I could use it as a hairband! We were starting to get a bit fed up with the food at this point. Breakfast is totally uninspiring. Stale bread, stale cake and you can get eggs cooked but you wait ages. There is last nights curry and rice on the menu and you might find a small amount of cheese. Some days there was yoghurt and some days there wasn't . The coffee is hideous so we would have to hunt on the tables for peppermint tea and when the staff bought hot water for your tea it was never hot enough. The staff were nice at breakfast but not on the ball enough. We were constantly asking for butter to be put out and for more tea. By day 3 we were eating very little at the hotel and we found a nice little place at the end of the beach where you can get dinner for less than $4. Because of the daytime heat we could only really go to this place in the evening. Every lunchtime we would just have a plate of chips from the restaurant as it was the only thing we thought was ok. Due to having small breakfasts and inadequate lunches and my anti malaria tablets I became really ill. I had a whole day in my room feeling so ill and I did actually think I was going to have to get a doctor in. Fortunately my friend went into town and got me electrolyte drinks and got me some bananas . The next day I was a little better and was able to spend a bit of time on the beach. A couple of the staff on the main desk did show concern for me and where helpful in getting me on the mend. I tried to make the best of my last few days but because of the food and the feeling ill I couldn't wait to go home. The owners really need to get their act together with the food as it is just not good enough. They have a lovely relaxing hotel on a beauti