I stayed at Robert's Grove in January with my husband and college age daughter. We had spent the previous 6 nights at resorts in the jungles of Belize and Guatemala and we were really looking forward to the Caribbean leg of the vacation. The setting is beautiful, the buildings are very attractive, the pools, the restaurant and very pretty. Our rooms were large and attractively decorated. I liked the large tiled bathroom. The big problem was that my daughter was forced to sleep on the futon, which didn't have a board and was VERY uncomfortable. The beach was very dirty, although much cleaner than neighboring properties (not just seaweed, lots of litter). The water was great and we enjoyed swimming and even snorkeling a little right off the beach. We also enjoyed swimming in all three pools, but had been looking forward to the hot tubs and were very disappointed that all 7 of them were out of order. It was nice to have the use of the kayaks, sailboats, etc., but sometimes we needed more assistance and explanation than we were getting from the very laid-back staff. The food was ok. We don't like Mexican, so we didn't go to Habeneros. The continental breakfast was good, but the yogurt was just out on a platter and got warm pretty quickly. We stayed Sunday through Wednesday, so missed the Saturday buffet. The restaurant selections were limited. I had fish more than once and it was a little over cooked every time. In hindsight, maybe we should have taken a taxi to Placencia for dinner one or more nights.My daughter and husband went on the Monkey River tour. They said it was a (very fast) boat ride combined with hiking. They reported that the guide was not very informative, seemed to like to drive the boat very fast to scare the passengers, and walked too fast for some in the group to keep up easily. This contrasted very unfavorably with the many similar tours we had been on in the preceding days.
The room and restaurant were very clean. Service generally was not very good. Generally, they didn't seem to care to be helpful. We also noticed that a lot of people were "new" or "training" and didn't know what to do or how to do it. The exception was in the restaurant where everyone was friendly and helpful, even the trainee.

My college-age daughter and I stayed at Robert's Grove in mid-January (after the holiday rush) and had a fabulous visit. We had a huge room with a large bathroom and a wonderful balcony with hammock overlooking a pool and the ocean. We immediately turned off the A/C and the fans were enough to keep us comfortable during the day and allowed us to keep the balcony doors open all night to hear the sound of the waves. The staff was fabulous and went out of their way to make us feel welcome and cared for at every opportunity. The woman who runs the Sea Spa was excellent. I particularly enjoyed the hot stone massage. The dinner at the restaurant was good and the setting superb, but expensive and too much food for us every night. We enjoyed dinner at Habaneros and the walk there at night through the neon cactus is unique! We also really enjoyed going into Placencia, which is a charming village with good restaurants (we ate at DaTatch) and the best gellato in Central America at Tutti Fruti. Breakfast was delicious and plentiful with fresh-baked bread & pastries. We enjoyed kayaking in the ocean. We took a day snorkeling trip which was wonderful, although the water was a bit rough and the 2-hour trip to the reef was too long. The snorkeling was great and the calm, multi-colored blue/aqua water around the reef island was amazing!! Only complaints -- as a result of rough seas earlier in the week, the beach was full of seaweed & junk that had washed up and none of the hot tubs were working.

This was the second time we have stayed at Roberts Grove. The first time was about 5 years ago and then just recently in January 2012. It is under new ownership and we noticed immediately several upgrades to the property...a nice patio with an outdoor fireplace, improvements to the grounds, painting the buildings and some nice additions to the Mexican Restaurant, Habeneros, on the lagoon side with a huge new marina and soon to come will be many new homes/condos. The staff, management and new owner are very friendly and helpful, going out of their way to accommodate our requests. The rooms are very comfortable and well-appointed and most have a deck or balcony with comfortable chairs. The three pools are clean and well-kept. I think it was the time of the year when lots of sea weeds wash up on their beach, but it was not really inviting as it was hard to keep the shoreline clear of the sea weeds. However, once you get past that, the water was warm and lovely and there are lots of toys available to guests--sail boats, paddle boats, etc. at no charge. We enjoyed the Saturday night buffet with everything from lobster tails to shrimp and chicken. The rest of the food is uneven. We had some great breakfasts and then some excellent food at Haberneros, but some of the sea food could have been better. On the plus side, the bar has an outstanding wine cellar and wide variety of very good wines. I am confident that the new ownership will tackle the upgrade of all the food soon.

We book one of the suites for our honeymoon in July 2011. Room was clean and adequate but nothing special. if I was going to write this on that alone I would say average/good. The food was Terrible. I mean it was relatively expensive and the seafood taste like it was shipped from across the world. So fishy and dry and black crab leg meat. Real turn off. We went out to eat every night and rode the complimentary bikes to make the best of the trip. Good place for a family trip if they clean there act up (lots of construction and brand new owners at this time). I hope they turn the place around because it definitely has potential.