Perched 3000 feet up on mountain top with panoramic views over Kingston and the Blue mountains it is hard to fault the location. The service is impeccable and friendly and the rustic cottages are nestled into lush tropical gardens, although the location means that moving between areas usually involves lots of steps - not for those with mobility problems. This actually worked in our favour as we were upgraded from our original room (72 steps to the restaurant) to the Birdshill suite, a very elegant cottage, simply but tastefully furnished.
And now we move on to the food, the breakfast was fine (and pleasantly different), the lunch menu looked OK but dinner was a disaster. We dined from the Private Dining menu which was supposed to be fine dining with a Caribbean twist. It was nothing of the sort. It was, at best, diner food but unfortunately not diner food at its best. The menu was lazy in concept, poor in choice and dish selection and dreadful in execution. It has not been my misfortune to have a meal as bad as this in many a year at any level of restaurant. The starters, baby back ribs and tomato and mozzarella stack lacked flavour or subtlety and were not finished. The mains were a dry snapper and beef tenderloin whose overwhelming taste was harsh pepper. Both were sent back (and subsequently comped). The dessert choice of cheesecake, chocolate cake or carrot cake (in a fine dining restaurant? Really?) was politely declined. The coffee however was fabulous! The staff were very apologetic and pleasant but the meal was a wreck.
Sometimes when you have a bad meal you can put it down down to an off night in the kitchen, or poor choice from the menu, but this went much deeper than that, there were deep structural flaws in the whole meal. If I were the manager of the hotel the head chef would be under notice to shape up or ship ou.

My husband and I had a relaxing stay at Strawberry hill with his mother and her 2 friends over mother’s day weekend. The hotel had a driver that picked us up in Kingston, and it was about a 40 minute drive up into the blue mountains.

We stayed at the “High Gate” villa, which is 2 bedrooms and 2 and a half baths. The living room downstairs has a couch that converts into a single bed, and there is a wrap around balcony with a dining table and chairs over-looking a gorgeous view of the mountains. The master bedroom upstairs also has a wrap-around balcony with an even more amazing view of the mountains, with some reclining chairs and a hammock.

My husband and I stayed in the second bedroom, which has a small balcony with a mountain view and a small couch. The bed had a mosquito net hanging from the ceiling, which really adds to the atmosphere of the room (other than keeping bugs out).

During the day we hung out by the pool or the bar. The bartender while we were there (Ricardo) was really great and fun to talk to. If you’re not sure what you want to order, just tell him some ingredients that you like and he’ll make up something delicious. All of the ingredients they use are fresh, so everything we had was really good. The bar area is nice, and they have cigars that you can purchase (including Cubans) .

The pool is an infinity pool overlooking the mountains and Kingston, and we either had it to ourselves or there were 1 or 2 other couples there. As some other reviews mentioned, the pool water is pretty cold, so it would be great if they would get a heater! It was nice to sit by though.

Strawberry Hill has a brunch every Sunday that is popular with local ‘Kingstonians’, and mother’s day Sunday is probably the biggest day of all, so it was lucky that we were there that weekend, and probably why Chris Blackwell (owner and music producer) was staying there that weekend as well. It was buffet-style outdoors, and everything that I had was amazing. Ackee and salfish, ox tail, callalloo, and possibly the best curry goat I’ve ever had.

Since the drive up to the hotel is fairly long, we stayed there the whole time and had all of our meals there. As other reviewers have mentioned, the food is pretty expensive, with most of the main dishes at $45. Most of the things we had were pretty good (except the pasta with olive oil, which was plain), and the atmosphere was nice. The restaurant is open air with views over-looking Kingston. A continental breakfast was included with our stay, and was really good. I'm not a big coffee drinker, but I had to have some there. They serve blue mountain coffee (which has the reputation of being the best in there world), and it is freshly grown and picked right at the hotel. It was soooo good.

Some minor improvements that could be made are to the music and the bathrooms. It would be nice if they played some reggae music there instead of jazz or old disco. It would have added to the atmosphere. Also, the bathrooms are a bit out of date, and it would be nice to have a bigger shower and some more counter space.

Overall, this was a great place to go to just relax and un-wind. The service was excellent and the views were amazing. I would definitely recommend it if you’re looking for a different kind of experience in JA and near Kingston.

From the moment you pull up to Strawberry Hill...you wonder why it took so long to come here. You realize this a piece of heaven. The rooms are rustic chic....clean and well put together. The views are out of this world! The resturant sevice was 5 star....thanks Rox...she was our server, who was caring and very professional yet charming.......
The Aveda concept spa was heaven...the massage and facial were relaxing....nice spa setting
Only suggestion I would have is that the pool should be heated...it was cccccold....solarheating would be a good option....
Strawberry Hill is simply put...BREATHTAKING....

Impressive location with a meager restaurant offering. Not a very attentive staff, some good most not. Examples: cold water for tea during breakfast; no refill in the room of used tea / coffee; an empty and very loud minibar fridge (sound of a landing plane). Beautiful flowers in the garden. The neighbors of the resort love their (loud) house music up to 06:00 AM. Messy checkout with a discussion over the fare that had to be paid for the airport pickup service. For this amount of money not a place I would visit again soon.