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The hot food was a disappointment. the salad bar was great ,the cooks serving seemed to have a very relaxed Easy and informal in manner like take it or leave it you aready paid! so being local within 25 miles I'm warning anyone who mentions going there

We 'had to' go to Phuket to see friends and had decided to stay away from the big resort areas. While the location (in central Phuket Town) is great, the hotel was pretty basic and it had definitely nothing to do with the website. The main problem was the staff - nice, but absolutely not trained. Hardly any English was spoken at the time of our visit. I understand the hotel had just been bought by the Sri Hotels Group, who had just finished building the Sri Tara hotel in Chiang Mai (where we had stayed and which we had loved). Now the Sri Tara is in different hands and the Group still owns the Taste as well as the Sri Lanta in Koh Lanta (where I also stayed and for which I also have mixed feelings). If I went back, I would check the rooms before making a booking.

Their website makes the Taste to be some small boutique hotel. This is quite the opposite. "The piano bar" was a old grand piano sitting on a sad, stained shag carpet; while the bar itself is where you check in with about 5 bottles of booze and right next to the living room of the staff . We supposedly booked a garden veranda room that was said to be quiet and in the back of the building. Once we were led up the filthy stairs and hallway I knew it wasn't going to be good. The room was small, very dirty and our balcony was over the noisy Rassada Rd. The person's balcony next to ours was separated by a couple small potted plants. Not exactly a nice, private room to end our honeymoon with, as the website and staff had promised. Within 2 minutes of our rooms' inspection we found it small, the bathroom absolutely disgusting, the front door did not lock(it was merely a glass revolving door), balcony door didn't even meet the door jam so street noise and air conditioning was a loss. The worst was when I spotted 2 holes in the floor that looked directly down to the lobby. We grabbed our bags and took a taxi to the other hotel we stayed in earlier in our trip, cheaper, bigger, cleaner, quieter(The Sino House).

We stayed here for one night on the way to Koh Lanta. Nothing else in the Lonely Planet appealed so we went for this. I left thinking that it was oerpriced. I think it is trying too hard. As noted in other reviews, it is very stylish. The lobby/bar area is all muted creams, chandeliers, white grand piano, low benches. It looks like something out of a magazine. It's a really nice bar but maybe better in Bangkok. It was empty the night we stayed, perhaps because drinks are pretty pricey. The hotel had only 3 rooms full that night. Our room was 'shabby chic', more on the side of the shabby. The bathroom was pretty cool but the windows didn't close which wasn;t great from the point of view of air con or mosquitos. We asked to move to a room with a window which closed. Rather than offer us an equivalent room or an upgrade, as is usual practice if a room is faulty, they offered us a box room with no window at all which we found rude. It made them seem very greedy and just after our money. We didn't want to complain as we had booked our ferry ticket and transfer to the ferry with them, and didnt want to risk any problems with that. Breakfast was lovely. Our transfer was quite late. Do not book your tickets through the hotel, you can do it much more cheaply with one of the local travel agents. Disappointing.

This is the most interesting hotel/B&B I have stayed in. The whole place is decorated in a very stylish fashion.The room itself was open plan so there was only a half wall dividing the bathroom and sleeping area. This style would work best for couples/close friends as there isn't a lot of privacy to get changed or go to the toilet silently! There was no window or bright overhead light in the room so it was a bit dim at night except for the 2 or so lamps and decorative lighting.It was low season when we went so one night when the owners had a party they invited us along which was really sweet!Location wise, the hotel is pretty convenient, within walking distance to restaurants, a supermarket, massages and travel agents.