La Reserve

We recently stayed at La Réserve in St Jean-de-Luz and was quite disappointed with our experience. The hotel's location and views are undeniably beautiful, but unfortunately, the service and maintenance issues overshadowed these positives. First, the service was subpar. Throughout our stay, the staff seemed quite indifferent to our needs and appeared either stressed or bored. The restaurant, which has received great reviews, was a mix of highs and lows. The food was overall good but the service ruined much of the experience; our waiter forgot our drinks, food was served untimely and side dishes were never to be seen. The most significant issue was the broken air conditioning unit in our room. Not only was it ineffective in cooling the room, but it also leaked water. This resulted in a wet suitcase. The hotel's response to this was that we could use their dryer, free of charge. Despite the lovely setting, these issues made our stay far less enjoyable than anticipated. Until the management addresses the service and maintenance problems, I cannot recommend La Réserve. A disappointing experience overall.

The hotel is situated in a picturesque location on the St Barbel headland above St Jean with views from the rooms along the coast to Biarritz. An easy 20 min walk via the costal path with stunning views over the bay, Socca and La Ruhne, delivers you to St Jean allowing you to work up an appetite or walk off your dinner. The food at Illura, the hotel’s restaurant is sublime, the Chef and team absolutely deserve their Michelin accolade and prices reflect this fairly. Front of house need more experience to up their game if they hope to achieve a standard worthy of a star. The theatre that always plays out was missing! No Sommelier? The principal didn’t visit our table. We didn’t even get an understudy. The supporting cast sadly lacked conviction when delivering the menu and each course. It wasn’t that any lines were fluffed, but given how good the food was, their intonation when describing each course lacked any sense of worshipful fervour. Super value for money at €90 for a 6 course tasting menu. Comparables in the area (Le Kaiku in St Jean - Michelin fine dinning or at the other end Ostalamer in Acotz - Vibe, seafood, views & cocktails, bar open ‘till late). Although the communal facilities and areas are everything that you would expect from a 5 Star facility, I was disappointed by the room that we had. I traveled with my wife and two adult daughters and booked 307 the “Prestige Suite”. I believe that it is one of the Hotel’s best rooms. It certainly had one of the bests views from its large balcony. However there were certain elements within the room that you would not expect in 5 star accommodation. The decor may have been refreshed in the last couple of years by painting, but generally required a make over for both furnishings an decoration (fresh and clean, but more 3* than any 5* wow factor chic). There was only 1 full length mirror in the living room in a 2 bedroom apartment and no mirrors over the dressing rooms in the bedrooms. This caused pandemonium with the 3 female members of my party. “Wardrobe” storage was simply shelves with curtains ? Even a 3* Hotel would provide a proper wardrobe. No complimentary bottled water provided? No coffee machine….. what would Mr. Clooney say? On reflection, La Reserve is a unique hotel with a fantastic restaurant in an idyllic location, so despite its slightly irritating idiosyncrasies, I’d love to return. A few simple adjustments would turn this hotel into an extraordinarily special place.

Perfect stop on the Atlantic just next to the Spanish border. Super-friendly and helpful reception staff. Excellent restaurant.

Lovely hotel in great location . Lovely grounds, nice rooms, friendly staff. A nice walk from the bustle of town but easily accessible.

This is a very expensive 4 star hotel with excellent facilities but was let down in a couple of areas. Firstly, we enquired in advance, by email, about half board, as the hotel restaurant has a renowned chef. We were advised that this could be added to our booking on check-in, but when we arrived, Christopher told us the half board was not available and the restaurant was fully booked. We were not amused! We then checked with the restaurant manager, a really nice person, and he solved our problem and booked us in for 3 nights half board - problem solved (Christopher on reception was embarrassed!)! The other negative was the quality of the breakfast. Cold scrambled egg is not appetising, and plates of cakes not protected with fly covers and covered in swarms of small black flies meant the choice was very limited. Mentioning this to staff didn't result in any action. This is a beautiful hotel with excellent spacious rooms, large gardens, a large swimming pool, and beautiful views over the coastline. We booked parking in the garage for secure parking, although there is plenty of parking around the hotel at ground level. If this hotel acknowledged and corrected the breakfast issues, we would stay again. The set dinnet menu for half board is superb, and the restaurant manager really made our stay more memorable with his superb service and good conversation.

This could have been a fantastic experience. Great garden, splendid oceanview, appealing swimming pool.... which is why, upon arrival, we immediately decided to stay two nights instead of one. In that case, we we forced to book a more expensive room. Alright. This can happen. We ended up in a so called privilege-room (51) The name, however, is misleading. The room was okay, but in the back of the hotel and offered privileged views over a parking lot, containers filled with rubbish, and a noisy construction site. The girl at the check-in desk clearly had no clue what kind of rooms she was selling (she admitted having to look in a map with pictures in order to not give us wrong info... which she did anyway) . Staff walked into our room without knocking while we were getting dressed. A plate with half eaten breakfast from another room was left standing in the hallway for hours, even though staff passed by (they obviously didn't think it was their responsibility to take the mess away) You got the impression there was no manager present tot check things. Same story in the restaurant. Beautiful evening, but nobody had the idea to set up tables on the terras to have dinner (they did for breakfast the next day, so maybe the general manager had a day off) and half of the stuff we ordered didn't arrive. In a place like this, you want to feel as a guest, but you're treated as a costumer. The staff sort of do what they have to do, but their heart isn't in it. First time in years that i was in a hotel where the employees are so sub-standard yet pretentious. Even the poolboy couldn't be bothered to clean the corner in the swimming pook where hundreds of dead insects were floating about. And all this for 280 euro's a night. During the same trip, we've spent time in hotels half as posh but twice as nice for a fraction of the price. Would i recommend this place? Despite what the nice pictures tell you: not in a million years. The low point of our journey.