紅辣椒休閒飯店

I don't keep coming here by accident. I stayed at Red Chilli for the fifth time in the first week of September 2023 and it was like putting on a pair of old, comfortable shoes that you haven't worn for a long time. A slight, initial "strangeness", followed by "Ahhhh, lovely!" I've covered the major points in previous reviews, but here's thoughts arising from my most recent stay. The staff were, as always, super-friendly and helpful. I checked in and gave my details to the kind and patient young woman on the front desk. Afterwards, as I walked around afterwards, everyone in a Red Chilli t-shirt greeted me by name: "Hi Tim!", or "Do you need anything Tim?". How do they do this? It's a million miles away from the scripted, insincere US "have a nice day!", they really mean it. I stayed in a double en-suite with a patio - I think I stayed in the same one, or its neighbour before - and it was spacious, comfortable and quiet. The bed had a kind of four-poster frame supporting the mozzie nets, which gave good coverage and which were free from gaps and rips. The latter doesn't always happen in budget accommodation in the area. There was large ceiling fan - very welcome - and a fridge which is great for chilling water or beer or storing meds. The restaurant continues to provide tasty and filling meals at a very reasonable cost, and the bar has local beers at very competitive prices, and which are kept very cold. Very nice at the end of a long, hot day! It's a bit of a shame that the wood-fired pizza oven is only in use on a Friday, but maybe that makes the pizzas a special treat. The one I had could have fed two, but it was so good that I couldn't stop myself and I ate the lot. On this occasion I was staying there for a bit of a sombre and unusual reason, so I can't speak to any of the tours or excursions. But, as a base to venture further from, to mingle with fellow travellers, to relax, to rest your head, to eat and drink, I can't fault it. Unless something really drastic changes with RC, in about a year's time, I'll be writing another review: "My SIXTH stay with Red Chilli, and as I keep saying, it won't be my last..."

On the plus side: the room was comfortable enough, the setting was green, with a pool, and an opportunity to walk on non-congested streets in the neighbourhood. The food was tasty and inexpensive. On the downside, the location is not convenient if you need to commute into town as the traffic is a total nightmare. Red Chilli requires that you pay in full upfront, and they do not offer even a partial refund if you cancel - so be careful of that. Also, the room had a light and fan that weren't working - and these issues were not addressed for the first 24 hours as they did not inform me that I would have to leave the room key with them for them to either perform maintenance or clean the room.

We had a great stay at Red Chili. We stayed in Kampala for a total of 5 nights and 2 more nights while on safari in Murchinson Falls at their other property. Our children loved the pool and we spent a lot of time hanging out in the restaurant playing games and sharing meals. The owner and staff were all terrific and very helpful.

We stayed here for 4 nights for the end of our Uganda journey, after an exhausting safari trip. We basically chose it for 2 reasons: it had good reviews and it was cheap; and it was far away from Kampala so we thought we could rest better being noiseless. The only good points that we found are exactly those, and that has a pool where you can take a bath - for us, all the rest was quite badly managed. They provided us with “one of the best rooms” they had. We were quite disappointed because it was a small room with one bed, and a bathroom where it was almost flooded when you took a shower. We had been around the country for 10 days and we had stayed in much better places (budget level). I believe the time to receive any drink or meal was the worst part. All the times we ordered something to drink or to eat, it took them forever to give it to us. Examples (not exaggerating): one coffee and one Coke, we waited 35 min; for breakfasts where we ordered pancakes, also more than 30 min, and everything like that. One night we ordered just one dish for dinner, they took 45 min to give it to us, and to top it all off, they delivered us another different dish than the one we ordered (the correct one came after, exactly, one hour). Another example that made us very angry was that, seeing the time that took them to prepare anything, we wanted to ensure the next breakfast was ready at 8AM because we had a tour in the city and we would be in a hurry, so in the previous dinner we ordered everything that we wanted to be prepared by 8. That morning, they said they had lost the order so we needed to tell them again what we wanted and of course not making it on time for our plan - thankfully our tour had been canceled just before breakfast (maybe destiny?) Anyway, the kitchen seems a mess and we were there in very low season, meaning all the times we were basically the only people ordering things. I don't want to imagine this management in high season… The last part I wanted to mention is that we booked this place because it was far from the city and we thought it would be very silent to rest properly. Well, during the nights you can hear music quite loud during a big part of the night from somewhere that makes it difficult to sleep. And that's when you don't hear a guy with a microphone singing like a rap during one hour at 6AM. Anyway, I'm honestly surprised with the good rating of this place with all the things we had to endure, maybe it was bad just those days, who knows…

The welcome we received at Red Chilli Kampala was just the best. The staff were so welcoming. Great accommodation. Well maintained rooms, bars, restaurants, swimming pool, sun bathing areas. Very good food. Best chips in Uganda. Fantastic freshly made pizzas to order. Good selection of drinks in the bar, and nothing too much trouble. Bar man Joe great behind the bar. Managers Katie & Anton run the hotel really well and always on hand when needed. Aside from all the fantastic features above, overall this hotel is excellent value for money. I’d put this as a mid-range hotel but a bargain for the price. We’ll definitely be back. Seems to have bounced back after Covid. Thank you to Debbie from Red Chilli and to your fantastic team. Suzie, UK.

I have been coming here for a few years with my groups but unfortunately on my visits this year post covid the place is not the same. Their standards have slipped. Staff are disinterested and understaffed the two times I was there in May and June and make you feel like an inconvenience when you ask anything. They are not accomodating with early breakfasts which is difficult when wanting to start early for activities on safari. They would only accept Ugandan shillings and their card machine was not working either was their ATM. Made it difficult as the safari had just started so not everyone had cash yet and they wouldn't serve any drinks untill they were paid for. So everyone had to wait untill I could sort cash to be able to order a drink... Not good service. Most places accept pounds or euros. Sadly won't be returning.