Hotel Lagon 2

Need for improvement

I stayed at the Lagon II for two nights during my first trip to Dakar. Nice spacious rooms, I believe all with balconies overlooking the ocean. They offer a very good breakfast (ocean-view dining room) with a decent selection of items including pastries, eggs, juice, cheeses, yogurt, tea/coffee, and fruit. Great wifi. The staff was always helpful when I needed to find a taxi (and negotiate a price). I think the Lagon II is a good choice compared to some of the other "western" hotels in Dakar -- I also stayed 3 nights at the Novotel nearby, and I think I'd pick the Lagon II as the better value. (I booked the Lagon II through ***********, having tried unsuccessfully to book directly with the hotel.) (Note that Lagon II is the hotel; Lagon I is a restaurant located next door.) The big "******" grocery store is just a few minutes' walk, if you need to pick up some snacks or toiletries. I should give a special shout-out to the terrific houskeeping staff -- I forgot an item in my room, and wasn't able to return to ask about it until almost 2 weeks later. Not only had they found it and saved it for me, they had made careful notes about where & when it was left. I appreciated their kindness so much. Jërëjëf to them!!

Its location by a cliff on the Corniche Est, close to the water and with great views from all rooms over the ocean, is quite special. One morning we had the pleasure of having a Black Heron (Egretta ardesiaca), which only lives in Africa, sitting for quite some time on the railing of our balcony. The room itself was fine. I mainly missed a light by the writing desk and the wardrobe was rather small with not much storage space for two. At least there was enough of it by the washbasin in the bathroom. The doors to the rooms are as on a ship. One of the best points here - maybe we were just lucky - was the fact that our room got serviced every day, when we had breakfast. Less happy we were with the other staff, with the food and with the bar. At reception they never looked up, when one entered, usually being busy with their chewing gum. The waiter in the restaurant reserved according to my wish a table for us, but this was not difficult, since hardly anybody ever had dinner here (unlike the restaurant 'Lagon 1' next door, by the same French-Senegalese owner). The waiter then came to take the orders with a toothpick in his mouth. The barman was unfriendly with a touch of arrogance. Most of the dishes in the menu card at the restaurant, as well as drinks from the card in the bar were not available. There were several beers mentioned, also some draught beers, but all they had was one kind of local bottled beer. Also except for the big TV screen and the area behind the counter the whole bar was dark, since apparently there was a problem with electricity. My wife gave back on the first evening at the restaurant the 'Boeuf grillé', ordered à point, since it was too tough to chew. At least she got instead a fish dish with 'thiof' (white grouper). The next day I was alone there, since my wife preferred not to eat. Thus I had first a 'Carpaccio de Poisson', which was good, and then a very dry 'Poulet grillé', accompanied by Gratin Dauphinois. Salt and pepper I had to get myself from other tables, since the waiter was absent. For breakfast there is a buffet with items not getting replaced, when all is used up, so it is better to show up early. Positive was the choice of soft French cheeses, even pork ham was to be had. Coffee came from a machine, which could not be used in self service, but had to be asked from a waitress. Until they got to know us the wrong type of coffee was given, but then we always had an excellent 'Café crème'.