Emily Moon River Lodge

Very charming boutique hotel close to Plettenberg but not on the beach. Very good food both in Simon's bar (pizza!!) and the restaurant. We had a family apar**ent that was very spacy and with a modern but cozy design. Very friendly owner who greets each guest individually. The Plettenberg area is obviously a nice place for vacation with beaches, animal parks etc. Only minus: The pool was not clean, unfortunately.

We had a wonderful stay for our honeymoon at Emily Moon. The room was lovely, the views were wonderful and we really enjoyed the unexpected Chris**as market which was on during our stay! We found the pool area to be rather chaotic, so we went to the second one, but the pool was extremely dirty and we could not swim. We also did not get much support in getting drink orders as the second pool was away from the bar/restaurant. Simons restaurant was lively on a Friday night, though the food was good, and service was amazing, it would be nice to be able to make a reservation for guests staying at the hotel. Understandably its walk in only, but just for the hotel guests it would have been great not to fight for a space! Our only other feedback would be AC in the rooms - it was an extremely hot day! But we managed with the fan, thank you!

We stayed three nights in a beautiful Superior Luxury Suite with an awesome view of the wetlands of the Bietou River. The Suite was spacious and lovely decorated. Emily's offers beside it's restaurant with excellent food a more rustic Pizzaria "Simon's Bar". The whole area is decorated in a mix of the families traveling through Africa, Asia and Polynesia. This makes it easy to feel comfortable just in the moment you reach this lovely place. We are looking forward to come here again!

I'm extremely disappointed with my experience with Emily Moon's company. I booked a honeymoon package through their website, made a prepayment, and now they claim it's not available during my chosen period. This is due to their misleading website information. Their customer service is the worst I've encountered, and their website is riddled with technical issues. Avoid them at all costs.

My husband and I stayed at Emily Moon as part of our Garden Route road trip. The lodge is located on a river, and is decorated in an exquisite manner. The reception itself is so tastefully done- I was very impressed. The rooms are beautiful, with a hot tub overlooking the river and marshy plains. We are vegetarians, and unfortunately, when it came to the food, we were let down. The menu at Emily's restaurant had very very few vegetarian main courses and the ones that were there were very uninspiring. So we thought we'd go to Simon's pizza bar for dinner instead. The pizza there was delicious, but we wish we had something to eat other than just pizza. The next night we went out to the city for dinner since we didn't want to eat pizza yet again. Breakfast was great, though. We enjoyed that- plated well, and very delicious. The staff were kind and gave us suggestions for hikes we could do, and gave us a map of Plet so that we could check out other things in the area. One thing to note is that the room gets quite chilly in the evenings. There is a fireplace though, and there are warm blankets provided for use. But even then, my husband I still felt quite cold inside the room. Would have been nice to come to a warm room after spending the day out in the cold. Overall, we had an enjoyable stay at beautiful Emily's.

On occasions words are not enough to express an experience. Emily Moon is a very special place with its location, quality of accommodation and food. The staff were so helpful and always greeted you with a smile and just couldn’t do enough for you. Our suite overlooked the river and the view was extensive and stunning. Inside was so charming and very comfortably furnished with lots of personal touches for any type of traveller. Opening the curtains in the morning was like gazing out onto a nature programme as the outside was framed perfectly. There was a choice of two restaurants: Simon’s Bar and Emily’s restaurant. The quality of the food in both was exquisite and was served with a smile. Simon’s Bar is more casual with pizzas to die for. Emily’s is more formal in choice but has a range of dishes all prepared with clear professionalism. We had a two night stay and were disappointed to leave. It really is a place to stay and eat.

What a fantastic experience! From the luxurious and comfortable room (how nice to have a fireplace to come “home” to after dinner!) to the kayaks for our use on the river to the EXCELLENT restaurant to the peaceful a**osphere, we cannot say enough how much we enjoyed our stay.

Lovely environment but the meal was rushed - we had to ask to slow it down a few times. Staff were poorly dressed. Dirty sweaters, shirts with holes. But the food was the real disappoin**ent. While some dishes were lovely like the liver and calamari starters, a lot was shocking. Mussels were not washed properly and were sandy leaving a layer of sandy grit at the bottom of the bowl. The rocket was unwashed and soily so not edible. Steak was a great cut but poorly cooked. No searing. And the Indian butter chicken curry was flavourless. All in all not the food one would expect from such a restaurant and at the prices. The food used to be much better. Just plain dismal.

We had bats living in our roof, apparently knowingly by the owner (they built a house for them on the near cabin and they migrated to ours). We had to go to bed and sleep with constraint scratching and sliding noises, that was terrible. When we brought it to the attention of the team, they didn’t even bother apologising. The dinning experience over dinner and breakfast was terrible - worst service I’ve seen for a while and average food (it’s quite expensive considering its surroundings). Stay away! The place itself is beautiful, well equipped and has nice facilities, it’s a shame that the staff is so untrained.