Little Polynesian Resort

Rating: 3

We ate lunch here in May 2023.

Pork belly wrap
Sizzling Mongolian beef

That’s more like it Raro! This was easily the best meal we’ve had on the island, and truly a delight. The pork belly was juicy and sweet with great cracking and a nice homemade pawpaw chutney. The Mongolian beef was exactly what you’d expect - boiling hot, sticky, sweet and saucy. It wasn’t reinventing the wheel, but it did the wheel very nicely.

It’s our last day in Raro, and we’re ready to comment on the service. All the advertising says that the people of Rarotonga are incredibly friendly and helpful. Nah bro. With a few notable exceptions (the barman at Captain Andy’s, the market pearl salesman, and Luther our dawn walk tour guide) the service has been actually pretty chilly. Lani, our server at Little Polynesia, was a good personification of this. Honestly, she seemed like she’d rather we weren’t there. Don’t get us wrong, the service wasn’t bad. She ticked the boxes that she had to tick. But she did the bare minimum and that was all. Even when we threw her some softballs, like asking about what fruit was in the chutney, we didn’t get much back.