The Swahili House

Hotel

Great roof terrace, friendly staff, centrally located.

The only place I stayed in Tanzania with air conditioning in the room. Nice break from the heat. Nice place to stay in Stone Town.

Nice staff… beautiful leak.

Located in Stone Town, great restaurant, good services and helpful and friendly staff. Try the mixed seafood it was the best. This roof top restaurant has the perfect view that over look the Stone Town and one can see the prison island from here.

Reviews only for Restaurant and Rooftop terrace!
Delicious Food, good Drinks and wonderful Views. Very attentive and friendly Staff.

Original hotel, the rooms are in themselves a real micro Arab Palace. A rooftop terrace that serves a very good meal and above all a view of Stown-town A360 °. The only catch, the electricity is limited when it is on the city network, fortunately they light up a generator for the evening. To experiment absolutely.

Nice place for the sunset. The food is good but pricy. Also drinks are rather expensive if you are not coming during happy hour.

Beautiful view from the rooftop bar. It's one of the higher buildings in Stone Town so one can easily have a view of the sea as well as the town. Love the ambience and the great service of their extremely friendly staff. It's at the rooftop and an elevator is available if you're not up for a climb!

Restaurant visit only. Good food & drinks in a fantastic rooftop location overlooking Stone Town. Well worth it.

Note: This review is only for the view from the rooftop bar and not the hotel or restaurant. The view is superb especially at sundown. Due to its popularity though and the small rooftop space it can get quite crowded. So best go a few hours before sunset.

The rooftop was quiet, the music was nice, the waiters pleasant, the view spectacular. No complaints! Would highly recommend. After finding out Emerson was all booked up, it was recommended we try the Swahili House for drinks at sunset. We took their advice and had a great time! The view is a view of city skyline all the way to the water. Happy hour drinks were only 4$ for really tasty cocktails. We had amongst us a mojito, marguerita and another with blue Curaçao. All of them were delicious, and made according to the correct recipe. (Which can't be said for some of the other restaurants in the neighbourhood)

The rooftop is very nice. There have also a elevator. ✔️ The Mango Avocado Salad Is a sensation. Also the hommade creamy vanilla ice. The vegetarian Chickpea Curry whas middleclass. The fishskewer death. The Service whas always friendly. On the next day we have a toilet problem.

Rooftop has great panoramic view of the Old Stone town.

It was wow in every moment… From when we walked through the door until we left. We only stopped in for dinner in a well known viewing spot for sunset. The sunset didn't happen thanks to clouds but that didn't take away from my experience. We were the first dinner customers and as experienced throughout Zanzibar, the staff are attentive most of the time. The food was divine. We had octopus and prawns to start, and then shared a seafood platter. Drinks were great. View is one of the best. I wouldn't mind staying here as the hotel looks like my kinda place. The roof top restaurant is definitely a must.

The place was good close to a traditional market and very safe but there was things that makes my angry. The service in the rooftop dinner was awful they practically only work for the tip and before we end one of them said that if we want to put some tips that we just need to put it in a especial box that they give us. We were a big group but when we had to pay our drinks the waitress doesn't know it belongs to, he was just saying and saying rooms some already paid their amount some not. In the room the WC is not working at all I've used once and it was impossible to stop the water. We had to sleep hearing the water from the WC. They said that there was hot water I've never found it there was only less cold water. They said that the Wi-Fi covers all the hotel but if you are outsite the reception or the rooftop you can connect properly. The space was perfect, is and arabic, persian style well mixed. There are two lift and a sauna.

Unimpressive from the outside, but inside top. The terrace on the roof with a view is simply super. Nice staff, civilian rates.

This review strictly applies to the rooftop during happy hour. Disclaimer, I did not eat there but did have a drink and the staff was very pleasant. I sat there for hours nursing my smoothy and water while using their free Wi-Fi. I was the only guest there during the whole time. They left me alone while I enjoyed the breeze and the serene view of the city. And when I by chance took my eyes off my phone, one of staff offered me a map of the city so I can learn more about it. I ran into another staff member on the street when I left the establishment and she was super nice as well.

We stayed just one night at the Swahili House, but we didn´t enjoyed the time. The food is very bad and the service also. The toilet flushing in our room didn´t worked and we only had warm (or hot) water in the shower. It wasn´t repairing, although we asked for it. We also did an "spice tour", which the hotel offers us. It was interesting but in my opinion a good planed tourist rip-off!

The house was belong to riyami family.