We were recently here for Christmas and had a mixe...

We were recently here for Christmas and had a mixed experience. The hotel, scenery and location itself are magical. Lan'ai is a must for anyone who's looking for a more secluded Hawaiian experience. The staff was overall really good, however when it came to dining our experiences were far below expectations when thinking of Four Seasons. For the record we've stayed at Oahu, Denver and Sydney's Four Seasons hotels in the past two years.

Let's start with Nobu. Before booking our stay at the Lanai Four Seasons we wanted to make sure we were able to dine at the restaurants stress free. I have a severe fish and shellfish allergy and calling ahead in order to receive reliable information on dining options is crucial to our travel enjoyment. We called months prior and talked to someone who came up with an array of options Nobu would be able to work with us on. Great! However, once we were there the story was totally different. First off our waiter forgot our drinks and starters for over an hour. Apparently they went to the wrong table, which seems bizarre as we ordered a very specific cocktail and mocktail. Next we asked for confirmation of what items could be consumed with the allergy restrictions and that's when the menu shrank down to a level far below what was discussed in our conversations. After that we waited another half an hour plus for confirmation of what we ordered being okay to consume with the allergy and were told we'd have to shrink down our order even further. At this point we're hungry and have waited way too long for everything. During this time the waiter kept mentioning Nobu's liability. This isn't my concern and really soured our mood towards dining there. Everyone has liabilities, why would I, as a holiday traveler care at all about Nobu's liability?

Next up is their steakhouse, one forty. The service was much better, however when it was time for the allergy discussion the restaurants liability was mentioned yet again. This seemed strange because I've never heard a restaurant mention liability to me until these two back to back dinners. The food was fine, however options were once again extremely limited.

The most accommodating was actually the sports bar. They even changed their oil so I could enjoy fried foods I normally don't get to have due to cross contamination concerns. Additionally the staff was friendly and never once mentioned restaurant liability.

The room service menu was severely limited and nearby dining options are non-existent. This was in extreme contrast with Four Seasons Oahu who not only made really strong efforts to accommodate my allergies, they also never once mentioned any liability concerns.

My wife and I have been using Four Seasons as our holiday getaway spots for the past couple years now and have always been impressed with the level of service and care towards my dietary needs. Lan'ai was different. While the hotel and location itself was arguably the best of any Four Seasons the lack of options and attitude towards protecting their own behinds was a major turn off. When spending about $3000 per day we don't necessarily expect to feel the value, however we do expect to not be deceived in order to fill a room and we definitely don't care what liability they incur. I'm not certain we can continually justify the cost after this experience.