Conch Salad Cooking Lesson and Tasting in Nassau

Viator tours recommended pick up location At hotel which was closed. Arrived 1/2 hour early and unable to access driveway or enter hotel. Went to nearby businesses, tour company and several tour guides to no avail. Also tried calling Viator phone number, again to no avail. Also attempted to email Viator with charges to my phone…also in utter international calling charges. Nothing worked.

TLDR: I expected so much more from this excursion. It was anything but a cooking lesson and not worth the $80 they charged. Although the 2 previous reviews are glowing, my experience was no where close to what I thought would have been offered. Would not go again nor would I recommend this excursion. Upon booking the cooking lesson, I expected to be notified by the host/organizer about a pick up time. I didn’t hear anything until practically the day of after I reached out about transportation. Although a bit annoyed, I let it go. My tour was supposed to start at 1 however that is the time the pick up was scheduled so the excursion started after the scheduled timeframe. Upon arriving at the location for the “lesson” (which was the Fish Fry street with other restaurants) the driver asked me to stay in the car while he talked with the owner. I then was escorted to the shop where the guy was still taking orders from other patrons. I expected to be in a kitchen but instead the “lesson” took place in the same place he was taking orders - a small almost closet size type of space with a small sink and counter. He seemed as though he wasn’t expecting me as the driver told him “this is the girl I was telling you about”. I brushed this off as well. While unprofessional, I should have taken this as a red flag for the rest of the excursion. As he helped the other patrons I was able to watch him make the conch salad but when I asked questions he would respond as though he didn’t want to answer and just was very “cold”. When I asked to help make the ingredients he basically responded that I should just record it on my phone as opposed to helping. I explained this was supposed to be a cooking class and according to the description on viator, I would be able to help make the salad. He reluctantly allowed me to mix the ingredients and put it in the container. After giving me my salad, I sat and ate it at a nearby bench for about 15-20 minutes before the driver rushed me to leave because he was too hot from the sun. I was expecting a full on experience where I’d learn about the history of this significant dish as well as physically make it. For what I paid, I could have watched the people make it at any of the conch salad stands for FREE and just pay for my order. This was not worth $80 by any means. To make it worthwhile they could have at least given the conch shell as a souvenir or something. I’ve since requested a refund for this excursion. But I would Never book this excursion again. Nor Would I recommend it. Also a bit disappointed Viator continues to have this excursion still listed on their site.

Our guide took us to a little local stand for conch salad class. One member of our group actually pulled the conch out of the shell, very interesting experience. One member of our group had a shell fish allergy and was accommodated with lobster. NIce substitute. Owner was a lot of fun and made the experience fun for everyone.