Kutaisi is the legislative capital of Georgia, and its 3rd most populous city. Situated 221 kilometres west of Tbilisi, on the Rioni River, it is the capital of the western region of Imereti.
Historically one of the major cities of Georgia, it served as the capital of the Kingdom of Georgia in the Middle Ages, and later as the capital of the Kingdom of Imereti. The Parliament of Georgia moved to Kutaisi in 2012, in an effort both to acknowledge the status of the city, and to decentralise the Georgian government.
We got here late, just after 8 pm. Our surly guide sprung it on us that we would have to eat at a distant restaurant before checking in to our hotel. We deferred, and chose to fine somewhere ourselves after check in - we wandered down the road and found an acceptable "German" beer house to eat in.
The following morning we left straight after breakfast, so never actually saw anything of the city of Kutaisi
Argo Hotel
Could be better with a decent manager. A really odd, and not particularly nice, experience staying here.
The hotel is an exceptionally well restored villa in a run down part of town close to the city centre. It is the staff that made the hotel a bad memory for us. We arrived at 20.15 and no dinner, or indeed any food, was available - apparently the restaurant closes at 20.00. Not even a snack nor a drink to be had. Even the bar was shuttered up and locked. The two staff on reception were not interested in us, and when we went out to find a restaurant, they were standing outside the front door smoking and avoiding eye contact with us. A couple of hours later they were still there on the street smoking.
The poor buffet breakfast was similarly lacking in staff. We entered the soulless restaurant, had our breakfast from the buffet and departed without seeing any staff . My advice would be to find another hotel in the town. The owner cannot create a pleasant place to stay just by renovating the building: the owner has to supply well trained and motivated staff, who were clearly missing here.
From the hotel Thank you for your feedback. We are extremely sorry that staying with us wasn't all positive experience for you. We want to assure you that whatever happened to you is not a standard of our dedication to customer's satisfaction. Restaurant closes at 10 pm and, if dinner is preordered, it serves delicious meals to our hotel guests while it's open. Some of our staff is new, and, at times, they suppose that not bothering guests with much attention is what guests would welcome from them. Otherwise, they are very helpful in case a guest approaches them with some issue or questions. Still, we realise there is much to do in terms of quality service training. We welcome your feedback and accept it as a very valuable observation for further quality improvement.
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Hacker-Pschorr
Only about 200 meters from our hotel, we were attracted by the lighting and atmosphere.
Arriving just before 21.00, this restaurant was quite quiet, but by the time we left it was heaving. The interior has been well done, and is a pleasant room in which to eat - you can eat outside as well, but we preferred the air-con inside The food and beer were also good
The service, as in many places in Georgia, tended to revert to Soviet times - to order and to pay the bill both needed a certain amount of ingenuity in order to get the attention of waiters who avoided eye contact whenever they could
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The next morning we drove to the Gelati Monastery, a short distance from Kutaisi