Our team loves to spend some time in the posh resort town of Nusa Dua. The white beaches there are perfect for beach clubs, and when we heard about this facility at the Sofitel, we were sure we were in for a good day.
So, everyone ran off to pack for their trip to the Toya Beach Bar & Grill. Surely, this would be a slam-dunk review for a hotel with a reputation for excellence and a couple of the island’s best restaurants?
Well, unfortunately not, and this is what we learned when our team went to Toya Beach Bar & Grill in Nusa Dua.
Introduction – Getting To Toya Beach Bar & Grill
Nusa Dua isn’t the worst place to get to on the island, but its location at the back of the Bukit Peninsula isn’t the easiest drive either.
At peak times, you’re going to find travelling to Nusa Dua takes much longer than it appears it should take from a map. The Bali traffic is one thing, but the bottleneck created by flowing onto and off the peninsula makes it just a bit worse.
However, assuming you are up for the drive, then when you arrive at the Sofitel, there’s plenty of parking for those moving under their own steam, and you can be dropped off at the hotel lobby without an issue by Grab or Gojek drivers.
Once you’re at the hotel, it’s a short walk down to the beach to get to the Toya Beach Bar & Grill, which does feel slightly removed from the rest of the hotel complex.
When you arrive at Toya, you should be offered a seat without too much fuss from the staff on duty.
Where Is Toya Beach Bar & Grill? ℗, Jl. ℗ Sofitel Beach Resort Jl. Pratama Raya, Benoa, South Kuta, Badung Regency, Bali 80361
Website: Sofitel
Opening Hours: 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily, except Nyepi
What’s Inside Toya Beach Bar & Grill?
This is mainly a dining facility with comfortable seating, bar and restaurant services. There is direct beach access if you want to swim in the ocean (though towels and shower facilities are not available), but there’s no pool.
Toya is not a party destination, and thus, there’s also no entertainment of any kind at this location.
Our Review Breakdown For Toya Beach Bar & Grill
We approach every review that we conduct on Best Beach Clubs Bali with the same mindset and process. This ensures that we are being fair to the owners of the venues by using consistent methodologies.
It also makes certain that our readers can easily compare one place to another with the same breakdown for each aspect of the businesses, which makes it easy to decide where to visit.
So, firstly, we send out the whole team to the beach club in question. They may not all go together, at the same time or even on the same day, but every person in our team visits the beach club.
While they are there, they are required to grade the place from 1 (worst) to 5 (best) in the categories listed below, and they make notes of anything that stands out to them.
Once everyone has been to the venue, the team meets up and discusses what they experienced there, and takes a vote on the final score in each category.
Then, one member of the group will be appointed to write the review and to ensure it reflects on the discussions and showcases the final scores.
Finally, the review goes live on this site, where it will remain for a period of at least one year, before we revisit the venue and either boost or reduce scores and comments as required.
Pre-Bar & Grill Advertising
Pre-club advertising is important. Not because we enjoy being deluged by ads in our Facebook, Instagram and other social media feeds, but because it helps to make a place busy.
Busy places offer a more convivial social environment, and that’s half the reason we go out, right? To feel like we belong among other people.
But sadly, we’ve not seen any adverts for the Toya Beach Bar & Grill, not online and certainly not offline, either.
While you can debate the wisdom of advertising and the costs when it comes to some of the smaller beach clubs, this is part of the Sofitel, and they can afford to advertise.
Location
Nusa Dua is a lovely place, but it’s not always the easiest place to get to from the rest of the island. You’ll find that the Bali traffic can make this a substantially longer drive than it ought to be.
This is especially true if you’re intending to head out this way during the Christmas to New Year Period, when the roads can come to an absolute standstill. We’d only go to somewhere in Nusa Dua at that time of year, if we were already in Nusa Dua.
However, once you get there, you will find that the location of Toya Beach Club is picture postcard perfect, and it looks amazing perched on the beachfront there.
There’s no doubt that your Instagram feed will respond positively to this beach club.
Booking Process & Seating Options
There is a website, but we can’t express how annoying it is to be asked to call or email to book a table at a 5-star hotel restaurant in 2025.
It’s not like the Sofitel Group can’t afford to put in a booking system; they just can’t be bothered, and that’s not good enough.
The thing is, as we’ve already pointed out, it can be a long drive to get to Toya, so why would somebody want to risk that without making a booking?
And why would anyone want to spend a long time on the phone doing something that could be done in a couple of clicks, instead?
Yes, we know, The Sofitel is in the business of reserving rooms, but when you reserve tables too, it should be a painless process.
Entry Fee
In keeping with beach club best practices, this bar and grill does not charge any kind of entrance fee.
Honestly, we don’t understand the places that do charge. Unless you have a special event with some sort of live act on, there’s no excuse for levying a charge on the door of a place.
Why should people pay you to come inside and have a look around before they buy food and drinks? So, this is to the Sofitel’s credit.
Minimum Spend
There is no minimum spend at Toya, but that’s not always a good thing. While it does mean that you’re not agreeing to spend a certain amount of money, we find that irrelevant in an expensive environment like this one.
You were always going to spend more than any typical minimum spend, so it’s moot whether they have one or not.
However, a lack of a minimum spend means there’s no incentive for the hotel to install a proper reservation system.
And worse, there’s no incentive to hold your seat if you’re late because of the traffic, after all, you haven’t paid a deposit, so if there’s another customer who wants your seat, it makes financial sense to give it to them.
Welcome And Security
You will get a decent, though not spectacular, welcome at the Toya Bar & Grill. Honestly, we expected a bit more from the Sofitel, but perhaps we’re being churlish.
However, there’s no bag check, and our regular readers will know that we place a fair amount of importance on security measures.
It’s been a long time since Bali’s last major incident, and we’d like to keep that record. Bag checks help to ensure the health and safety of all a venue’s guests.
Inclusions
There is no pool at this beach club, so it shouldn’t come as a surprise that there aren’t any inclusions. You don’t really need a towel (and if you do want to swim in the sea, you should bring your own).
It’s also not really a sunbathing venue, so there’s no need for things like sunscreen on tap.
Service
What we expect at a place owned and operated by the Sofitel Group is nothing but excellence in service, and it’s quite shocking to report that the service here is far from excellent.
The staff don’t seem to be very motivated to know the menu, to expedite the delivery of food, or much of anything else.
It was a very disappointing thing to be left sitting at a table for 10 minutes before somebody even offered us a menu.
Entertainment
This isn’t a party venue; it’s a seaside bar and restaurant, so it won’t come as much of a surprise that they haven’t invested in entertainment at this venue.
It’s fine for a place to chill by the sea over food and drinks and enjoy some conversation with friends and family. It’s not a place to dance the night away.
Pool Quality
There is no pool of any kind at Toya Beach Bar & Grill, so it’s impossible for us to give any marks for this. It is worth noting that, of course, the Sofitel has swimming pools, but they are reserved for hotel guests and are not open to the public who come to dine in Toya.
Menu/Drinks Pricing
It’s a 5-star hotel restaurant in Nusa Dua. Of course, this place has substantially higher prices than most venues on the island.
We don’t really object to that. Brand cachet, etc., costs money as does the location, which is considered to be one of the premium spots in Bali.
However, we do feel that prices have to balance with value, and on this, we were less convinced.
Food And Drink Quality
Our plant-based eater was not best chuffed to learn that their 300,000 IDR ($20 USD) veggie burger wasn’t actually a burger. It was a vegetable sandwich.
The salad was one of the blandest that we’ve ever tried, and the portions of each meal were on the stingy side, too.
The drinks were OK and certainly weren’t watered down, but overall, if you want to charge premium prices, you should definitely deliver more than this.
Sunset View
Unfortunately, Nusa Dua is on the wrong side of the island for a great sunset view. In fact, the sun sets behind you rather than over the ocean.
While there is a good sunrise to be had on this side of the island, you will find that Toya doesn’t open early enough to enjoy that view.
Music And Ambience
There is piped music here, and it’s neither the best nor the worst that we’ve heard. It’s fine as a backdrop for dining but we doubt you’ll be looking any of it up to add to your playlist, either.
Payment Options
You can pay by cash or card without a problem here. Though there is no sign of QRIS which is a shame, it’s our favourite local payment system.
Exit Process
You get back out the way that you came in, and if you find yourself going astray, the Sofitel staff will be happy to point you in the right direction.
The hotel staff will give you a warm farewell from the lobby too.
Transportation
You can get ride share in Nusa Dua most of the time, easily enough, but you may have to wait a little longer for it than in the main beach towns of Canggu, Seminyak and Kuta.
If you parkeda t the hotel, then getting back out onto the road and away is easy enough.
Social Media Presence
Toya doesn’t qualify for its own social media presence, and while the Sofitel does have an Instagram, it doesn’t really spend very much time featuring this venue.
It’s impossible to tell what it will be like at Toya from the social media presence. A big chain like Sofitel really should and must do better than this.
Other/General Comments
Toya feels like an afterthought in a hotel with an amazing reputation for service and with some of the best restaurants around.
While it looks great, the service and food are simply not good enough for the Sofitel and the prices that they charge.
Our Overall Opinion Of Toya Beach Bar & Grill
If Toya Beach Bar and Grill were cheap and locally owned, we might be more charitably inclined towards it.
But when it’s not cheap and, in fact, is positioned as a premium offering, we expect much better than we got here.
There are many better options in Nusa Dua than Toya, and we certainly couldn’t recommend travelling to visit this place, particularly given the absence of a decent booking system.
We will revisit Toya in a year, and we hope they’ve raised their standards to match those of the rest of the Sofitel in Nusa Dua by then.
FAQs
Can You Swim At Toya Beach Bar & Grill?
There is no pool at Toya Beach Bar & Grill. You can wander down onto the beach and swim from here, but you should be aware that Toya does not have towels or shower facilities available to its guests.
So, that means you need to bring your own towel and deal with any of the discomforts of drying off without a shower.
The ocean around Nusa Dua is generally safe to swim in, though it’s not quite as safe as Sanur. If you have weak swimmers or young children with you, they should only be allowed to swim under supervision.
While it’s a rarity for swimmers to be dragged out to sea by the currents in this area, it’s an outside possibility all the same.
What Can You Do At Toya Beach Bar & Grill?
You can eat and drink at Toya Beach Bar & Grill. There is no pool, and as we’ve said above, while you can swim in the sea, you may not want to because of the lack of towels and changing facilities.
Overall, this is a place for chilling out on the beach for a few hours while consuming some food and drinks.
Is Toya Beach Bar & Grill A Family-Friendly Venue?
Yes, this place is part of the Sofitel Hotel Group, and children are welcome throughout the venue.
However, we should note that there are no special facilities for kids at Toya Beach Bar & Grill, and you might decide to leave your kids at the hotel’s kids club if you intend to hang out here for a while.
If you do bring your children, you will be expected to keep an eye on them and be responsible for their health and safety. There is no lifeguard service on this beach (or, indeed, on any beach in Bali).
You are also responsible for your children not interfering with the enjoyment of other guests while you are there.
Who Owns Toya Beach Bar & Grill?
The Toya Beach Bar & Grill is part of the Sofitel. Sofitel is part of a large group of international hotels with a general reputation for 5-star excellence.
Final Thoughts On Toya Beach Bar & Grill
It’s not often our team is utterly flabbergasted by a beach club or beach bar. After all, there are a lot of places here in Bali, and while they may not all be top tier like FINNS or Potatohead, they usually all have something to offer.
But in the case of Toya Beach Bar & Grill, we find ourselves echoing the comments of other guests, it’s hard to believe that this place is part of the Sofitel. The other restaurants associated with this hotel are among the best on the island.
Toya Beach Bar & Grill is not. It makes you feel like it’s doing you a favour, serving up overpriced but poor-quality food and drinks. The setting is spectacular, but almost nothing else about this place is.
We’d honestly recommend visiting somewhere else in Nusa Dua if you go. We will go back to see if the situation has improved at some point in the future, but we won’t be looking forward to it.
That’s a real shame, and we think that no matter what the scores say, this is probably the worst place that we’ve visited during our time reviewing venues in Bali.
