As one of the in-house restaurants at the Paradise Village resort, El Faro De Tulum delivers decent, though generic selections and unlimited cocktails as part of it's all in one, all you can eat price.
Typically, a buffet has to succeed at generalizing, and thus fails at specializing. El Faro De Tulum fits this category of buffets, offering a nicely balanced variety of choices, none of which rose above average. It has the home field advantage if you're staying at the Paradise Village resort. And the food is pretty good. But, I would not place it above Golden Corral or any other buffet in that vein. For the most part, the selections were fresh, nicely presented, the cold salads in particular projecting a presentational flair. But, most of it was bland, bland, bland. The "white sauce" on one shrimp pasta dish tasted Iike milk.
A new experience for me was bottomless cocktails included with the buffet price. I've included a picture of the menu, and it was quite diverse with lots of fun, fruity concoctions to try. My two faves were Eclipse and the Cool Colada, both of which had a coffee liqueur mixed with fruitiness resulting in a satisfying pop of complexity. After the first couple, the buzz we felt was equivalent to one strong beer. By the end of the night, I'd had five cocktails, and felt almost like I'd sipped a double whiskey over a couple hours. But not quite. At Gloria's or Meso Maya, five drinks would have put me under the table. So, while the variety was enjoyable, certainly no top shelf liquors being served in any notable quantity. And it's easy to feel like you're going hard, but not so much. Maybe that's the idea?
Service was exceptional, as we experienced quite a bit of attention from multiple servers, all of whom were very accommodating and pleasant.
My total ticket in USD, before tip, was $41. So thumbs up on price and overall experience. There was just nothing interesting about the food. read more