This review is definitely long overdue. Between work and life responsibilities, and all the sickness, there hasn't been much free time to write this review.
We booked our room for a week at the end of May, early June of this year because we had a friend getting married on property. We wanted to stay onsite instead of trying to stay off-site, and then coming on site for the wedding celebration.
Check-in was quick and painless. Gave them the last name the reservation was under, and then we gave them our passports, and then they gave us a bracelet to wear while we were there as well as our keys.
We then got a lift in one of their carts to our room, along with our luggages. We got a room on the 3rd floor, with a view of the jungle that encompasses the entire resort. Very peaceful view! The room we got had a kind size bed, as well as TV and mini-fridge.
So we got the all-inclusive package, which meant we can eat at any of the restaurants on property, except for the ones in the timeshare area. Breakfast was until from 7am - 11:30am (some end earlier, some end later, so check the buffet you want want to go to). Lunch was 11am - 3pm. Dinner times varies, from 5:30pm - 10:30pm (a la carte restaurants) to 6pm - 10:30pm (buffets; again, some buffets opens earlier, some opens later, and some may not even offer dinner, so check the buffet you want to go to). Breakfast and lunch are all at buffets. Dinner is the only time where you can eat at a la carte restaurants. A la carte restaurants also has a more strict dress code than the buffets; gentlemen will have to wear T-shirts or shirts with sleeves and long pants or formal bermudas. They may turn you away if you're not wearing the appropriate attire! Also, some a carte restaurants, you will need to make reservations one day in advanced, and they fill up pretty quickly!! The teppanyaki restaurant is probably the most popular and will fill up quickly, so make your reservations early in the day, the day BEFORE you want to eat there!
We were there for a week, so we got to try out most buffets and restaurants, and I think the ones that are more worth it and better quality are the a la carte restaurants for dinner. I typically don't care about buffets, so the buffets didn't really impress me much. Most had similar items, but the buffet I really enjoyed for dinner was the Kabah Buffet, which had a little more variety than the others.
Here's a breakdown of the a la carte restaurants we've tried:
La Adelita: This is a Mexican restaurant. The food quality was much better than the food at the buffets, that's for sure! This felt more gourmet/upscale, very nice! I'd definitely come back for more, since we didn't get to try everything!
Ribs & More: This is more of a meat-y place, so if you're looking for more vegetarian dishes, you definitely won't find any here! They had ribs, steak, and burgers. The food wasn't really anything spectacular, so I'd skip this if I were to come back to this resort one day.
Sumptori: This is divided into 2 sections, the teppanyaki, and the dine-in restaurant. Teppanyaki is the one where reservations are required, one day in advance. We had the chance of trying both the dine-in portion as well as the teppanyaki. For dine-in, you get the food that you'd normally get at teppanyaki, just not the show in front of you. Teppanyaki is only worth it if 1) you've never been to one before or 2) you're with your friends/family and all of you can fit at a table together so it'd be more fun. I have been to Benihana before here in California, so teppanyaki wasn't all that great. There were definitely some tricks that I've never seen at Benihana before, though, so that was pretty cool. We couldn't make reservations at the same time as our group of friends, so we went by ourselves, so it wasn't as fun as it could have been. Overall, still an enjoyable time, both at the dine-in section as well as teppanyaki.
Portofino: This is more of an Italian restaurant and they serve pastas and pizzas. Nothing spectacular, good if you're craving something other than the buffet foods.
Chang Thai: This is the Asian food restaurant, mostly all Thai food. This was our most favorite restaurant here. Very healthy and fresh food.
Besides the food, we walked around the majority of the resort. There was plenty to see, from all the pools (some are adults only, one was a freshwater pool- water straight from the ocean!), to the beach, to the sea turtles! There were also themed events that I didn't get to attend, unfortunately.
The staff here is very accommodating! Some of the maintenance people may not speak any English, though!
Our friend's wedding was held at the gazebo. Very nice location, on a cliff overlooking the ocean. There's no shade, though, so keep that in mind! The only shaded area is under the gazebo, but obviously, that's only for the wedding party.
I had written a longer review, but Yelp has a maximum character limit. Nice resort, a bit pricey for all-inclusive. read more