Azul is one of eight restaurants at Grand Velas Riviera Maya, a luxury all-inclusive resort in…read morePlaya del Carmen: https://www.yelp.com/biz/grand-velas-riviera-maya-playa-del-carmen-3 The restaurant is located in the family-friendly Ambassador section of the resort, next to the big Ambassador pool and the beach. I believe Azul is the only restaurant at the resort that's exclusively a buffet. Therefore, its value is in its ease and convenience, which is extra important for families. The dress code is beach casual. Since it was just my wife and me (no kids), we preferred the resort's sit-down restaurants on the Grand Class side of the resort (adults only). My three-star rating (OK) of Azul is based on our single-visit experience and is relative to our experiences at the other restaurants at Grand Velas, which were generally good to great. If this were a standalone buffet restaurant outside a resort, I'd probably give it four (maybe even five) stars based on the buffet's expansive selection, the dining room and patio's spectacular ocean views, and the terrific service. Let's just say it's better than Golden Corral. :) So yeah, my rating is kind of weird for this one. Again, this is relative to Grand Velas, which is an exceptional resort. My wife and I stopped by Azul for a snack on a Sunday around 2:30pm. At that time, the Ambassador pool was busy with families and the restaurant was quiet. We had the beet gazpacho, a sushi hand roll, assorted sushi rolls, and a coconut margarita. Everything was fine and what you'd expect from a high-end resort buffet. We sat on the patio and took in the views. We enjoyed it. The staff took good care of us.

Piaf is one of eight restaurants at Grand Velas Riviera Maya, a luxury all-inclusive resort in…read morePlaya del Carmen. One of the big reasons my wife chose Grand Velas was its stellar food options. The resort has four 2024 AAA Four Diamond restaurants (Frida, Piaf, Sen Lin, Lucca) and one 2024 Michelin Star and AAA Five Diamond restaurant (Cocina de Autor). Generally, the food, drink, and service were outstanding. Piaf was one of my favorite restaurants of the group. Below is how I rank Grand Velas Riviera Maya's restaurants. Book reservations as early as you can for Cocina de Autor, Frida, Piaf, Sen Lin, and Lucca (the nicer sit-down restaurants). Tier One 1. Cocina de Autor - fine dining, tasting menu Tier Two 2. Frida - Mexican 3. Bistro - casual, poolside sit-down 4. Piaf - French 5. Sen Lin - Asian Tier Three 6. Lucca - Italian 7. Azul - casual, poolside buffet Piaf is located in the Grand Class section of the resort, which is mostly reserved for adults only. More specifically, Piaf is located next to Sky Bar and Cocina de Autor. These are among the higher-end establishments at Grand Velas. In this area, the dress code is more formal (e.g., no shorts or sandals allowed) and the ambiance is more sophisticated, at what's already a classy resort. My wife and I had a great time here, not only at Piaf, but at Sky Bar and Cocina de Autor as well. We got drinks and hung out at Sky Bar before dinner at Piaf. Sky Bar is worth a visit. Before or after dinner at Piaf or Cocina de Autor is a good opportunity. It's a wonderful, swanky bar with superb cocktails and service. Piaf is what I consider a modern upscale French restaurant. It's "white-tablecloth" dining, but the decor is contemporary and the service is more casual. It certainly doesn't look nor feel like a traditional, stuffy French restaurant, though they do try to "transport" you to "the Parisian luxury of the 1940s." I enjoyed the live music, which was provided by a talented violist (or violinist, couldn't tell which). The red and black interior with distinct, ornate chandeliers is beautiful. If the weather is nice, the dining room opens to the outside with an elevated view of the ocean. Below is a list of what we had. Even though this is an all-inclusive resort, the menu still has prices for those who have to pay separately. I've included those prices, in Mexican pesos, for informational purposes. Complimentary Amuse-Bouche Complimentary Bread Service * Three types of breads, rolls, and pastries, two types of butter (regular and tarragon) and herb salt Appetizers * Lentil salad in two textures, Scandinavian-style salmon, candied carrot puree with yuzu, tangerine mousseline, ikura, and mint oil ($420) * Crispy oysters with mayonnaise foam ($650) * Foie gras terrine served with apple puree, gingerbread ice cream, and toasted brioche ($550) * Traditional snails with tartiflette, Morbier cheese, and watercress puree ($450) Fish and Seafood * Scallops with black lentils, served with lime tea sauce and crispy apple ($600) Meat and Poultry * Ribeye Angus with green pepper sauce, pasta and truffle risotto, roasted cauliflower, and herbs salad ($900) Desserts * Dulce de leche and banana fondant ($350) * Financier with yuzu mousseline sauce ($300) * Dark chocolate souffle served with passionfruit sauce ($300) In general, we really liked the food. Presentation-wise, everything looked terrific. My wife and I each only had one dish that we weren't big fans of. For her, it was the snails. For me, it was the foie gras. I thought the snails were delicious and finished every last one of them. The watercress puree paired well and was unique. I normally like foie gras and we order it a lot if it's on the menu. However, this particular terrine had, in my opinion, an unpleasant funky flavor/odor that I could never get comfortable with. My wife liked it, though. Everything else was good to excellent. I have to point out the blue cheese pastry bread. It was surprisingly fantastic and I don't even like blue cheese. It was like a blue cheese-stuffed croissant. We don't remember what the amuse-bouche was. I think it was some sort of fish cake. It was yummy. We had red and white wines with our meal. I suggest going with the Mexican wines at Grand Velas. They were the best we had. The service we experienced at Piaf was worse compared to the otherwise exceptional service we experienced during our stay at Grand Velas. I think there were two reasons for this: (1) There was a misunderstanding internally within Grand Velas staff about our reservation time. When we arrived on time, Piaf staff didn't have a reservation for us and therefore, had to accommodate us as walk-ins. (2) During our visit, the servers appeared to be short-staffed. They were definitely spread thin, rushing between tables, and not really able to spend the right amount of time with each party. As a result, the service was more robotic and less personable. I get it. It happens.

This place was mostly good. The only bad thing was the fact that our concierge booked us this…read morerestaurant and it is 12+ and I have a 10 year old. We were not told this which was very frustrating so do not believe your concierge, most have no clue about the hotel. However, after waiting for 30 minutes the server allowed us to be sat as a one time exception. The food was great. I loved the ribeye, fish with potato flakes, and soufflé with passion fruit. They can simplify the food if you have a picky teen, but my kids loved it. It's a very nice restaurant with a violin playing, but it was dark. I recommend this place but make sure your kids are 12+.

L'Alsace is the fanciest of the restaurants we tried at Valentin Imperial Riviera Maya. The menu is…read moreFrench and the dining room is grand, with a large staircase and upper balcony area. They offer a dining experience called La Petite Alsace, which is a five course private chef's tasting for an additional charge. When we were there in May 2026, it was only $59 per person, which was incredible for the quality of food and service. A similar dinner in my city would be $150-$200 per person. Reservations are required for this experience - I made them via email prior to our trip. Nate and I were seated right at our reserved time in a small room just for us. We had our own server, and we were offered wine choices by the sommelier Matin. We splurged on a bottle of wine to accompany our dinner. The courses were perfectly timed and everything was explained. The food was quite good and the presentation was beautiful. My favorites were the foie gras, fried scallops, the veggies on the sea bass dish, and the steak. I would highly recommend this experience to any foodie! They also have a vegetarian menu for this special dinner. The rest of our group had dinner in the main dining room and reported that it was delicious as well.

This was my favorite dining experience at Valentin. The setup inside is really nice and feels like…read moreyou are eating at a nice restaurant in Paris. For my meal I started off with the onion soup. This is absolute must try. It was probably my favorite soup I have ever had. The flavors were outstanding. It comes with a breading top that falls into the soup and absorbs all the flavors. It was perfect. I'd also recommend holding onto the soup if you have any left for your main meal. I went with a filet mignon. It was cooked perfectly and was topped with a really good sauce. I dipped a couple of bites in the onion soup and that was the way to go. Perfect combo.

A local recommended this place to us. We ordered a couple beers to start and the guacamole. I…read morehighly recommend the guacamole. It's a huge portion and really tasty. We added a little salt, but that's all it needed. They also serve you a small little dish of ceviche as an app and some jicama. The ceviche was really fresh and had a little kick to it. We ordered a couple kid's meals (fish and chicken nuggets) and two orders of fish tacos. We should have just ordered one fish tacos. They were very large and a little bland. It came with a spicy mayo looking sauce that really gave it all the flavor. My kids didn't really like the fish and nuggets much... but I would never factor in their dislikes into a review because their taste buds are off. We would definitely come back if in the area, but I would love to try other things on the menu. They do have a little playscape outside for the kids, which was really nice. My kids also enjoyed watching all the large lizards around.

This was quite the experience- we were guests at the Conrad and were celebrating a friend's 40th…read morebday so there were about 20 of us in the group. We had a family style prefix tasting menu and it was very versatile featuring pork, beef, seafood and vegan options. I will say that the flavors were different and though I enjoyed the experience, in the end a few of the guest were still pretty hungry. I will also say, not everyone appreciated the creativity and unique nature of the dishes but I enjoyed it. The desserts were pretty tasty to me but we also had a cake for the bday so it was a lot. The service was top notch and the presentation was beautiful. I think the food is an acquired taste.

Love this place. I visited the Grand Velas a couple of years ago when I was a guest and part of…read morethe all-inclusiveness of this resort is having complimentary access to their fine dining restaurants. Sis tried the Mexican restaurant next door to Cocina and she says its fabulous, but I made the mistake of going to Cocina my first night, fell in love with them, and stayed at that restaurant for all of my dinners during that visit. Who wouldn't love eating molecular gastronomy without having to pay $600+ for every meal? On this visit they had a new chef in charge of the kitchen, Nahum Velasco who got this star a Michelin Star. The food and service are as impeccable as ever. Since we were staying off site, we had to make a reservation to dine at Cocina and to be allowed past the moat, through the little door in the big white wall and because of that, we had a little card with my sister's name printed and waiting on our table welcoming us. Mariel and Juan traded off on serving us our beverages and courses and they were so gentle and wonderful, making us feel truly welcome. We started with some mocktails and Sis got this amazing passion fruit with coconut whip that was so good she ordered two. Everything was delicious. I love when they use an ingredient that I loathe and make me like it. In this case it was the striped bass in celery soup which I thought yuck because I hate celery, but this was nice. Last time it was olive and cauliflower that they made me love, so I adore how this restaurant has a way of making me change my mind. My favorite bites were things you wouldn't expect, like the thinly shaved sourdough bread served as a chip or the cocoa chip in the veal or the honey chew in the last dessert. In fact, that honey chew was so buttery and delicious that it is my favorite bite in Cancun. I will go to this place over and over again because it's always an amazing when tasting something makes you emotional.

Family had a chance to dine at Sen Lin at the Grand Velas on July 19th for dinner. I did not take…read morepictures but will do my best to share insights from our experience. The atmosphere is very chill and the place huge. It's located in the Zen building of the resort on the main floor. Service to quite to receive us and made us all feel very welcomed. We started with Salapao Dim Sum. Best we have tasted by far. We also had Tempura Vegetables and Tom Yum Goong soup. Both were solid. For dinner, my wife had the Siam Pad Thai. Nothing special but tasty. My daughter selected the Beef Teriyaki and some Udon noodles. She said it was the best she'd ever eaten. But the of the meal was the Gyuniku Bata (Ribeye Steak). Oh my goodness. It was amazing. The miso butter it came with was heavenly.

Sen Lin is one of eight restaurants at Grand Velas Riviera Maya, a luxury all-inclusive resort in…read morePlaya del Carmen. My wife found and booked the resort through Costco Travel. One of the big reasons she chose Grand Velas over nearby resorts was Grand Velas' stellar food options. Grand Velas Riviera Maya has four 2024 AAA Four Diamond restaurants (Frida, Piaf, Sen Lin, Lucca) and one 2024 Michelin Star and AAA Five Diamond restaurant (Cocina de Autor). We tried seven of the eight restaurants and, for the most part, the food, drink, and service were outstanding. Sen Lin is the Asian restaurant of the group and it pleasantly surprised us. Below is how I rank Grand Velas Riviera Maya's restaurants based on our experiences. We visited Chaka, but after browsing the buffet, decided to return to Bistro for a sit-down meal instead. I highly recommend you book reservations as early as you can for Cocina de Autor, Frida, Piaf, Sen Lin, and Lucca (the nicer sit-down restaurants). Tier One 1. Cocina de Autor - fine dining, tasting menu Tier Two 2. Frida - Mexican 3. Bistro - casual, poolside sit-down 4. Piaf - French 5. Sen Lin - Asian Tier Three 6. Lucca - Italian 7. Azul - casual, poolside buffet Sen Lin is located in the Zen Grand section of the resort, in the jungle. My wife and I were a bit skeptical of an Asian restaurant at a resort in Mexico and we were wrong. The food and drink were delicious. While the food wasn't super "authentic," it was certainly tasty, well made, and beautifully presented. That was generally the case with all of the restaurants we visited at Grand Velas. We had a lychee martini and white wine to drink and below is a list of the dishes we ordered. While everything was included for us, I've listed the menu prices (in Mexican pesos) for informational purposes. Entries (appetizers) * Sashimi Sen Lin ($640) - thinly-sliced tuna, catch of the day, and salmon with Japanese spices and soy sauce * Niku Tataki ($420) - finely-sliced beef with white truffle essence, sweet Japanese sauce, and pea puree Main Courses * Ped Yang ($580) - Sen Lin-style lacquered duck, crepes with sesame essence and plum sauce of the house Desserts * Sago ($220) - tapioca pearls with sweet coconut milk, creamy sweet potato, and cantaloupe with pandan custard sauce * Sakura ($150) - coffee jelly with Baileys foam, cherry and vanilla ice cream The lychee martini was solid. It was sweet, refreshing, and garnished with a lychee. The Sashimi Sen Lin consisted of the most basic types of sashimi: tuna, salmon, and I believe yellowtail. The quality of the fish was good and fresh. This dish basically boiled down to three slices each of tuna, salmon, and yellowtail. However, what set it apart was its elaborate presentation and garnishes. The sushi was served on top of a bamboo rolling mat, decorated with a banana leaf, atop a bowl of ice and what looked like what I can only describe as gold crushed rice. Along with sesame seed soy sauce, garnishes included a charred lemon wedge, two kinds of seaweed (dark green and light green), pickled ginger, cucumber slices with both tobiko and ikura (two kinds of fish eggs), shredded vegetables (radish and carrot), and wasabi. So yeah, the presentation was top notch. The Niku Tataki was another beautifully-presented and colorful dish with carefully-placed small flowers, finely-sliced radish, tight cucumber curls, and tiny dollops of white truffle "essence." The most impressive garnish was a single pea pod that had been carefully split open and displayed above the pea puree. As for the beef tataki itself, it tasted great. It was tender, savory, and cooked just right (cooked on outside, rare on inside). The Ped Yang, which is a Thai dish, was good/OK. It wasn't served the traditional Thai way, sliced in a curry sauce, but instead was a whole piece of bone-in duck covered in a rich, sweet sauce. There was so much sauce that the side of "plum sauce of the house" wasn't needed. I liked the warm, soft, delicate crepes, which reminded me more of Chinese Peking duck than Thai Ped Yang. This was a hybrid with what I thought were some odd accompaniments -- pickled ginger, cherry tomato, and a decorative assortment of vegetables like carrot, cucumber, and parsley. Both of the desserts were equally terrific. I think I preferred the Sago slightly more than the Sakura, but you can't go wrong with either. In the Sago, the layers of tapioca, sweet potato, and pandan custard were certainly interesting and up my alley since I enjoy creamy desserts. Both desserts came with fresh fruit on top (strawberry, raspberry, blackberry, blueberry, lychee). The restaurant has an elegant, glamorous vibe to it. The front bar area is gorgeous and quite spacious. Sen Lin is worth visiting for the bar alone. The dining room is large and opulent. Together with the huge, breezy hallways of Zen Grand, Sen Lin feels like dining in Vegas. During our visit, there was live music too (violinist). Service was excellent.

We came in just for a taco. They servered us with wonderful chips and beans while we waited. Shrimp…read moretacos are so good! Service was great.

Just had the best fried fish I've ever had! And I've lived in Central America for years. Fast and…read moreattentive service too - zero complaints.

When we first arrived we were greeted with warm hearts at this trendy up and coming Italian…read morerestaurant. As soon as we sat they gave us bread, breadsticks, olive oil, balsamic vinager and a sample of the there house Pinot Grigio that was excellent. It had a crisp taste and helped cool us off from the hot humid weather we were having. They also had some homemade crisps one of rice, potato and another that I don't recall. These were great. We ordered the cheese platter for starters and it was good. The olive bread that they served on the side was good as well but didn't have much flavor. The olive oil they served at the table was a little bland and given the pricing I would have expected better quality. On to the main course which we had was trofie al pesto. The flavor of the pasta was excellent and cooked just right "aldente". There could have been a little more garlic flavor for my taste but I am garlic lover. I did like the twist of the added string beans and chunks of potato. I thought the potato chunks took away from the flavor of the pesto a Intel but like I said I am a garlic fan. The wine we had which was a house Pinot Grigio was great. After dinner I had a sauvagion ice wine for dessert. We were also provided with an option of lemoncello or grappa as compliments of the house. I had he grappa and it had a nice bite with a very smooth finish. This was a nice touch to finish off the meal. Overall we enjoyed our experience here as well as the beautiful white table cloth ambiance. The staff was extra friendly and attentive to our needs. I would go back again to try some of their other dishes as this place has me interested. I would rate the ambiance a 4 stars and the food 3 with some room for improvement.