The Moon Palace Restaurant Review Thread

[cb280182]

hey, has anyone been to the Palapa Barracudda (steak house) restaurant? Ive seen a few day pictures and they have horrible plastic chairs set out... do they change them for the evening setting? I reallly wanted plain wooden ones. I have emailed the hotel but so far had no reply. thanks so much

[Woodsylou]

this is so helpful, but goodness i still can't decide! help!

[TonyandTricia]

Quote:

Originally Posted by snoopAsh I was looking through my pictures! Here is a picture of my friend WAITING at Arrecifies (Brazillian place). They do take a long time. HE IS HUNGRY! LOL

Oh, that's funny!

This a great thread! Thanks Woodsylou!!

[Woodsylou]

i have been through all the reviews of all the weddings and taken notes, once i put it all together i'll post it!

[Woodsylou]

ok, this is what i have so far!

 

Nizuc Side

 

El Manglar - Italian

buffet

casual dress code

 

• We ate breakfast here daily because it was convenient. Not the place you would want to have your wedding dinner, but a place you would go when you want a fast meal with no wait!! Great coffee, for breakfast they have tortillas with pulled pork and chicken (yum!) Otherwise the best things to eat here are the ones you put in a bowl and ask them to cook (the fish is to die for!). Regular buffet food was hit or miss.

 

Arrecifes - Brazillian

buffet

casual dress code

 

• This was okay. I LOVE salad bars and this one was no bueno. It is supposed to be a "brazilian" restaurant. The meat was okay...not my favorite place.

 

• Since we did not use our free group restaurant reservation for our wedding, we decided to use it for a welcome dinner. We knew we had about 28 guests coming the first night, so we had our WC make a reservation at the Brazilian restaurant for us. The table setup was outside, it was beautiful, they even had flowers for us. It felt so weird sitting at the head of the table, that was the first time it hit me that we were actually there to get married.

 

• I've heard mostly great reviews about this restaurant. there is an outside terrace which is semi private. they have a mariachi band. the meat is served on a big skewer which makes it a fun experience. the only bad things i've heard is the service can be slightly slow

 

• Most people love this place. We thought it was average. If you know what Fogo de Chao is and have been there, do not have your wedding dinner here or you will be disappointed. I agree, the salad bar is NOT good. Some of the meat is yummy, others are dry. The concept of the brazilian food being served off a skewer is cool though and service was fast when we were there. Just an FYI, this is the restaurant your "romantic honeymoon dinner" will be, which is set up at the honeymoon desk when you arrive.

 

• The food was awesome at Arrecifes! DH was excited about the way the meat is presented and it made for a fun but intimate dinner.

The decorative hurricane candles were transported from the ceremony site to our table and the candles lit, which made for a romantic warm setting. The wind was blowing too hard for us to be out on the terrace, so we were inside set back away from other people. When we walked into the restaurant, everyone including staff and other guests stood up and started clapping for us.

 

 

• At the Moon Palace reservations for the ala carte restaurants are not available. So, when my sisters arrived before me and tried to get themselves seated, according to my sister, they were not very nice to her.

 

I arrived at 6 p.m. and there was a line of people, I went straight to the attendant and told her we had a reservation at 6 and she said we don’t make reservations, are you here for a wedding? I said yes, as soon as I dropped the word “Wedding†I got treated a lot better.

 

I had asked for the tables for my dinner to be placed at the terrace, I wanted one long table for 30 people. I got my long table, and hurricane candle holder, the set up looked really pretty.

 

 

I highly suggest you choose the terrace, because you can see the sunset, you get the nice breeze, your view is of the pool, your group is the only one there so you essentially have your own private event without paying the price of a private event. We also had a trio come and sing songs for us (they are free), and we just tipped them to sign up beat songs, people loved it. The other good thing is that it is quiet there, at least before the Karoake starts outside.

 

We were served champagne to begin with. They told us to go to the salad bar first, then we were served meat and more meat on these sticks. The lamb was the best meat there. Compared to the other buffets, this was pretty good.

 

After the entre, they come with a big tray to show you the deserts, the best one was the chocolate dessert. They also serve coffee.

 

We were there until 9 p.m. After we went to the Karaoke just next to the pools at the Nizuc, and then we went to the Disco.

 

I was more than pleased with the set-up and the service. We tipped each server 50 pesos, we had about 4-5 servers that were very attentive.

 

I like the set up here and the fun factor of having someone serve you meat from a stick, but the food is better at the Mexican restaurant the Caporrales.

 

 

• We used the included dinner (at restaurant up to 50 people) in the free wedding package for the welcome dinner. The WC gave me two options on Nizuc side for a group size of 30 people and we reserved the dinner prior to our arrival. (Arrecifes: Brazilian, terrace/ocean view or rooftop terrace; Palapa Fragata: seafood buffet, ocean view)

 

Dinner was great out on the terrace at Arrecifes. It was a somewhat private area with people walking by occasionally. At some point the mariachi band came by and played for us. The salad was buffet, and the servers came by and served the different types of meat along with some sides (baked potatoe, etc). We had several vegetarians, and they had a variety and plenty to eat off the salad bar inside the restaurant, along with the side dishes

 

The food at the resort was very good. There are lots of choices and they are very accommodating. If alcohol is important to you this resort has top shelf everything. My DH now tells me he is a tequila snob because there is no way he would ever do another shot of Jose when he knows how good Don Julio Blanco is. We did notice at the disco the liquor was not as high quality, but it was still good. We had the VIP wristbands so if we ever wanted something different we just walked upstairs.

 

We had no problem getting large group reservations at the ala carte restaurants. The resort was not at capacity so it was pretty easy. You will need a couple room numbers though in order to do this. The day after we arrived a bunch of us went up to the reservations desk and were able to get reservations for between 15-20 people for most nights. Our favorite was the Japanese restaurant, but they were all good!

 

• We had our welcome dinner at Arricifes on the Terrace. It was really nice and breezy - not too hot. The food was good, but I felt like the service took forever. There was a huge gap between dinner and dessert - so much that people were wondering if there even was dessert and if we were just sitting there for nothing. It was pretty strange. The mariachi came out and played the bridal march and a few other lovey dovey songs, which was nice. Overall, it went pretty well!

 

• We are having a formal AHR on August 28th so we opted to not have a private reception. We had our wedding dinner at Arrecifies in Nizuc. They had a table set up in the back for us. It is buffet salad, and the a Brazilian steakhouse for dinner where they come to the table with meat on skewers and serve it. We had one problem while we were at the restaurant. A few of our guests were served chicken that wasn't cooked. And when I say wasn't cooked, it was pretty much raw. I have no idea how they thought it was cooked when they put it down!! This was at the other end of the table so I didn't find out until later in the dinner. Our guests pretty much handled it by telling them. They apologized and brought over cooked chicken. However, they left the plate of uncooked chicken on the table all the way until we left! Ick! I would have gotten someone to take it away ASAP, but I guess they were OK with it??

 

• We used the dinner reservation that was included with our wedding for this event. This was partial buffet (salad and some sides) with meat and other sides brought out to us.

 

Us and all our guests really enjoyed this night of the event. Again, the wait staff took care of our every need. The presentation with the meat is also very fun and enjoyable. This was a fun, relaxed, and great evening.

 

We ended up cutting our dinner a little short and went over to the Sunrise section at 9:00 to see the Pirate Show.

 

• Was at Aricifes restaurant in the nizuc lobby. Another slight problem.... somehow our reservation was lost. I don't know how, but I don't think this is common. I would just recommend that on the day of your welcome dinner go early and wait in line and make sure that your close to the front of the line so that if they do somehow lose your reservation like ours you will still get in. It wasn't quite what we wanted but it still worked out because we were at the front of the line we got 3 tables for all of us close together without any problem. And after we told the wedding coordinater the next day they lost our reservation we got to have a farewell dinner at the barracuda restaurant next to the sunrise pool. Which was great.

 

 

 

 

Los Caporales - Mexican a la carte

dinner service

Casual elegance dress code

 

 

• I LOVE this place! This is #2 on my list! The atmosphere is wonderful and FUN! They make you dress up in sombrero's and the guys wear a belt thing with bullets and fake guns and take pictures. Truley love this place! AND the food is SOOOO good!

 

• I've heard good things about this, there is a mariachi band

 

• Everyone raved about this place, but we never got to try it!

 

• The Mexican restaurant (Los Caporales) was also a favorite. The food was very tasty and they make your guacamole at the table, so fresh! You also have to try the Mayan Coffee, delicious even for non-coffee drinkers and the whole production (with fire!) is well worth it.

 

• dinner at Los Corporales. Matt and I had went there the night before, and it was excellent. They got our big group of 20 something into two big tables right near each other, and were really nice about it. The Mariachi came to serenade us many times! It was great!

 

• dinner at Caporales (Mexican) restaurant. This was my favorite restaurant for dinner. It took them a few minutes to seat us because we were a group of 10.

 

 

Sunrise Side

 

La Gondola - Italian

Buffet

casual dress code

 

• okay. the only time that I have eaten here...was for breakfast. This place is a HUGE room. I dont really like the atmoshere. just my opionon though.

 

• This place is huge, and it has staind glass windows on the ceiling which are pretty. We loved the food (all buffet) and the desserts were good here. It is very busy and kind of loud & echoey. We had our welcome dinner there and were happy with it, but wouldn't have our wedding dinner there. They had a band coming around and playing songs, which was cool.

 

Mo Mo No Ha Na - Oriental A la Carte

Dinner

Casual Elegance

 

• This is my #1 FAVORITE! but you already know that!

The food is amazing and I love the atmosphere!

 

• I've heard good things about this restaurant

 

• This was the favorite restaurant for many in our group, esp. the sushi lovers! The sushi was best here, and service was wonderful! They also have other Asian dishes and deep fried ice cream or deep fried bananas for dessert!

 

• Our favorite was the Oriental restaurant MO-MO-NO-HA-NA – it was awesome, by far everyone’s favorite. They bring some sushi appetizers, then some fried appetizers that were all delicious. (I don’t like sushi but I tried one w/o meat and it was really good). I ordered my meal off the kids menu and it was still a huge portion and very tasty. Everything was so good that we really wanted to go back and eat there again but we only had one day left.

 

Bugambilias - Mexican

Buffet

casual dress code

 

• I LOVE eating here for Breakfast!

 

• Since we were having a private reception, we chose to use our free dinner for a welcome dinner. This was held in La Bugambilia, Italian restaurant in the Sunrise lobby. The food was good, but I didn’t really eat anything because I was mingling with guests and taking pictures. This was the first time that everyone had a chance to meet each other, so it was more talking going on than eating.

 

One thing about dining, I will not say that any of the food taste bad because I didn’t go there looking for 1st class dining. I knew that it was an AI resort, so the food may not be a black tie type dish, but as long as it was eatable and we didn’t get sick, it was alright to me. The food just coats your belly for the drinking that you can do. The service was always outstanding and there were times that we were angry because people didn’t leave a tip. These workers go out of their way to help you and to not leave them a tip just seem ridiculous, especially when in the States you tip for service that may not have been good at all, but it is expected of you and sometimes a must to do.

 

 

Unknown restaurant name

The dinner was at a ocean front terrace on the sunrise side ... (but literally not even a 5 minute walk). I'm not sure of the name because this is the only way she ever referred to it via email! Dinner: This was included in the package. It was originally supposed to be a dinner reservation for the wedding guests at any restaurant we selected. I got REALLY lucky and (from what I’m assuming) because we had such a horrible experience planning before and after we arrived they went all out for us. We got the terrace overlooking the beach from 7:30-10 with a Mariachi band, our own private grill with a chef making made to order steak and shish-ka-bobs. There was a HUGE buffet line set up that we picked the menu for and a dessert table. To the side were 2 bartenders making made to order drinks. We also had 2 or 3 servers catering to everyone’s needs. This was WAY beyond any of my expectations!! Loved it!!

 

 

Grand Side

 

Los Tacos - Italian

Buffet

casual dress code

 

• I had breakfast here last year. It was yummy too! The place is beautiful!

 

• They have this HUGE wine cellar made out of glass. I love wine, so I loved this! This place is more modern. I like it, but didnt have time to go back for dinner

 

El Caribeno - Oriental a la carte

Dinner

Casual Elegance

 

• We had our wedding dinner here. It was amazing! The menu serves mainly seafood ala cart but also has steak and chicken for non seafood lovers. Ambience is elegant, and there is an outside terrace that overlooks the grand infinity pool. We would have had our wedding dinner there but the mosquitos were too bad that night. When they bring out the main dishes, they place them in front of each person at the same time, and present them in a special way (you'll see if you go there). It was pretty cool! Great service, everyone raved about the food. Highly recommend it.

 

• inner – Caribbean Restaurant on Moon Grand side – A+We used our free dinner reservation instead of paying for a private function. Our reservation was at 6pm at the Caribeno restaurant on the Moon Grand side. It was a short walk from our ceremony location. Originally we had asked for the tables to be set-up on the terrace, but due to the mosquito problem they put us inside.

 

We had a T-shape table (bridal party at the end and everyone else at the long table) and added some centerpieces and turquoise table linens to make our table stand out. The place cards and favors were at the correct places and there was a separate small table for the cake.

 

 

 

Valeria had us choose a set menu, and we tried to pick a variety to satisfy everyone (including those who don’t like seafood, since it is a seafood restaurant). Our menu was:

Appetizer

- Green Salad (with dressing)

- Shrimp Cocktail

- Fish Cevice

Main Course (choice of only 1)

- Fish Filet in Coconut Sauce

- Ribeye Steak

- Honey marinated grilled chicken

Dessert

- Assorted ice cream (to be served with wedding cake)

- Crème brulee

 

About half of our party got the fish (which got rave reviews) and half got ribeye (get it medium rare or it will be overcooked). The way the main dish is presented to you is super fun (I’ll save it for a surprise in case you go there). They almost always have musicians roaming the restaurant. They had a Mexican quartet come and play us a romantic song, and we had an impromptu first dance! We had several speeches, and had no trouble hearing each other even though the restaurant was kind of busy. The service was phenomenal. When we look back, we are so glad we didn’t pay for a private reception. We had good service, great food, good lighting for pictures, and music throughout dinner and didn’t have to pay for it!

 

• The majority of our guests arrived on Thursday. Originally, We decided to do only a happy hour on Thursday at the Roof Top Bar in the Grand Moon Section. We had gone up there a couple times earlier in the week and saw there was a restaurant below the bar.

 

After checking out the menu at the resaurant, we decided we would have everyone meet at the Roof Top Bar then take our chances without a reservation and try to eat at Carribean.

 

Everyone met at the Bar at 6:30. After a couple cocktails and sushi roll appetizers, some of the guys went down to Carribean to see if they could seat our party of 27. The staff at Carribean did an outstanding job. They set up two large tables right next to each other. About 6 - 8 wait staff took care of the tables.

 

 

 

Club House

 

La Trattoria - Italian

A La Carte

Casual Elegance

 

• We always eat here after we play golf or get a massage. I love it! They have more "spa" food. Like sandwhiches and lite food. love it!

 

• This place is always SUPER BUSY. Plan to wait 45 minutes or more. We gave up and went to Bambu. Others in our group went there and said it was good. Definitely a fancy restaurant.

 

Bambu - Oriental

Buffet

Casual Elegance

 

• This place was ok. We thought the sushi was good til we went to Mo Mo No Hana. The waiters were very attentive here, it is a smaller restaurant with a soloist musician usually playing. We enjoyed the food but for Asian would go to the other restaurant!

 

Not sure on where this is:

 

We choose to have our reception in the Palmeras Grill. The week we were there was pretty windy and having it in the grill helped make sure no one was eating sand. The set up was perfect. That area of the resort is very quiet after the beach clears out so we really felt that we had the whole place to ourselves.

 

The reception was set to start at 7:00. This gave us about a half an hour for family pictures first. We hired a Mariachi band to play for the first 45 minutes. This was defiantly worth the cost! This gave everyone a chance to grab a drink and enjoy the music before everything started. We originally were going to do a cocktail hour with food first but I am so glad we changed our minds. The food at the reception was plenty and any more would have been way too much! Dinner was served around 7:30 with the first 15 minutes still having the mariachi band there. This was great because they put on a little dance for the first couple minutes of dinner. Everyone really enjoyed it.

 

The food was amazing. I am still getting e-mails today about how good it was. We choose the surf and turf. The lobster was out of season, but the shrimp was to die for! I am glad we ended up with that. The chocolate cake that came with it was also out of this world . . . so good.

 

After dinner the head server broke out a bottle of Don Julio and started in with a tequila toast. They put a hat on my DH and me and did a little show with some shots. It was a great way to get everyone into the reception mode. Throughout the night they had different drinks or shots that they would bring out as a show. Of course there was still the bar. The servers did an excellent job and we ended up running back to the room to get a bigger tip because we were so amazed at the service and entertainment they provided.

[TonyandTricia]

Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!!!

[Woodsylou]

You're welcome! it'd still be nice to get more reviews from others that had been there

[NJ Hunnie]

Thanks WoodysLou!! That is very helpful!

[Woodsylou]

We've booked El Caribeno - Oriental a la carte for our wedding meal, we have to have a set menu, but that's fine! im so excited!

[Woodsylou]

double post sorry!