Review 5

[northernflasher]

PORTOFINO (ITALIAN): 9/10 Formal dress. Delicious food, amazing service when just the two of us, horrendous slow service when we booked a table for 13 of us in the wine cellar. Our waiter several times in the last week was Mauricio and he’s wonderful. The crusted salmon and tiramisu are amazing.

 

HIMITSU (ASIAN): 9/10 Casual dress. Delicious food. They were definitely the most accommodating to a large party and would often say there was a wait and then seat us within 15mins.

 

EL PATIO (MEXICAN): 8/10 Casual dress. Better in the evenings but overall probably my least favourite in terms of service, portion sizes and menu choice.

 

COCO CAFÉ (COFFEE SHOP): 9/10. Amazing frozen chocolate and frozen baileys. Really cute cakes, cookies and sandwiches. Really nice place to keep cool and chill out with a book or to catch up with the girls.

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BORDEAUX (FRENCH): 9/10 Formal dress, we did see people turned away due to dress code. Delicious food. Its advertised as adults only but we ate here on our 2nd week with a 15year old without issue.

 

SEASIDE GRILL (SEAFOOD AND STEAK): 9/10 Casual dress. Once again I preferred the menu here in the evenings. Steaks were delicious. Open sided feels like you are dining outside.

 

GOHAN (SUSHI): None of our party tried here.

 

ROOM SERVICE: 9/10 Always well within the 30 min turnaround. Always hot.

The burgers and club sandwiches with fries are delicious.

My tip is be specific when you order, one day we ordered the American breakfast but didn’t specify each item individually and all we got was eggs and a hash brown!

 

BARS AND DRINKS 10/10

We went through the cocktail menu, they are the best I’ve ever had at an all inclusive hotel. They will also make virtually any cocktail without alcohol which were delicious and refreshing throughout the day. You can also tell them what cocktail you want and what’s in it and if its not on the menu they’ll make it up for you.

No probs getting International brands e.g Jack Daniels. The only thing we struggled to get was Baileys which they only appear to have at Coco café.

House wine is always available but the premium wines in Portofino are at extra cost and expensive.

As a condition of us being able to book a table for 13 in the wine cellar the manager requested we buy a few bottles of wine. We ended up paying $25 dollars a bottle for the same brand we buy at home for $9.

Not sure if you can get champagne at the bars as part of the all inclusive, we never tried.

The bar staff are fantastic. Our favourite was the open air sugar reef down by the beach and pools.

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The only issues we had was that they are constantly running out of drinking straws which makes it really difficult to drink frozen cocktails. And they work so fast and hard that the cleanliness of the glasses was a bit dubious.

I would advise you to ask for drinks without garnish or remove it, more often than not it had insects on.

Also on our wedding night in the desires disco my sister got a toe/finger nail in her mouth from her drink !!!!

Our Travel rep assures us that all the ice is made from purified water.

 

MORE TO COME....