1 /5
Rating
★
We selected this hotel when our usual hotel in this resort was undergoing refurbishment. It was and excellent opportunity to win our custom. Outwardly, it looks a beautiful place to stay and the whole hotel rated as 4* plus is modern fresh and clean with very nice rooms and facilities. The standard of housekeeping is excellent. However….all is not as you would expect when it comes to the restaurant. The meals and the standard of management and catering staff in the restaurant are without doubt the worst that I have ever encountered. I had read recent reviews from previous guests with regards to the standard of the food and the service in the restaurant and also the positive responses made by the hotel management to these reviews, ensuring the writers that their suggested improvements would be investigated and acted upon. It is obvious that this has not been the case! The restaurant operates one week rotation menu which is far from a 4 star experience and the quality of the food reflects the meagre budget allocated to it. It became obvious that very little food is prepared from scratch in the hotel kitchen and most of it is purchased in ready to cook and serve. With the exception of a short order grill, the food is provided on a self service basis. There are often empty spaces or exhausted positions where the food has not been replenished in a timely manner. The serving counters are supposed to be heated, but either don’t work or are not monitored causing the food to rapidly go cold as was the case with over 90% of the hot, but in reality barely warm food on offer. Even when altered to this, the serving staff paid little attention and showed no concern. Not once over a period of two weeks did I observe the temperature of the (hot) food on offer being checked or monitored. This combined with the wholly inadequate plate warmers meant that I never once had a truly hot meal at any time during my stay. Frustrated by this, despite the lengthy queuing, I decided to explore the offerings of the short order grill. To be fair, the fried eggs and freshly made omelettes made at breakfast were hot and well cooked. Unfortunately, the evening experiences was less so impressive. A fact that I put down to the chef and I use the word “chef” in the loosest of terms having been served marinated chicken raw inside and inedible and then told that it was my fault for not bring it back for further cooking when I discovered the fact! My argument that it should never had been served that way in the first place by anyone that was trained in food preparation and basic hygiene was merely dismissed. The same “ chef “ had also seemingly not been trained in how to cook fish on the grill, cooking the flesh side first and not the skin causing it to curl up into a dish like shape, but was rectified by the “chef” flipping it over and attempting to squash it flat and in the process ruining what started off as a reasonable looking fillet. I could carry on highlighting these observations still further, but by now I hope that you have the picture….stick to salads which I did and so so did most other people judging from the rapid decline in availability from the salad bar and the long waiting periods for items to be replenished. Entering the restaurant both in a morning and evening was pretty standard apart from the queue that formed whilst waiting for the Maitre d to appear at his station. All this time, the hot, but in reality luke warm food was going cold. You were not allowed to enter without giving up you room number and on an evening each person or group were escorted by him in search of a table to be seated at where upon he presented you with a wine list containing a selection well over priced wines and bottles of water at nearly 3 euros per 500ml bottle. He would then dash back to the entrance and engage the same procedure with the next guest or group unless hijacked into clearing tables that had been missed by the waiting staff or engaging in conversation with colleagues. At times, he seemed to be more a Jack of all trades rather than a Maitre d. There seemed to be very little management or supervision of the waiting staff who seemingly had no designated areas of responsibility and confusion seemed to reign, leading to my table being cleared, twice, drinks and all during my stay whilst leaving my table between courses. If possible I would recommend that you leave your table in shifts or face the consequences. On a positive note, there are a couple of microwaves in the dining room that I did witness guests using to reheat their food before attempting to eat it. To sum up …a nice looking hotel with restaurant that resembles a circus that is staffed by clowns.