The rooms were very clean, spacious and there were a number of TV channels. The beach view was impeccable. There is no facility to make tea in the room, which was peculiar for a five star hotel.
What surprised us more was the front desk.We asked for a plate and an ashtray (for the balcony) and the reception promptly forgot. Asking them hours later they admitted to this and sent us a ramekin (good enough), but no plate or explanation. When asking the next day for the plate we were told they would charge us for an empty plate. They also suggested that we should ask the dinner service, which we did and they directed us to the reception. It was a very singular experience at a supposedly five star hotel.
The ingredients used for the food are very good, but many of the dishes are far too overcooked. This is especially a problem for fish like tuna which were rendered inedible. More troubling yet, there was a chilli for dinner on the 25 of December, the leftovers of which were used to make a moussaka the following day. This was very disappointing and the awful meals (Christmas meal was good though) detracted from our vacation. What was actually infuriating is that there were no beverages (I mean tap water or even juice) with dinner. I understand that this might be a nationwide norm, but at a five star hotel this came across very poorly. It left a far worse taste than the food. How is it remotely acceptable to not offer coffee or tea after dinner or with dessert?
I should mention that they have live music five days a week which was really good. Filipe Neves, especially, was a remarkably talented musician.The bar in the foyer is very well stocked. When he was available Renato was able to make any sort of cocktail I could think of and he was a uniquely talented individual. These were easily the best mixed drinks I have ever had.
Renato, Reuben (laurenco?) and Abel were amazing staff and if we were to return it would be because of our experiences with them. read more