- DP has two main restaurants, Aphrodite and Pearl. A couple nights a week they create a sushi restaurant, Suki, on the veranda outside Pearl Restaurant...where they have two, maybe three long communal tables for the sushi service. It's a very pleasant setting, but the food service is from the Pearl kitchen. Although the website states it is open four nights a week, I think that depends on occupancy rates. While we were there, it was open Wednesday and Friday only.
Aphrodite is DP's all purpose restaurant. It is located next to the south end of the pool. Breakfast is served from 7am til 11am. Lunch from noon till 5pm. And dinner 5 till 10pm. It is a beautiful setting with wall to wall, floor to ceiling glass on two sides which surround the dining area. At breakfast and lunch, the setting is modernly sleek; bare tables etc. For dinner, white table cloths are added and bring the environment up to a perfectly acceptable atmosphere for dinner.
Breakfast and lunch attire is very casual. Guys need to throw on a tee, bottom and sandels. Women need just something noding in the direction of a coverup. We observed one couple who walked in for lunch with her topless and in a thong. She was confronted by at least two staff saying she needed to leave unless covered. But she powered her way through the buffet, saying they were just getting a few things and taking them to go. Struck me as just another example of people who say...rules are for others, but not for me. Its just not that difficult to grab a towel from the concierge, use it as a wrap for 5 minutes, get your food and go. Oh well.
Pearl Restaurant is in the same building structure as the lobby. It has a modernistic feel, with chrome, slate, crystal etc. And some unique, supposedly sexual artwork on the walls. This is the place for ladies to wear their sexiest clubware (not necessarily their outfits for the disco theme, but that would work too). Guys need to step it up with long trousers, collared shirts and full shoes.
Now the food. I'm admittedly a bit of a food snob. My SO prides herself on not being "picky". Why she views that as a virtue I don't understand. But here goes. Recognizing my bias, I try to gear my assessment in fairness. It is an all inclusive resort afterall, and not likely to be perfect.
Breakfast at Aphrodite...no complaints. They put out a colorful and flavorful buffet spread each day. Magnificent fruits, mango, pineapple, melons etc. A cheese selection that covers the territory. Cereal, oatmeal, sweet muffins, juices, and meat...bacon, stewed pork in roasted peppers. It goes on and on.
But beyond the buffet, ask you waiter for what is available from the kitchen. Omlettes to your liking, waffles, pancakes, and "benedict eggs".
At this point I need to mention how wonderful the serving staff is...and by that I mean the ENTIRE staff. Maid service, bellmen, pool concierges, restaurant servers, bartenders...at ALL LEVELS...the staff could not be more friendly, wanting to help, sincerely wanting to make your personal experience at DP the best possible stay you could imagine.
Back to breakfast...the second day we discovered in our closet two robes (more like sultan shiek covers). They are PERFECT for slipping on each morning over nothing and walking the ninety seconds to Aphrodite to have coffee, or a bloody mary, and breakfast. Or, go have coffee, then head to the spa for a morning session on the treadmill, weights etc. DP has a very good quality spa facility. It became my place to go to shower and shave since we only had one bathroom. It was literally one minute from our room.
Having said that, i think that one of the best aspects of DP is its efficient layout. It's designed in a concave (I think that's right orientation). As such, there is no spot on the property from which it takes more that 90 to 120 seconds to traverse to another. We were at the north end. Ninety seconds to Aprodite at the south end. One minute to the spa or lobby. Ninety seconds (in heels) to Pearl Restaurant).
And the layout makes security very easy and effective. On Saturday night I went for pizza served on the veranda off Pearl Restaurant next to the lobby at about midnight. I would not have been concerned if my SO had made the sixty second (sans shows) walk.
OK, back on topic.
Aphrodite at lunch has the same vibe as breakfast. But they fire up the oudoor grill with burgers, chicken breasts, fish and such. One day they had ceviche being prepared,and another day crepes with savory filings. The buffet remains flavorful and colorful with selections similar to breakfast, but more emphasis on meats and salad fixings. Now there is a lunch menu, with grilled salmon, specialty burgers, fish tacos etc. We had the fish tacos, and the salmon, and the burgers. Mexican beef is not like USDA and I would not order again. The fish tacos were very good, especially with the salsas they prepared. And I think the salmon is the very best dish they prepare at DP. The first time I had it was at lunch at Aphrodite the first afternoon. It was at least an eight once fillet. As such it was slightly undercooked. But the outside that was, was perfect.
My takeaway, at Aphrodite, go for the simple, familiar stuff. They do it well.
Now for Pearl Restaurant's food. BIG disappointment. First, I was put off the first evening (Wednesday) when we arrived at about 7pm. There was only one couple already seated at a table for two next to the expansive windows. Our host showed us to the worst table in the house ( the one right next to the swinging door from the kitchen where we would listen to the kitchen noise all during dinner and have the banging of the waiters hitting the door all night long. Did I look that nieve or dumb? ) I've been stuck at similar tables over the years when there was no other choice. But here was a guy trying to stick us there just to get rid of his worst table
early on. REALLY BAD START.
Dinner was the Aphrodisiac Menu. Cute, but not. My SO had a chicken cutlet labeled "The Honeymoon". It was a damn chicken cutlet in a pretty unmemorable sauce.
I had a duck breast, don't remember the cutsy name, but it was so overcooked as to make it unworthy of eating.
We were back the next night for the Medeteranio Menu. Same result. The wonderfully sounding appetizers,
salads, etc. are wonderfully presented on the plate, but just don't come close to hitting the mark. On a scale of 1 to 10, with 10 being superb and 5 being passable, I give Pearl a 6. If you order carefully, you can raise it to a 7 or seven and a half.
They switch the menus back and forth between Aphrodite and Pearl. Italian one night at one, Aphrodisiac at the other, or Medeteranio at one and Mexican at the other. Just decide what you are in the mood for. But for dinner...aim for really simple either place.
That brings me to the late night pizza. Don't know when they start. But when you wait till midnight to eat at a resort, any pizza is ok.
OK. In the home stretch. The Disco, theme nights and ? Let me know if you have questions you'd like covered.
