Food at All-inclusives in Cozumel

[edclee]

Man, you guys have all missed out on the best AI. No one has mentioned El Cid, just south of Casa Del Mar. We have stayed there twice, both AI and would not miss it. The bar is excellent and all included. Meals for lunch and dinner are off the menu and it is really good and varied. Breakfast is buffet, but includes a "cook it your way" bar with excellent omelets, fried eggs, scrambled eggs, pancakes. The buffet includes everything you could want. Still waited on at table for drinks, etc. Excellent service, very nice oceanside seating. Hot tub at the bar. I dont see how it could get better. As for diving when staying at El Cid, I would recommend working that out with Cozumel Diving World located at their own Kiosk at the Del Mar Pier. Alex is the absolute best dive master and you are guaranteed to have a great time. I have not used the diving facility at El Cid, but there is no way it could compete with Coz Diving World. Going back next May for the third time...there is just no way to be better.
Ed

 

[tejasdiver]

I am considering El Cid for my December trip, rates are really good.

 

[ggunn]

Man, you guys have all missed out on the best AI. No one has mentioned El Cid, just south of Casa Del Mar. We have stayed there twice, both AI and would not miss it. The bar is excellent and all included. Meals for lunch and dinner are off the menu and it is really good and varied. Breakfast is buffet, but includes a "cook it your way" bar with excellent omelets, fried eggs, scrambled eggs, pancakes. The buffet includes everything you could want...

Grilled octopus?
Coconut lionfish?
Octopus in its ink?
Dorado in mustard sauce?
Lobster linguine?
Squid stuffed with crabmeat and lobster?
Squid stuffed with spinach and bacon?
Coconut shrimp?
Tuna steak, seared on the outside and very rare in the middle, covered in guacamole?
Shrimp wrapped in bacon and covered in white cheese?
Shrimp grilled flambeau in orange juice, brandy, and Pernod?
...

I want a lot.

 

[greenliger]

Stayed at Occidental Grand. The Hotel was only about 30% booked for the week, so things were really off.

Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner buffets where about average not great but a little better then any buffet here.

The a la carte restaurants I though were great but it they seemed to be having a consistency problem. Some ordered an entrée at the beginning of the week that I thought looked and sounded good. So the last night I was there I ordered it and it was completely different, but was extremely delicious so it didn't matter. Funny I think they know when your last night is and go the extra mile so you'll come back.

And the pizzas where interesting worth a meal.

Since the place was so under booked it was a real pain figuring out what you had to do for dinner each night since you didn't have a choice of buffet or a la carte. And I think the buffets might have been a bit better too, it seemed like they did not put out the full buffets.

But they say hunger makes the best spice.

 

[Mossman]

Stayed at Occidental Grand. The Hotel was only about 30% booked for the week, so things were really off.

That makes for an interesting point. Obviously there's a slow season on Cozumel. I'm curious what all these independent restaurants do when they don't have the clientele to support their ambitious menus. For instance, if no one but ggunn orders the octopus in its ink, does that meant the octopus dies just for ggunn or do they reduce their menu offerings? Honestly, I'm surprised by the proliferation of higher-end restaurants on the island given that (1) ex-pats don't usually want to spend all that much on dining out, (2) locals can't afford to spend all that much on dining out, (3) cruise ship passengers usually have to be back on board before the dinner hour, and (4) there are so many AI options that keep potential patrons in their hotels for dinner. It's a bubble. Good eating on Cozumel became more popular so more people started opening up restaurants, but at some point there will be so few patrons at each restaurant that they'll all go under.

 

[judydivescoz]

You might be surprised at how busy some of these restaurants are in the low season. We have had to wait for a table at Kinta, could not get reservations for dinner at Buccanos on a Saturday night and have had dinner at Guidos during the week when just about every table was full all in August.

 

[Mossman]

You might be surprised at how busy some of these restaurants are in the low season. We have had to wait for a table at Kinta, could not get reservations for dinner at Buccanos on a Saturday night and have had dinner at Guidos during the week when just about every table was full all in August.

It does surprise me. But that only means that opening a restaurant in Cozumel still sounds like an attractive venture and even more ex-pats and chilangos will move there and open up even more. The next time something happens to make tourism fall off (terrorism, recession, hurricane), I predict lots of closings. But don't worry, most of my predictions fail to become reality. I'm no Nostradamus!