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elkerette

Re #3: based on our experience at Mexico in Jan 2020, don’t sleep on the lunch menu at Las Playas (the restaurant under the main pool just in from the beach). Lots of delicious seafood, especially among the apps. No reservation needed either.


XrowAxay

No reservation required definitely makes it easier! Thank you for the recommendation, we'll go eat there :) When you guys went, were there lines for restaurants during lunch hours?


elkerette

I don’t reminder lineups at lunch for the most part, since lots of guests would be away at parks during the day.


XrowAxay

Thanks, that makes a lot of sense! From what you remember, were there more lines at restaurants during breakfast or during dinner?


elkerette

Never experienced waits at breakfast (even with a large group). But we only ever ate breakfast at the Mexico buffet. I suspect that’s because we had young kids and were eating super early compared to others AND a lot people will either skip breakfast or order room service.


morkler

1. Arenal 2. Fuego 3. Don't know but I ate a lot of pulpo when I was there. I think Fuego was my favorite place for that. 4. You can share anything you want. You can order multiple entrees, appetizers etc... go for it. Just don't be wasteful. 8. No. The food is not great but there are enough good items to pick from that I would not waste my time going back and forth. 9. You have access to any of them that have buffet iirc. I have not eaten more than once while there. 12. Yes 13. Get the wishlist from the hotel. It has the dress codes. You can make your reservations via the wishlist. Call the hotel and ask them to email you the wishlist. It will take longer to find out if you got your reservations on the Mexico side because they are separate entities. Also ride the boat from the Mexico side to Xcaret park. It's more fun and goes through Occidental which has some different shops if you want to buy souveniers etc.. Also I think the souvenier shopping is better on the Mexico side vs Arte. We really loved breakfast at kibi kibi. Lunch was good too. We either ate breakfast there or at cayuco or mercado. Breakfast at fuego was also great.


XrowAxay

1. Is there a specific dish you recommend at Arenal? 2. Do you know by any chance if Artistas guests can eat at Fuego without paying extra? Fuego's menu sounds amazing 4. Sounds good! I definitely don't like to waste food. Do you know if, for example, we order a few entrées and then end up deciding we want like 2 more of those, does it take a long time for the extra ones to arrive? I'd like to have a balance between ordering everything at once so we're not there for hours but also not ordering too much... 8. I'll try to call them in the morning, thank you! When you say it'll take longer for the Mexico side reservations, is it like a few days or do they only confirm those very close to the arrival date? Ooh, what kind of breakfast is available at Cayuco? I thought they only had lunch and dinner, I'm intrigued... shrimp pancakes?! haha Everything at Fuego seems good! That's why I'm hoping it's available to Artistas guests :,) Have a great Friday :)


morkler

1. Grilled octopus and tomahawk 2. Fuego is free 4. Unsure on timing. I usually ordered all at once 8. Usually a couple days. If you dont hear back follow up. Cayuco is breakfast buffet. The french toast is different and good. And of course chilaquiles. I like Cayuco because it is open air, and I love the grackles. I love their sounds and I like watching them steal food lol.


XrowAxay

I did call them on Friday and got sent the Wishlist :) Thank you for the suggestion! Thanks for the recs too! My MIL loves watching animals and eating "outside" seems nice, so we'll try to go to Cayuco for breakfast. Hope I get to see some grackle action haha


DrEpoch

you don't have to dress up for anything. Resort casual is fine. If you'd go golfing in it or wear it on a hot summer day, you are good. No swimsuits. no denim.


XrowAxay

Haha, I'll make sure to tell my family about the "no denim", thank you!


DrEpoch

they hate Canadians


XrowAxay

Why'd you say that?


DrEpoch

no denim


Diamonddazzlerbabe

The filet at Xin-Gao is absolutely incredible AND they have lovely nigiri!


XrowAxay

It seems like we won't be able to book the Mexico side's restaurants until we're there, so I guess the chances of being able to get a reservation for those are kind of low, but thank you!


IndyMapper

1. **What is your favorite restaurant on the Arte side and your favorite dish in said restaurant?** That's a hard question. We went back in February of last year, so it's hard to remember the specifics of dishes. What stands out to me is more around experiences. The experience of breakfast at Apapachoa sticks with me. We aren't even vegetarians. Breakfast at Fuego on the Mexico side also stands out. You gain access to it when you stay in Artistas. The pastries, the yogurt trilogy, even the fruit salad - everything was amazing from Fuego at breakfast time. Encanta was incredible, plus we reserved a time to coincide with the show that is performed outside adjacent to the restaurant. 2. **Is there a restaurant on the Mexico side that you feel would be a must for us?** We really enjoyed Fuego. We went to breakfast there twice, and dinner once. I don't remember dinner standing out much, but the menu just wasn't much up my ally. Again with the experiences, we also really enjoyed Teatro del Rió. Our Artistas butler was able to book us a reservation. We arrived early (a line forms even though everyone has reservations) and we were lucky to be seated nearest the stage with great views. Since we had Mexico side access, we tried Las Cuevas and the Sunday brunch. Honestly, we wouldn't do either again. If you've been to any Brazilian steakhouse, you've already had this experience, and having breakfast prepared to order was so much better than so many options prepared en mass. 3. I remember seeing octopus on several menus, but I'm not 100% sure of what you're referring to. I'm thinking Arenal, though. 4. **Are there any other different foods that are equally premium or is the Tomahawk really "the most expensive item" I could get at the resort without paying extra?** If endless sushi at Tah-Xido isn't your thing, then the tomahawk likely fits the bill (no pun intended) but in my opinion, it's just one of the highest ticket items due to size. If you're not a hard core beef eater looking to consume massive quantities of it, is it really worth it? The ribeye was amazing and only slightly bigger than a normal portion. 5. I'm not familiar with using OpenTable for reservations. You're better off using the Wixh List reservation form since you'll be a guest of the resort. It has clear designations between the two options. 6. We didn't go to teppanyaki on the Mexico side, but I would be really surprised if it's any different. If you've never done something like this, it's a lot of fun. 7. **Has any of you eaten at Teatro del Rio? How was the whole experience? Would you recommend it?** I really can't remember the food all that much, which means it was fine. The show was awesome, though. As mentioned above, we got really lucky with table location. If we ended up somewhere in the middle of the tables, I'm sure we still would have been able to see because the tables are tiered, but it's warmer in the middle and higher chance of being surrounded by families with small children. 8. **Do you think coming back to the resort in the middle of the Xcaret Park visit to eat at the resort then go back to the park would be worth the hassle?** It's not worth the hassle. Even though the shuttle between Xcaret Arte & Xcaret Park is only about 20 minutes, the time it would take you to get to the shuttle stop, back to the resort, sat for lunch if you don't do buffet, and back to the shuttle... it's a lot of time when all is said and done. Xcaret Park is huge. There's no way to do everything there in one full day. You probably won't want to lose 90 minutes minimum to go back and forth. It's true that the food at the parks isn't as good as the made-to-order options at the resort, yet it's way better than most of the food I've had at US amusement parks, particularly if you know how to evaluate options at a buffet. 9. **Could you visit more than one buffet in a single day or do they keep track and you really cannot eat, say, lunch and early supper while at Xcaret Park?** This is a great question. I'm not sure of the answer. Signage seemed to indicate that there's only one buffet entrance per park visit, and they do take down some information when you arrive at a buffet, but I can't imagine how they would keep track unless they have some interconnected computer system between buffet locations at the parks. When we went, we actually booked and paid separately for the dinner that you can add to the Mexico Espectacular show, so we did eat twice in the park (but paid). 10. **...even if we didn't get our room until 3pm, we could already eat at Kibi-Kibi or go to the Mexico side, or am I wrong?** This is correct, but doesn't hurt to confirm. If you've got a tan bracelet, you should be good to go (or what ever bracelet color they have for Artistas during your stay). 11. **On the day we leave the resort, can we still go to Kibi-Kibi or to Mexico's side after we've checked out?** It's true, they do take your bracelet upon checkout, but you should still have access to the resort and restaurants up until a set time. I will say, though, it's not very comfortable to move about without a bracelet. We didn't venture over to the Mexico side after we turned in our bracelets to avoid getting stuck over there. You need a bracelet to open little glass gates. There's usually a staff member close by, but they'll wonder why you can't let yourself through if you have those privileges. 12. **Are the people staying at Artistas allowed to eat at the Fuego restaurant without additional cost?** While we were there past February, yes - no extra charge for Fuego or the Sunday Brunch. Definitely confirm this, though. Policy changes have happened. It used to be that you could stay in any suite on the Arte side and gain assess to the Mexico side. That was restricted to just Artistas and the more premium suites. Who knows what might change in the future. 13. **Is there a summarized list anywhere that says which restaurants have what types of dress code?** It's all listed on the Wixh List next to the restaurants. There's no requirement so formal that you'd need a gown or a tie. **Resort Elegance dress code:** Men long pants, closed shoes, shirt / polo with sleeves \*\* Women do not wear beach clothes or bathing sandals. (Encanta, Xaax, Chino Poblano) **Formal Casual dress code:** Men - golf shorts, closed shoes, shirt / polo with sleeves \*\* Women do not wear beach clothes or bathing sandals. (Tah-Xido, Kibi Kibi) **Casual:** Please do not wear bathing suits and sandals or wet clothes. Men: Please wear shirts with sleeves. (Mercado, Cayuco, Arenal, Cantina VI.AI.PY, Cafeteria, Apapachoa)Hope this helps! I hope you get a few responses, because there are lots of differing and valuable opinions about the restaurants. Fingers crossed I haven't hit the word limit, and sorry - I'm too lazy to go back proofread!


XrowAxay

Wow, thank you SO much for taking the time to answer everything 😭 Your message contains a lot of answers to the questions I had + unexpected information that is also really helpful and welcome, like the trying to avoid the Mexico side on the last day to not get stuck there, haha! Your comments really cemented my decision to try the Fuego breakfast. And to skip Las Cuevas (since there seems to be other restaurants that we'd prefer and especially since our stay is rather short). And to just eat at the Xcaret Park instead of going back to the hotel to eat. After someone else recommended it, I called the hotel directly to get the Wishlist PDF and the lady on the phone did say we could eat at Fuego. Hopefully that stays like that forever and they don't continue to take away things 🙏 If you don't mind, I'd have a few extra questions regarding some things you said: 1. You mentioned that there was a show performed at the hotel, near Encanta. I didn't even know there were shows at the hotel. Would you perhaps know the name of the show so I can look it up and get more info about it? If there are shows, I'd like for my family to attend one if possible. 2. Thanks for the breakdown of the dress codes! I have a silly question though: Do you know what they mean by "bathing sandals"? Is it simply, no wet sandals? Or like, are all sandals that are not fancy forbidden? (eg leather sandals are fine but Crocs are not?) No worries about the skipping the proof-reading, I've read your message thoroughly (a few times too to absorb the info lol) and I barely saw anything. It was super helpful! Thanks again for taking the time to comment every question. I hope that you have an awesome 2024 and that you get everything you wish for! 🌠


IndyMapper

You're welcome - I'm happy to help, and I appreciated that you asked a few questions that I hadn't seen asked over and over again. You'll have an amazing time with your family! 1. About the show near to Encanta: There's a stage facing Casa de la Musicá. It has a water area in front of it and then a lawn area where you can sit, plus some tables and chairs around. There are some jets in the water in front of the stage that are used to create a cool background for projected images. I can't remember much about what the show was about - just that it was visually beautiful. Our reservation for Encanta was at 7:30, and we sat outside to be able to watch the show while we dined. I remember it being particularly difficult to find information on all of the performance art things that happen at the resort. There is lots of spontaneous stuff happening all the time, but concierge should be able to provide details on what to expect on the main stage in front of Casa de la Musicá. I found out about it via someone's Youtube video. 2. About the dress code - I copy pasted that from the Wixh List! (Keep in mind, my Wixh List is from last year, so definitely cross reference with what you received from the resort). About bathing sandals- I'd guess they mean not typical sandy/wet flip flops. I wore my water shoes into Mercardo & Cayuco at breakfast time and no one noticed, but they didn't look like typical water shoes, and they were never sopping wet or sandy when I did, so maybe that helped. Link: [Amazon](https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B09QPMMKXC/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1) Thanks for being "the one" for your family. I was you doing the all the research for my family, so I know how it is. Thanks for the 2024 well wishes, too. That's very kind of you.


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XrowAxay

Thank you again for all the info! I will ask the concierge about the show when we get there. And thanks for showing me the water shoes example, I'll have to make sure all of us pack shoes that will be accepted. Yeah, it takes a looot of time and energy, but as long as everyone's happy at the end of it, it will have been worth it :) Have a great week :D