Hotel Riu Gran Canaria 4*

We booked a 7 night holiday through TUI, 2 x rooms for 2 adults and 2 teens. PROS - Nice big size hotel and grounds - I had emailed the hotel few days before arrival to request if both rooms could be near each other, they replied super quick and rooms were allocated next door to each other - Great location, near beach, shops, restaurants etc - Rooms are fairly plain but good size, both of ours had balconies with garden views - Mini bar stocked with water, beer and soft drinks, all replenished every couple of days - Most of the staff friendly and helpful, only a couple were bit more on the grumpy side - Al La Carte restaurants easy to booked on the app - Steak restaurant was good, only one choice of steak but was cooked well and tasty. The couple starters were not to our liking but def worth booking to go - We’re not big on hotel entertainment but the shows did look pretty good compared to other places we’ve been to - Not huge drinkers but I enjoyed the Amstel beer on tap, there was also a lemon flavoured beer that was good, mojitos were good (with crushed ice) not sure how much alcohol was in them - Best coffee was at the Sports Bar - The cafe in the main reception area was nice, coffee not as strong as the Sports Bar, nice nibbles and sandwiches during the day CONS - Arrived about 21.45, reception checked us in quickly so we could quickly go get dinner before it closed at 22.00. Restaurant staff not particularly happy or helpful when we turned up, food mostly dried and no labels on to figure out what options there were - Food at the main buffs was good but not exactly amazing. Any type of beef, lamb etc was usually pretty tough so not enjoyable. Platters of carrots, peas, sweetcorn made it feel like school meals. Very busy, the hotel has 639 rooms so you can imagine the amount of people in there - Hand towels and bath towels are not great quality - Coffee from the machines was ok but not great, the coffee given in jugs at breakfast time was poor! - The Sunset Bar that has a view of the sea closed at 20.00 so you couldn’t go there after dinner which I thought was a shame

I think the hotel is really great. Perhaps some of the rooms need to be worked on again. I cannot tolerate the sweetener aspartame. That is annoying, since everything except for cola and water is zero.