Hotel Riu Palace Costa Rica

It is not worth it at all to go for the price they charge... The buffet, which is the only place where you can eat at midday, is totally pathetic; the food is dry and mediocre is an understatement. I have never been to a worse buffet, and on top of that, it is the only option... for dinner, they tell you at the front desk that you cannot make reservations; if you go down at 7:00 PM, they will not give you dinner at any a la carte restaurant because there is no room... the Japanese one uses a pager system and they only give them out if you go down at 5:45 PM if the first seating of the restaurant fills up... and who wants to eat dinner at 6:00 PM while on vacation!! At the rib steakhouse it is worse... suddenly they say that yes, you have to make a reservation in the morning and they give you a ticket with the time you choose when, I repeat, at the front desk they say that reservations are not made... Who wants to be on vacation stressed out, constantly looking at a clock in order to be able to eat reasonably well because the buffets, as I have said, are pathetic. The Italian one, which is supposed to be a la carte... It has four dishes listed on the menu, it has more of a buffet than a menu, so calling it an à la carte restaurant seems like a stretch to me.. the osso buco was tough and dry and the cod was more of the same, the buffet pizzas were precooked and any pizza you buy at a supermarket is better than the ones we found there. If you are only going to drink, it is not so bad, but if you also like to eat reasonably well... Don't even consider this hotel. Besides, both my boyfriend and I had stomach issues. It is the first time I have been to a Riu and of course the last, since for €1,100 for 3 nights it is not a price to eat terribly and be stressed thinking that either you are ready at 5:30 in the afternoon to have dinner or you have to eat... However you can.

Very bad experience with restaurant reservations. From the beginning, we inquired at the front desk about how reservations work, and what they indicate is that none of the restaurants work under a reservation system. The nice surprise is coming one day at 6pm to a restaurant and being told that all the reservations are sold out. But didn't they say no at the front desk? I go to another restaurant and they tell me that at 5:45pm all the reservations were given out. The reservation service is terrible regarding the lack of clarity that the front desk and the restaurant manager have. I would like to warn people not to come and spend their money on such a deplorable stay. If you are looking for a vacation, don't come here; you won't find tranquility here. What there will be are many fights, not over reservations as they tell you at the front desk, but over “waiting lists” that are assigned at 5:45 pm. But everyone is quite convinced that they are not reservations, they are waiting lists.