All-Inclusive Experience: Let's talk Cuisine

A big part of travel/vacationing for me, well, for us actually, is experiencing great cuisine. I do love to cook, but I also love great food and service in a restaurant. No matter where you are in the world, there will be local flavors to try. Visiting an all-inclusive resort should not be any different. While reviewing Excellence Resort Punta Cana, I quickly realized the cuisine needed its own page, so here it is.

Excellence Punta Cana offers a number of restaurants to meet the needs of all guests. The staff was always amazing and happy to accommodate any requests we had to alter food or even double up on appetizers as we did with a ravioli that Tom enjoyed. BONUS: Trying new foods without it costing you more money! We certainly cannot do that outside of an all-inclusive resort.

We noted table service options were plentiful in staying with Excellence versus other resorts, and Excellence doesn't require reservations at the majority of their restaurants (see Spice below). Also note some other chains track where/when you've eaten, but once again, this is NOT the case for Excellence Resorts. When they say "all-inclusive" at Excellence, they mean it.

The Kitchen Table: Buffet restaurant offering breakfast and lunch. You'll have a variety of pastries, charcuteries, and traditional breakfast cuisine. Lunch was also a variety of options including charcuterie, fresh fruits, sandwiches, cold salads, and hot dishes. Dress code is basic shorts and t-shirts but no bathing suits or wet clothes.

Las Olas: Open-air, oceanfront casual lunch: This is the hot spot for lunch! Grab a quick snack bar bite and eat under the hut roof or take it to the pool/beach area. Personal size oven pizzas, burgers, hot dogs, a nacho bar, and a few other offerings. Casual attire (no wet clothing, or bathing suits allowed) and shoes are required.

The Sports Bar: No matter how wonderful and upscale your meals can be, sometimes we just want some mozzarella sticks with a beer, am I right? We really enjoyed popping into this restaurant throughout the week to indulge in those bar food cravings from burgers to wings and everything in between. In case you are there for more than the food, the televisions are showing sports to leisurely enjoy.

Chez Isabelle: French Cuisine-Fine dining. We opted to eat here twice, once on Valentine's Day and the night before departure. I was bold and ordered the escargot to try and it was quite tasty. Tom enjoyed his traditional French Onion soup on both visits because he cannot resist the cheesy crouton. Our main entrees were steak and fish dishes. Dress code does require men in long dress pants and a collared shirt and women can do pants, dresses, or skirts, what they call "casual elegance". No flip-flops or beach sandals.

Oregano: An open-air, hut-style, roof-covered restaurant offering Italian cuisine. Lunch offers vary from light salads to traditional pizzas and pasta. This is a great place to get out of the sun and grab a focaccia sandwich while still feeling the ocean breezes. The dinner menu changes and offers a variety of Italian-inspired appetizers like beef carpaccio or an antipasti dish. If you aren't in the mood for pasta, they still offer their wonderful pizzas at dinner or a selection of meat and seafood main dishes. We enjoyed the pizzas and focaccia sandwiches for lunch. Dress is casual at lunch and casual elegance at dinner.

Flavor Market: Spanish Style restaurant offering table service at dinner. You'll find traditional tapas-style dining alongside main courses. There is a great mix of meat-based, seafood, and vegetarian dishes on this menu. We did not eat here, so I cannot make suggestions, but the menu looks fantastic! Did you see the "Board" section on their website? Dress is casual elegance.

The Lobster House: Another open-air, hut-style, roof-covered restaurant to enjoy the tropical breeze while dining. Breakfast and dinner are served at this location. While we didn't visit this spot for breakfast, the menu shows a good range of breakfast options from bread and pastries to omelets and more traditional American-style breakfasts. This was definitely a popular spot to eat at for dinner as we had to wait 25 minutes or so to be seated, unlike the other restaurants that week. It was totally worth the wait for me as I am a lover of seafood. There is a sprawling seafood menu to choose from. If you have someone in your party that doesn't eat seafood (like I do), they do typically offer a chicken or steak option and a vegetarian menu. Dress is casual at lunch and casual elegance at dinner.

The Grill: This dinner option offers steakhouse-style entrees with indoor and outdoor seating options in the courtyard. Of course, we opted to eat outside. Tom enjoyed the carbonara pasta while I indulged in the mixed grill, or what we refer to as "the meat plate". What a treat that was! Don't forget to speak to them about the wine selection. This location offers a variety of meat-based dishes, as well as seafood and vegetarian options. This was one of our favorites. Dress is casual elegance.

Agave: A Mexican-style restaurant offering both indoor and outdoor courtyard seating options. We did not eat here, but we heard wonderful sounds and smelled amazing things in the courtyard from those that were dining here as the courtyard is shared. We also heard wonderful things from Tom's parents about Agave. Dress is casual elegance.

Spice: This is always my favorite because I enjoy the fun atmosphere while eating Asian flavors. Tom doesn't care for Asian food, but he is a trooper and comes along with me. Teppanyaki-style dining takes more time and offers "a show" while cooking, so this is the one spot you need reservations for. Reservations cannot be made well in advance, so discuss your options upon check-in. This was Tom's first time experiencing teppanyaki, and because Chef Jorgi made it such a fantastic experience for us, we've since been back. Besides teppanyaki, they offer a wide range of sushi, apps, salads, and main courses. Dress is casual elegance.

Magna: Magna is an Excellence Club-only level restaurant. It offers indoor and outdoor ocean view dining and is located on the Excellence Club side of the resort. We ate here a couple of times for breakfast and enjoyed the smaller bistro-style menu. With choices like building your own omelet, charcuterie, yogurt, and granola, it was nice to have table service on occasion rather than the hustle and bustle of a buffet. Dinner was fantastic here as well. This menu, like all the others, offers a wide range of dining options to appeal to each guest. The beef Osso Bucco ravioli is HIGHLY recommended by us. In fact, on the second visit, we asked for it as an appetizer so we could try something new for dinner. Dress is casual for breakfast and casual elegance for dinner service. This restaurant is one of the reasons we continue to upgrade to the Excellence Club Level rooms.

Aroma: This cute little corner shop puts the icing on the cake. It is open all day serving you the real treats you want. They have a few tables to sit and enjoy your coffee and pastry. They having a variety of other sweet treats and, yes, their gelato to round out the one thing that may otherwise be missing from your perfect vacation. Just pop in at any time and indulge without guilt. Dress code casual.

Room Service: I don't want to forget this luxury! We used room service a few times after being outside in the sun for so long, we just wanted to kick back in our room and have an easy lunch, as well as a late-night snack. We definitely ate our share of chicken wings from the room service menu. Many might forget about this option because in a typical hotel, it is overpriced and some even charge a fee on top of that, but Excellence includes room service! It is worth noting: Excellence Club Level rooms have access to a better room service menu and longer hours than standard level rooms. Either way, enjoy your room meal whether it's breakfast in bed, a mid-day snack by your swim-up pool, or a late-night craving when you're already in your pajamas. Dress code: None!

Desserts: I didn't mention desserts at any of the restaurants because they deserve a paragraph of their own. Each restaurant offers a number of options to round out your meal varying from slightly sweet to bring-it-on sweetness, giving you whatever you desire. Our very first night, I didn't even order dessert, our server brought us a variety of bites at Chez Isabell to indulge on. He simply said "I knew what you needed"... and let me tell you, he was right!

Honest experiences: I don't think I had one bad meal while we were there for a week. My first omelet was a bit runnier than I would have liked, but I learned I needed to order it cooked hard, and it was never a problem again. Also, there was a slight hiccup with Tom's chicken one night, but they were overly apologetic and fixed faster than we could stop talking about how kind and attentive they were being. Speaking of customer service, we over-ordered at Chez Isabell one evening, and the server thought I didn't care for the dish. They were extremely concerned that I was not eating dinner because I didn't like it. I assured them it was simply that I enjoyed the first half and was so full. Excellence could not be named more appropriately.

Big Life Breakdown: There are so many options to cover all culinary needs. Each menu offers beef, chicken, seafood, and vegetarian dishes. Keto and low-carb are easy to maintain here if you avoid the desserts and large amounts of bread at the buffets. The sweets were not overly sweet to me and they were small in most cases, so indulging at little shouldn't cause too many issues if you have necessary medications. The breakfast buffet does have someone making fresh eggs, and charcuterie is always available! Salads are on all of the menus. You can get super creative at a buffet. I threw together a steak sandwich by hitting the different stations one afternoon. Diet Coke and water were available everywhere we went. Tom is not a fan of garnish, so we were able to alter most menu items in table service restaurants. If you have allergies, be sure to tell them. You may need to tell them more than once, but our servers started to recognize us after just a day. We are a pretty cool couple, so it is to be expected.

Scroll above to see some of our meal pics!

For more info on that resort, check out my post here.