Your comments struck a chord with me. We had nearly the same
experience eating several dinners on 5th Avenue in Playa del Carmen. The
dinner entrees were all priced in the $15 to $20 range and they
looked quite appealing. But they often had little taste!
I was reminded of an early Star Trek show where a petulant alien child
had created a prison of sorts to keep the Enterprise crew as his pets. The
setting looked like 18th century Earth, but the food had no taste and the
fire had no heat, as he had observed everything through a telescope
(from 600 light years away, thus the 18th century motif), and he
had no idea what food was supposed to taste like.
Perhaps someone could weigh in on the food quality at the upper
tier all inclusives, like Grand Lido?


wrote in message
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My wife, 6 year old son and I just returned from a one week stay at the
Occidental Grand (Grand Cozumel) all inclusive resort.

The meals seemed good at first because visually they are presented
well. Taste, however, is another thing. One's opinion of the food
will vary by your taste. If you like buffets then you will likely
enjoy the food at the Grand. Overall, the food was similar to college
cafeteria food that lacks flavor and quality. The Club Med resorts we
visited were better than then Grand.

While the specialty restaurants looked great, their food was another
matter. Some of the food could be improved with salt and pepper. Most
of it was low-end fare. Again, the food was of buffet quality - Old
Country Buffet or similar. The resort could of also put out pretzels
or chips near the pool and the bars - there was nothing to snack on
except during their tea time at 4:30 in the main building.