Café Med is located at the center of the resort, and it enjoys
a poolside view. Tables are arranged under a white tensioned awning, with sides
that staff can roll down in inclement weather (they are also rolled down
overnight, after the tables are set for the next morning’s breakfast and the
staff goes home). Tables are royal blue wrought iron, which are heavy so they
are less likely to blow away in strong winds. Chair cushions are yellow, in keeping
with the blue-and-yellow color scheme that is present throughout the public
spaces and the accommodations of the hotel. Overhead fans keep the air
circulating in the open-air Café Med. An old restored rowboat called the “Miss
Med” is positioned outside the restaurant and provides a nice photo op. Because
all room packages include complimentary daily breakfast, the hotel can
accurately predict how many customers to expect for breakfast; it seems that
the staff sets just the right number of tables with exactly the right
configurations and number of places the evening before.
For packages that include continental breakfast, guests help
themselves from buffet tables set up beneath the center of the awning. Wait
staff delivers coffee and tea, however. You can also order the meat-and-cheese
plate from the wait staff, although you must know to ask for it – the
restaurant does not advertise that it comes complimentary with the buffet. Even
when we did order it along with our coffee, we always had to remind the
waiter/waitress before we received it. (The plate contained two different kinds
of cheeses and two kinds of meat, with two slices of each item.) The buffet
items are set up on three tables: one table contains cold juices (two kinds)
and ice water. A second table contains various pastries (we loved the
johnnycakes and the little French crown rolls [possibly called a kouign-amann], as well as
the banana bread; also included were croissants, pan au chocolat, mini muffins,
carrot bread) as well as sliced tomatoes and cucumbers grown in the resort’s
hydroponic garden, yogurt, granola, tiny boxes of pre-packaged American cereal,
and milk. The third table held fresh-cut fruit (six different varieties,
including orange, grapefruit, cantaloupe, honeydew, and pineapple) and whole
fruits (like bananas, apples, and oranges). The restaurant serves the cut fruits
in ceramic tagines, so you must remove the cover to make your selections;
however, there is nowhere to place the cover while you are balance your plate while
trying to use a utensil to serve yourself. (There are some glass vases/sleeves
on this same table that occupy valuable space; if the hotel moved these
decorative objects elsewhere, it would make the fruit table much more
user-friendly.)
Service at Café Med was appalling, which is difficult because
it is a buffet and there is not much for the wait staff to do other than bring
hot beverages, non-complimentary menu items (like eggs, omelets, waffles and
pancakes priced at about $20 each, and smoothies priced around $10 each), and clear
dirty dishes. The male workers tried to be personable, but the women working
the breakfast at Café Med displayed some of the most unfriendly, unsmiling
faces that we encountered during our 9-day trip to the Caribbean. The women
truly made breakfast unpleasant with their sour expressions. We had difficulty receiving
the meat and cheese plate every time that we ordered it, having to re-order it
a second, third, and fourth time on some days.
We expected great food and service from the Cuisinart
resort, and our breakfasts at Café Med did not deliver. (However, our
breakfasts at Café Med provided a sharp contrast to our phenomenal dinner at
Tokyo Bay on our last evening, which was exceptionally good in every way; see
our separate review.)
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