Sandals Royal Curaçao-Restaurants

Our obsession with travel all started in November 2011. I told my lovely fiancé that I was planning our wedding, and he could plan the honeymoon, in its entirety. I did not want to worry about one thing, I had enough on my plate. I did not find out where we were headed until our wedding night. I knew it was “tropical” and that was it. For some reason, my first guess was Jamaica. I was correct! To be honest, I was not looking forward to that destination, but it turned out to be the best honeymoon for us! We did not visit Sandals (we were newlyweds on a budget), but we did book an all inclusive. From that point on, each year following, we booked another all inclusive vacation. At some point, we ran out of all inclusive resorts that weren’t Sandals in places we wanted to visit. Our first Sandals visit was to Grenada, which in 2015, was their newest property. It was a far cry from the other resorts we had visited. On the day we arrived, I remember telling Bill “with Sandals, you get what you pay for.” Since then, we have returned three additional times. Each time, it gets a little bit better. We have never had a bad stay at Sandals. Our most recent trip was again to one of their newer resorts, Sandals Royal Curaçao. In this post, I’m going to give you a run down of some bits and pieces of the resort, so you can experience it virtually. More specifically, I plan to focus on the food, restaurants, and bars in this post.

Sandals is an adults only, all inclusive brand. That means there are no children allowed on the premises. All inclusive means everything is included in the price you pay: food, drinks (including alcohol), tips, water sports, beach loungers, and umbrellas. Did I mention tips? That is one of the best “rules” they have! They have a very strict no tipping policy. Staff can be terminated if they are caught accepting tips from guests. Because staff are not competing for tips, everyone gets the same level of service, which means everyone feels extra special. We are treated like royalty when we visit. We eat well, have fun, and meet new friends.

Each resort has it’s own vibe. What makes Sandals what it is, is the staff. If you are willing to interact with them, you will have a valuable experience. Sandals is known for their level of service. In order to teach the 900 staff at Curaçao, they bring in others from the other resorts to train them. It had been a little over a year since it opened when we visited. There were still about 300 people from other places in the Caribbean training this staff, and they were all doing a fantastic job!

For food, there is a great variety. From fine dining, to beachside, to food trucks, to coffeeshops. We started off with the food trucks. There are three options, one with bao, one with Spanish tapas, and one with “Curaçao favorites”. They are a great quick option, especially for lunch or a snack. Their bao is great, give it a shot!

We are typically early risers, and like to make the most of our time on vacation. On our first day, we got up when we usually do only to find that the only spot open was the cafe, Kanaal. The good thing about this is, they do have breakfast, but mostly sweet options, like waffle on a stick. They also have great coffees. I tried getting a crepe one morning, but for some reason, even thought the machine was obviously on and very hot, I was told they were unavailable at that time. The next restaurant to open is the buffet at Pietra. I do not prefer buffets, but out of necessity one morning, we did try it and it was great. They have a variety of fruits, pastries, protein options, breads, and cereals. My favorite breakfast places were Butch’s and Aolos. Both of these offer sit down, white table cloth service. I would typically get Jamaican Blue Mountain Coffee, a mimosa, and some type of savory dish, such as prosciutto avocado toast, or eggs Benedict. Sometimes, I might add a half stack of blueberry pancakes or a half serving of french toast to finish with a sweet. All of the restaurants serve Blue Mountain Coffee, as one of our servers said to us “only the best for the best (guests)”.

For lunch, if we were by the beach, we would stop by Strand. I enjoyed their cobb salads with a side of french fries (it’s all about balance, right?). We were also able to try a local favorite called Bitterballen, it is served with mustard and comes in a ball shape, it was a really good savory appetizer. If we were at the pool, we’d usually go to Pietra to pick up some pizza to eat back on our lounger. The food trucks are also an option at this time. Kanaal is open every day from 6:30AM until 10:30PM. They always have a variety of small desserts. They do not have any options that aren’t sweet, which is a disappointment for me, but work great if you just want a small snack to finish your meal.

Dinner is the real star of Sandals! One thing to note is all Sandals have at least one restaurant that requires reservations. For this resort there were two: Butch’s and Vincent. Butch’s is a typical steakhouse. We planned my birthday dinner here. Vincent has a French flair. Our first night, we visited the sushi restaurant, gatsu gatsu. After we were seated we were offered their signature drink. Each restaurant has their own speciality drink. I recommend giving each one a try at all of the restaurants. The one at gatsu gatsu, Tropical Cruz was definitely one of my favorites. In fact, the following day I asked the beach bar to make me that drink and they said they didn’t know the recipe and would not even try to replicate it. One of the reasons it’s special, is because you can only get it there for dinner. I am not very bold with my sushi choices, but there were many options that I found to try. This restaurant has some of the best sushi I’ve ever eaten. We all left very full but eager to return at least one other night. My friend, Garrett had gotten a poke handroll. I’d never seen these before but it’s a sushi roll in the shape of a cone, filled with fish and rice, and held together with seaweed. It looked amazing, so I was determined to try one of those before we left. I knew what poke was based on my research on Hawaii, but I’d never tried it, so I definitely wanted to give it a try while in Curaçao.

Our next night was Vincent. It had paintings from Van Gogh but with an edgy theme. Think graffiti spray painted over a classic Van Gogh painting. This restaurant was one that required reservations. I wanted to try this one early. My thinking was, if we really like it, we’ll still have time to make reservations for another night later in the week. The food was French. For an appetizer, I got a wild mushroom bisque. For an entree I got the beef tenderloin, and my dessert was a cheesecake. The appetizer and entree were really good. The bread that was served was very warm and fresh, the butters were delicious. I did not care for my dessert. I am not the biggest fan of dessert in general, but this one (to me) had an odd texture. Their signature drink was also good.

The next night we went to Aolos. Aolos is the Greek god of wind, so this food was more Greek/Mediterranean inspired. Their signature drink was good, it tasted as if it had honey in it. At this restaurant, the servers would continously refill your cocktail, without even asking, that became a problem. For an appetizer, I had a delicious wedge salad. My entree was sea bass and vegetables, and I ordered a side of orzo. For dessert, I had the baklava. I felt the flavor of this food was seriously lacking. For the first time ever at a Sandals, I needed to salt not only the sea bass but also the orzo. For me, the baklava had good flavors, but the consistency was too hard, especially on the bottom.

The following night we attended the returners dinner. This dinner is by invitation only for those who have stayed at a Sandals before and are returning. They offer these at all of the Sandals properties, each week. Sandals has different levels, depending on number of paid nights stayed and a certain dollar amount spent. As you move throughout the levels, you are recognized as you move up a level. We were being recognized as becoming Sapphire members, while our friends, who had more stays than us, were being recognized as Emerald members. Usually, when you get to a new level you will get a pin, that is the Sandals ‘S’ with a gem representing whichever level you enter. For some reason, I got a necklace with a charm, Bill got a pin. But our friends who got Emerald, both got pins. It’s a beautiful necklace, and I’d love to wear it again, especially to another returners dinner. The menu at this dinner is typically the same, surf and turf. We sit at large tables, make new friends, chat with one of the members on staff and leave with a gift.

Our next dinner was at Zuka which is Central and South American themed food. This restaurant had a whole list of signature cocktails. We took the option that our server recommended from the list at first but also tried several others throughout our meal. The appetizers here were all really good. We tried many of the options and shared them around our table of four. For an entree I got the red snapper, but asked for it without peppers. It came with quinoa. Again, this dish lacked flavor. Garrett got the same option and his opinion was that the peppers added a lot to the dish and he enjoyed his. Bill got the swordfish and raved about how good it was. I tried a bit and it was better than the red snapper, to me. Dessert was tres leches, it was good, not delivered as I expected. More tres leches with a twist.

Our next evening, was my birthday dinner at Butch’s. This is where most people go to celebrate. That night, I was the fourth person to celebrate a birthday, while we were in there. There was also a couple celebrating their anniversary. The speciality cocktail was “The Explorer”, it was very good, almost like the liquid form of a chocolate covered cherry. I ordered the surf and turf but without the lobster tail, instead they gave me two steaks, which was way too much. My sides were baked potato and crispy brussel sprouts. I had truffle fries as an appetizer. The servers put together a little selection of small desserts and brought it out with a candle and sang to me. The meal was amazing! The steaks were just right, the fries were really good, as were the sides. A very good birthday meal!

Our final dinner was at Pietra. Here, they offer a themed buffet each night, but also have a menu with Italian options. But first, we returned to gatsu gatsu to have the hand rolls as an appetizer. I got the poke hand roll without salmon, only tuna and added avocado. It was all I had hoped for. The fish was so fresh, literally made right in front of us, as we watched. But back to Pietra, the signature cocktail was a limoncello, and it was great! Garrett and I decided on the lasagna for our meals. Bill got veal which he thoroughly enjoyed and Ashley got fettuccini alfredo. That night I was very ill. On the way to breakfast the following morning, I told Bill that if Garrett also got sick it was probably the lasagna as the culprit. He was also sick, so we decided that it had to be the lasagna. It tasted good, but for some reason it was really hard on my and Garrett’s stomachs.

In conclusion, one of the best parts of all inclusives is the food. Do you really like lobster, but never order it due to the price in restaruants? Order it here, heck order two if you’d like! You can have any and everything just the way you want it. I stay in a state of perpetual fullness at Sandals. There are so many choices and options and I enjoy trying all of them. The hardest part is holding back from trying too much.

I am just getting started telling all about our trip to Curaçao. I still want to feature the highlights of the resort, our excursions, and what made our stay so special. So stay tuned as we Goforth and Explore more of Sandals Royal Curaçao. In the meantime, if you’re interested in booking a stay at Sandals, you can Goforth and Get It! You too can try each and every one of these amazing restaurants and be pampered on a daily basis. Just click the Goforth and Get It link and it’ll take you to a quote request form. Fill out a few details, and I’ll get back to you with pricing and we can get your vacation booked! Whenever you’re ready to bask on a beautiful beach, you can book with Brittany!