With the All Inclusive (AI) option, you have the choice of eating at one of the two restaurants located between the pool and the beach, drinking at the bar in the lobby, having drinks and snacks at the bar on the beach, or ordering room service once a day per person. If you are not AI, Costa Real has a "no cash" policy: they make you charge everything to your room. As for tips, we tipped $5 at every meal (there were four of us).
Gaviotas:
Gaviotas has a fixed "à la carte" menu that changes for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. We ate at Gaviotas for every meal except one. The à la carte menu was always appealing to my diverse group of friends because we could always find something we wanted. Since we were AI, we would order appetizers and entreés. We had the nachos a couple of times, deliciously concocted with cheese and chili. The tampequena was my favorite meal: a grilled, marinated fajita steak, that came with guacamole, pico de gallo (Mexican relish, like salsa), and bean empanadas (like turnovers). The pico de gallo was the BEST. I have not stopped raving about that stuff since I got back and I could not get enough of it while I was there (and I didn''t even LIKE pico when I went). The fajitas on the lunch menu (cheese and beef on a warm tortilla served with pico and guac) were also out of this world. Another Cancun specialty that my friends absolutely loved was this soft, white cheese that came with almost every entrée. The waiters told us it was called "fresco cheese."
Their breakfast was also very, very good the one time we had time to eat it. We all got made-to-order omelets. I got cheese and bacon in mine, and it was delicious. Toast is also provided with the meal. A continental breakfast (pastries, cookies, juice, milk, coffee) is available from 6am till 8am at the lobby bar. It was very good and easy to grab and go.
The only two things to steer clear of at Gaviotas: I do not recommend the steak (my friends liked it, I didn''t) or the pizza (bad all around). My recommendation is to stick to local specialties: Mexican and seafood.
Albatros:
Albatros is a buffet-style restaurant with a menu that changes every night. The buffet at Albatros had a different theme every night and the longest line was on Seafood night (Friday). We only ate there once, on Carribean night (Sat), and personally, I was not all that impressed. For the main entrée, the choices were mahimahi, chicken in a sweet sauce, pork chops, or roast beef. I chose the mahimahi, which was decent. My friends also loved the chicken, but it was all dark meat. The sides consisted of rice, cooked vegetables, a salad bar, and several "Mexican" dessert choices.