The Iberostar Resorts are all-inclusive resorts, meaning your food and drinks are included in the cost of your vacation package. You could get something to eat or drink pretty much 24 hours a day. There is a huge variety of food. The presentation was fabulous; however, in most cases, the taste was only so-so at most. To add insult to injury, most of us complained of bubbling stomachs during our stay. We were warned not to drink the tap water. Fortunately, housekeeping was very good at making sure our room always had a supply of bottled water.

Each resort has a main dining room where breakfast, lunch, and dinner buffets are served daily. We all normally met for breakfast each morning but did not worry about coordinating schedules for other meals.

My wife and I normally ate lunch at the grill near the pool and beach. Grilled food such as hamburgers (smelled good but didn't taste like beef), hot dogs, chicken, kabobs, and pork chops (pretty good) were served there. There was also a nice little ice-cream stand.

In addition to the main dining room, there are several specialty dinner restaurants at the resort. These include La Sabilia (seven-course gourmet), a Mexican restaurant, an Oriental restaurant, a steakhouse, an Italian restaurant, and the Rock Cafe (American). With the exception of the Rock Cafe, you are required to make reservations for the specialty restaurants. I guess this is necessary to avoid a situation that we experienced on our last night, when we showed up at the Rock Cafe for dinner only to be told there is an hour wait to be seated. There is a dinner reservation desk at the resort, but you must make your reservation before 3 pm.

You are guaranteed to get reservations in at least two restaurants during a 1 week stay. My wife and I managed to eat at all the restaurants at the resort. I wasn't impressed with the food in any of the specialty restaurants other than the steakhouse, the Rock Cafe, and the Mexican restaurant. I don't actually like Mexican food, but the chicken wings on the appetizer buffet were good and the dessert buffet was good. The Rock Cafe was also good, but don't expect to carry on quiet dinner conversation. The stereo was blasting in that place. Some nights, if we didn't enjoy our dinner at a specialty restaurant, we would just head over to the main dining room and get something to eat from the buffet there.

Regardless of where you ate dinner, the resort has a dress code for dinner. Beachwear is not allowed and men must wear long pants. The dress code was enforced.

I read lots of reviews before going on the trip and most described the food as decent, but nothing special. We found that really hard to believe because we both found the food to be quite delicious. It's true that some items were a bit mediocre, but we always found something very tasty to eat at every meal. I especially enjoyed the constant availability of mussels, cooked in a variety of seasonings. The salad bar is not what you would find in a typical American restaurant, as there are more prepared salads than separate greens and toppings. There was always a great variety of both hot and cold foods, and we liked having the opportunity to sample lots of different things. Because you can serve yourself, you can take whatever portion size you choose. If you want to try just a bite, you can. One personal favorite was the dish of mini empanadas (turnover with sweet or savory fillings) available at breakfast. They were very good.

We never lacked anything at any meal and our servers kept our places clear and our glasses filled. They were always smiling and always pleasant for a quick chat.