Review: Iberostar Selection Paraíso Lindo Dining (Mexico)

This is part two of our review of staying at the Iberostar Selection Paraíso Lindo in Mexico.

In this post we will be discussing all the dining we experienced at the resort. After staying 7 days, we barely scratched the surface of all the food and beverage options on the property.

If you read our previous post, you saw we stayed at the Lindo, but purchased an upgraded access to all of the Maya amenities. That gave us some additional dining and bars that we normally would not be able to use if staying at the Lindo, Beach, or Delmar sides of the property.

La Pagoda buffet

The first thing we did after checking into the resort and dropping our stuff off at the rooms was go and eat at the La Pagoda buffet, which is shared between the Maya and Lindo resorts.

The first thing we appreciated is that the La Pagoda buffet is indoors, which means air conditioning. For guests staying over at the Beach/Delmar buffet, theirs is open air.

After our waiter took our drink order, we were free to go and enjoy the lunch buffet.

The selection was absolutely incredible. So many different options from Mexican dishes, fresh fruit and salad, meat and cheese trays, pizza, burgers, sandwiches. The choices felt endless.

As previously mentioned, our family has a cruising background, so we are familiar with the buffet. Honestly, I felt the selection of items at the Iberostar rivaled any cruise buffet, if not better.

The food was all excellent with so much variety of options.

Trattoria El Faro (Beach/Delmar)

For our first evening dinner, we opted to walk over to the Beach/Demar property to check out the Italian restaurant El Faro.

We got there right at opening and were seated without any issues.

This restaurant is open air, so be prepared it can be warm when enjoying your meal.

The nice thing we enjoyed about El Faro is that after you tell your waiter your drink and main dish order, all of the appetizers are served buffet style.

So guests were free to walk up and get calamari, various breads, cheeses and salads.

For my wife and my main dish, we each opted to order the Carne Alla Pizzaiola, which consisted of petite filet is a tomato sauce and served with potatoes.

Honestly, it was decent, but not a favorite. Overall, the open air concept really did not help the overall appeal of the restaurant because it is just so hot.

This was probably our least favorite restaurant of the resort, though the desserts were very good.

La Pagoda breakfast buffet

The next morning we went back to our Lindo buffet and again were super impressed. So many fresh options of all kinds of foods.

The grilled skirt steak was excellent. The sausages were not, and the bacon I would have liked to be more crispy. This is one thing we noticed on another morning over at the Beach/Delmar breakfast that the bacon was crispier and made for some excellent BLT sandwiches.

My wife was also super impressed with all the variety of pastries on the buffet, including her favorite, the chocolate croissants.

Star Café

One place guests seem to rave about was the 24-hour coffee shop on property. We were frequent visitors for various drinks, as well as the small selection of sandwiches, pastries and desserts.

One thing we noticed later on is the mall has their own version of the Star Café, and offered a more impressive variety of donuts. Not sure if they get switched out for sandwiches or other options throughout the day.

The items at the Lindo Star Café seemed to remain the same all day.

Iberostar Shopping Center

One day we made our way over to the shopping area to see what was over there.

Besides some way over priced stores that no one actually shops in because the prices are too high, there are several restaurants included as part of the resort.

Sadly the ice cream and crepe places were closed for renovations during our visit.

However, both the taco place and burger bar were open.

Sadly I wish we would have made it back here more than once.

Both the tacos and burgers with fries were fresh and fantastic! It was also one of the only place I was able to find horchata at the taco bar.

The taco stand also has a help yourself salsa bar. Just be careful which you choose, as our son tried one on his taco and it was blazing hot (but delicious).

Acuario Lobby Bar

The Acuario was super convenient because it is the first thing you encounter when you walk into the grand open air lobby of the Lindo.

Our kids loved being able to dash in there quick and grab a virgin pina colada or daiquiri.

They also made a nice lemon drop martini. It was nice to sit in the air conditioning, sipping on a drink and watching the fish tank.

El Museo

I am just gonna preface this as El Museo was probably our favorite restaurant of the entire resort.

If you read the reviews in the Facebook groups, this restaurant does not seem to get too much attention. However, the decor, service and food were impeccable.

Guests feel like they are sitting in an Italian museum, and it’s beautiful.

This restaurant did not require a reservation and we had no issues walking up to get a table.

Service was impressive and our glasses never went empty all night, as it was one of the few restaurants that seemed to have enough servers where one could handle drinks and the other food. It could have just been there were few people there on our evening and they were able to provide that level of service.

Everyone in our party agreed the asparagus roll appetizer was the star of the whole evening. Add a side and it could have easily been the entire meal.

The roasted beet salad and tuna tartare were also terrific.

I also had the salmon that evening, which was good. However, the appetizers were so great, I should have just stuck with those.

After the meal, the center of the room had a larger table of all the desserts for guests to help themselves. That was a nice touch and something that saved the wait staff from having to provide.

Snake Bar

As someone who generally does not drink alcohol, one of the places we were excited to try that our upgraded Maya wristbands got us access to, was the Snake Bar in the Maya lobby.

That is because one of the highly recommended drinks that other guests said to get was the pistachio martini.

After trying to secure this secret menu item at some of the other bars and being turned away, we were finally able to get one at the Snake Bar.

Oh. My.

The pistachio martini really is worth all the hype! It goes down smooth and tastes exactly like the pudding. However, shockingly, it had no nuts or pistachio flavoring in it. The mixture of various alcohols including amaretto, blue curacao, and Bailey’s Irish cream provided the perfect balance of flavors, that you would never guess there is no pistachio liquor in it.

Somehow, we quickly each sipped through 3 glasses of this magic, and barely felt it. Though this could have been from the sweltering heat at night on the walk back to Lindo.

La Marina Seafood Restaurant

One evening we decided to use our Maya wristbands at their seafood restaurant.

Everyone tried various items, but the only thing I got pics of were my son’s Maya octopus tacos as an appetizer and the grilled Atlantic lobsters.

Service was not the best this night, and honestly the food was alright, but nothing to want us to come back.

It is sorta odd that the lobsters are served with fries, which were not even listed on the menu. Yet under the lobsters were a small dollop of the really good truffle mashed potatoes.

While it was also nice that the brought me our 3 lobster tails, note these are very small. By the time they halved them, they were equivalent to a two bite shrimp. In addition, they had very little flavor. Though it was nice to be able to enjoy lobster without the adjoining high cost typically that comes with it outside of an all-inclusive experience.

The passion fruit cheesecake was delicious, though my only complaint with a lot of the items served throughout the resorts is I wish it was served colder, as I like a very chilled cheesecake.

La Pagoda dinner buffet

The nightly menu at the buffet changed daily, and we did not typically take advantage of it since we were busy trying the various a la carte options.

However, our gala seafood buffet during our visit was on Friday, on a day we spent off-site at Isla Mujeres. So we made it a point to get back and try this night.

Once again the buffet did not disappoint. An absolutely incredible variety of menu options. From various ceviche, to beef wellington, oysters, shrimp, sushi, crab legs and lobster.

For some reason all the guests kept flocking to the crab legs all night, and we even saw guests arguing. Eventully they ran out of crab legs. However, the nice thing about everyone’s captive attention elsewhere is no one paid much attention to the lobster tails.

Freshly off the grill and right onto my plate.

I ate so much seafood that evening, I never even got to take advantage of the desserts, which included a chocolate fondue.

El Mercado Buffet (Beach/Delmar)

To change things up, one morning we opted to head over to the Beach/Delmar buffet. Again open air concept, so even at 9 am in the morning, it is still stifling hot with no air conditioning and drinks get warm quick (a pet peeve of mine as I enjoy all my beverages on the verge of frozen cold.

As previously mentioned, the food was similar at this buffet, but I enjoyed the perfectly crispy bacon here more than the limp stuff served at the Lindo/Maya.

Overall, great breakfast.

El Rancho

One of the few restaurants still requiring a reservation is the steak house at the Maya.

This ranked up there as one of our favorite dining experiences, most notably because our server was fantastic!

From the opening bread service, to the tableside Caesar salads and hand carved prime rib, the food was very good.

The only thing we did not really like was the blooming onion. These things used to be really good when I was a kid, but in recent years I have yet to really find a good one…and I love onions. So the simplified recipe should not be that difficult to pull off.

Hashiru Teppanyaki

Another of our reservations that had to be secured was for the Japanese hibachi.

This was not something new to us, as our family enjoys it back in the states. So we can understand the appeal of having to still reserve a table here as many may not have gotten to experience it.

This version was slightly different than what we were used to back home.

For starters, guests are seated at a table for about 20 people. The chefs use both side grills to cook the food for all the guests.

The menu is also prix fix. So each person got everything on the menu unless there were allergies.

The meal started out with a tray of sushi. Nothing to crazy or exciting. Though I do not know who came up with the banana fruit roll, because as someone who loves lots of variety of sushi, this one was not appealing.

One thing I noted ahead of time from reviews is that despite being served everything on the menu, do note that the serving sizes are way smaller than one gets back in the states.

Now granted, I was not hungry that evening and gave most of my food to our boys. However, I did not that I was only given 6 pieces of chicken, about 10 pieces of steak and 6 shrimp. While that seems about right in the big scheme of things, the veggies and rice were more what I was surprised at how little was served.

Though there probably thought put into it so as not to waste food, as there is not doggie bags to bring it home.

The entertainment was also appealing for how the food was prepared, because it was not the same old show we have seen at every American hibachi experience. They did do quite a bit different entertainment as they prepared the food.

Fun experience, but again I went in not really feeling the best or hungry, so it took away from some of the overall appeal.

Desserts here were pretty good and nice they brought out plates for everyone with all the options.

Under the Sea

One of the last places we wanted to experience was the Lindo seafood restaurant.

Starts out with a very cool atmosphere with all the decor made from trash cleaned up locally from the ocean.

Service here was not the best during our night, but the food made up for it.

We were all big fans of the fried green beans with hummus. You know when our kids ask the waiter to bring another order, it must have been good.

My wife and I shared the shrimp po boy sandwich and shrimp/lobster roll. The shrimp po boy was fried and delicious. The other sandwich left a lot to be desired.

The only thing at Under the Sea that was a miss was the “grilled” octopus. It was not grilled but fried and overdone; not good.

Our son on several occasions throughout the week went with the alfredo option, and honestly, they all tasted like jarred cheap sauce and not homemade. Same went with this night.

The desserts here were alright, but honestly nothing to really note.

Conclusion

Overall the Iberostar Selection Paraíso Lindo dining experience was pretty impressive. Obviously everything is not going to be perfect all the time. However, we never went hungry and there were so, so many options to try.

One day they made ceviche tacos poolside that were terrific. It is all about finding the little things, and the Iberostar did a fantastic job.

For our family, the dining experience can make or break our overall enjoyment of the trip. We have been on cruises where most of the food was abysmal, but yet did another one and the food exceeded expectations.

We of course got drinks at various other bars on property, the kids tried ice cream at the upstairs pool El Mirador Ice Cream Parlor, and kids even went to the sports bar one night. One day for lunch we also tried the Trattoria Olivetti, which offered a small selection of sandwiches and pizza.

With so many options, the good thing is that if we wanted to come back, there is still tons more dining available.

Note, we also brought lots of US dollars with us for the sole purpose of tipping. While it is not expected, per se, the staff are working really hard in sweltering heat in a lot of cases, and appreciate tips.

For example, our pistachio martinis never ran empty that night because they were always returned with a tip.

We also noted exceptional service, like at El Rancho, and specifically called over a manager to note their hard work.

Stay tuned for the last report, where we will discuss the off-site activities and tours we booked that helped round out our experience in Mexico.

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