Is all inclusive food actually good or just cheap and easy?

[roses2]

I'm currently at a 5* all inclusive for a few days in the Mediterranean. It had amazing reviews. But the food is so bland and not good quality and no comparison at all to local restaurants.

This is the second all inclusive I've stayed in and the first was similar. I've decided all inclusive isn't for me.

Why do people rave so much about the great food? Is it just because the food is there and you're not looking at the price tag?

I’ve been to a fair few and there are many benefits- not sure you can say you’ve been to two and then question “why people rave about them so much.”

Depending on the type of holiday I’m on, I personally prefer to spend my evenings exploring the town/beach and trying out a variety of nice restaurants. But when I have done AI it’s mostly been really good. I did one in Bulgaria and it was bloody hideous, it was pretty cheap to be fair and for the second half of the holiday we went to other restaurants and paid. The few others I’ve done have been great, lots of choice at the buffet, a good variety each night, a separate section where you can go over and order things to be made by a chef fresh in front of you (certain meats, fajitas etc) and it just feels nice and easy.

Most AI is cheap and cheerful. It's aimed at the British mass market who want to drink and snack a lot.

Well no, because many AI hotels have guests who are Spanish/French/German and loads of other nationalities too. There is a lot of snobbery around the supposed ethos of AI, a lot of sneering about chicken nuggets, chips and getting hammered at 10am.

People who can't see why people choose AI are just being deliberately obtuse. You are not imprisoned in the hotel and can choose to leave whenever you like, and take meals in local restaurants if you want to do so. But going AI means you have paid up front for all your food and drink and you are not ever going to be hit with a bill on check out. Your kids can have as many orange juices, water or soft drinks as they want without constantly pestering you for another 2 euros. Ditto ice creams. If you have a family of fussy eaters, or even a family who just can't decide on what to eat, there is none of the evening debates/arguments over where to go to eat as everyone can have what they like in the restaurant. You don't all have to eat at the same time. A buffet is a brilliant way of getting kids to try new things as they can just put a tiny bit on their plate to try - my 5 year old developed a love of squid rings on an AI holiday.

We have done self-catering, our last holiday was self-catering and although it was great it was a pain having to either go to the supermarket and buy food to cook, or be organised by booking tables in advance at the local restaurants which were very busy.

@Hufflemuff Benalmadena?

We went to your bog standard AI a couple of times back in the 2000s, and it was fairly average but DH and I have travelled extensively in fairly exotic places so maybe our standard was higher. Maybe times have changed in the past 20ish years.

AI has never been our thing but we went when our children were young because of ease.

I’ve done AI for the last 30 years the very first one I went to in Spain inc cigarettes & cigars 😂

I’ve done AI probably every year 2-3 times all over Europe Egypt Turkey Maldives Mexico Cuba Jamaica

It can vary greatly from hotel to hotel Mexico is my favourite for food
But I don’t eat much so food isn’t that important
but I go mainly for the drink ( don’t drink much but I like to now it’s freely available

but even when AI we still go out every other day for drinks / food for a change

A 5* hotel means different things in different countries.

5 star AI in Dubai is very different to 5 star AI in Greece.

Depends on the hotel - i stayed in a 5* hotel in rhodes and it was all fine dining, the ai was exceptional.

some people are booking the ai for the alcohol not the food so the hotel caters accordingly

I did AI years ago and at one place the food was amazing, a few years later and the food was adequate, I went to one this year and the food was awful, Brussels sprout casserole as one choice every single day!!!! We ate out a few times and the food was amazing and a reasonable price, so we’ll be doing B&B from now on.

Best All Inclusive food I've had is Club Med, and specially the gourmet dishes.

With a buffet the best thing to do is try to make up a meal, rather than a mix of what you fancy or go to an All Inclusive where you can order from a menu.

When I have tried Half board it’s just the version of All Inclusive.

I guess it depends where you go. I stayed at an AI 4* spa hotel last year and the food was great!

Varies.

i stayed at an AI place in Morocco and the food was amazing - but I mostly ate the tagines etc that they made. They also had chips and pasta and tomato sauce etc for the non adventurous eaters .

most Ais have a bland range for the kids and for the people who only ever eat English food and want it on holiday as well.

I used to book all inclusive when I went on holiday with a now ex BF because he would walk to every restaurant to save one euro whilst all the time I would be getting more hangry so all inclusive was the best option as far as I was concerned. The places I went to had a fabulous choice at lunch, chicken, fish, salads, chips etc but the evening options although lovely and tasty were more dinner type foods. Usually in the evening they had a local cuisine option and obviously the usual Italian, Indian, Chinese fare. I wouldn't say the food was bland and I ate loads. Tip - always take a packet of Rennies with you when going all inclusive 😀.

The more adult only 5* resorts I've stayed in tend to have good food when it's all inclusive. The more family orientated ones not so much. I wonder if it's because the families tend to take a more "fill your boots" approach to the food, so they prioritise quantity over quality.

Having children didn’t miraculously turn me into someone who stopped caring about food quality and only cared about ‘filling my boots’!

Didnt say it did. Just the difference I noticed between the places I have stayed in. The adult centric places have had better quality food than the family friendly.

This poster was just having a little self deprecating joke at herself.

I remember staying at an all-inclusive resort with my family when I was a child. The hotel was beautiful, but the food was awful, so we ate out every day. That experience put me off all-inclusives for years, until about five years ago, when we went to Mexico. This time, the food was excellent and incredibly varied, with several restaurants to choose from. I especially loved the seafood evenings. One day, we wandered over to the hotel next door to have a look around, the food looked dreadful and I was shocked to see birds flying around and pecking at the food. It was completely off-putting, and I was so relieved I we hadn’t chosen that place as my holiday would’ve been ruined.

the Island Inn, Barbados. Lovely boutique hotel - would go there again in a heartbeat!

A lot of people have to make compromises when they have children, either based on price or based on what their DC will eat.

The implication though is that people who don’t enjoy AI somehow think they are ‘above’ other people, or ‘classier’. That’s not why I don’t choose AI holidays.
AI threads always descend into a pointless class discussion.

Of course. I don’t think it automatically means you go for a ‘fill your boots’ approach though, which suggests quantity over quality!

We stayed at Sani Beach a few years back and loved their eat-out half board restaurant model. To be honest even the buffets were pretty good and so easy.

We usually go self catering and it's definitely not as relaxing!

We did turkey and it was nice. Fresh salads, freshly cooked meat and fish. Obviously not super fancy but nice

Ah that's a bummer. Generally I'd save money and self-cater, am not a foodie.
One time I joined friend on holiday in hotel she had booked months before, that hotel catered breakfast & dinner. That was in Puerto da Pollensa? the food was terrific.

it was adults-only hotel...

That's genius, I hadn't thought about looking at the complaints!