Costa Arena - Jarretaderas Mexico

A beautiful dining experience. Best at sunset! The food is good, not the very best we've had here, but definitely a delicious meal. What makes Costa Arena special is the people. They have wonderful customer service. We were celebrating our anniversary everything was so perfect. We really had so much to eat. The seafood plater, seafood stew, grilled octopus, papadelle pasta and much more. Each plate was well made. The winner was this polenta with the roasted beats! If I can give one bit of advice, take your time, enjoy the experience and try something new.

Blech! The location and view are all they have to offer. Service ranged from substandard to creepy and there's nothing for vegetarians here. California cuisine? Ya, no. Pretty sure I wouldn't have trouble finding veg food at a CA restaurant but from the sounds of it, tonight they were out of all the stuff their usuals were there for don't know how that went over.

We vacationed here at the Grand Luxxe two years ago and Costa Arena was one of our favorite restaurants. We purchased the Balam (meal) Package at check in as we did last time. The cost is about 300USD pp for each package. This time we were advised every restaurant took the coupons which are comprised of 6 breakfast coupons and 6 lunch or dinner coupons which include an app. or starter like soup or salad main and dessert. Last time there were a couple of places like a place called Gong that didn 't. Costa Arena has a great venue on the beach and I decided to save our last night to dine there. The Mixed Grille was my favorite last time .. It is fish;lobster; jumbo shrimp; calamari and it 's a great way to sample great seafood and share! Last visit this was a two coupon use and this time we were advised just , 'No you can 't and these are what you can use your coupons on ' this was after the whole fish option was presented as a 'great option ' for our family of four. No coupon for this either! I almost felt that we were being 'looked down upon ' for spending the cash out front on a meal package rather than ordering ala carte. Literally there was a handful of items you could use these coupons on, and honestly, I wasn 't interested in any of them. The entire experience here was so different than before. We were greeted warmly, as all restaurants here do. Shown the 'fish market ' and given a wine tasting of a red house wine. A tequila cart is rolled to the table for drinks but the earlier night in the week we partook in this at another place and again, a little disappointed in a $15USD drink price for the small size. Although my daughters did order a Hibiscus Berry Mojito each. There was no amuse bouche of ceviche this time as a complimentary tasting. I ordered a Lobster Bisque and we ordered the Crispy Camembert to share. Bread with an odd lime butter was given to us. The bisque ; camembert and crusty bread were very good. My daughters split the Scallops .. My husband and I split the fresh catch of the day which seemed to be described as a 'whole fish better than sea bass and finished with sea salts and chile and lime '. Well. There were four of the smallest chewy scallops for what would be almost 24USD equivalent on a plate and our fish , was very good but the portion size was small. The rice and veggies that came with were good. The cookie we had last time that was so rich and hard to finish even sharing came this time and was half the size and the pineapple carpaccio ... no way would I pay the cost of what was priced on the menu for that portion of basically 'skimmed fruit ' and sorbet. I found the service here less than stellar and the portions not equal to cost. I could not tell , again, if we were slighted for using a meal package coupon or that 's just how it 's changed .. but.. it 's disappointing either way. Pass and go spend your money elsewhere, in fact, for the cost of your cab, you could go into town and have an amazing dinner for what this will cost you with massive portions of seafood!

Hands down the best view of the sunset at Vidanta! Lots of patio seating. It does get a bit cool and breezy as the sun sets so bring a light jacket or wrap. Even though I would only give them three stars it is worth a visit just for the view. The most disappointing part of our dining experience was the service. It started out okay but, I think, no matter your seating time they don't serve any main courses until the sun sets. So the kitchen gets quite backed up and service can't even deliver the food promptly at all. We waited forever for our food and then when it arrived it was so cold I had to send mine back. I started my meal with the Citric Margarita and it was very good. Sweet and spicy all at the same time. I would order it again! They served a very nice fish ceviche as a complementary amuse bouche. We chose to split a salad and the waiter recommended the grilled lettuce salad. It was pretty good but not outstanding. It was barely grilled so there was very little smokey char flavor. The dressing was nice. They had a whitefish special when we dined here so we both chose to go with that. The waiter also recommended this as well. Besides arriving cold the first time it was completely unimpressive. The fish had no flavor what so ever. It looked like it was grilled nicely but somehow no grilled flavor and even the seasoning was non existent. Just bland. I really had wanted grilled red snapper but you can only get it if you purchase the whole fish. I would think that would have enough takers to offer it as single servings. Too bad. Glad we did it once but wouldn't go back.

They were a bit busy on the night we were here so it took the waiter a while to get to us but made up for it with personal and attentive service, and high quality cuisine. Soft shell crab was exquisite, they personalized our dessert and had the best wine.