The Palm Trees in Paradise: We Feast!

Feast is not an understatement either, Hive. I feel like we ate (and drank ;) ) 24/7. 

Couples Negril has four restaurants on site. You can read the typical explanations on their website - this is the Palm Tree version. :)

First up: Cassava Terrace.

all photos personal

Brunch on our first day. Deeeeeelicious.

Mr. Palm Tree, obliging the blogger.

Cassava Terrace is Couples Negril's 'casual' restaurant. They feature buffets for breakfast/brunch, lunch and dinner. I know some people view buffets as an immediate lesser quality, but Mr. Palm Tree and I are not those types of people. We love buffets and this one most certainly did not disappoint. 

His plate looked like this every day.

Their buffets had a fairly standard set-up: a hot food area, which would feature about 10-12 things, a made-to-order area (Mr. Palm Tree got a lobster omelet almost every morning), a dry area, a cold food area and then a 'feature' area (my favorite was when they would serve fresh ham for brunch - yum). In the mornings, the bar area had self-serve Mimosas, Bloody Mary's, freshly-squeezed juice and made-to-order smoothies available as well as a coffee bar. Oh, and there was ALWAYS a dessert option. We ate there every day but I believe two for breakfast,  twice for lunch (but I was beyond impressed and stuffed each time) and a handful of times for dinner. Cassava Terrace also featured entertainment during dinner. 

My favorite, the Silver Birds Orchestra (thank you to Hive members Pumpkin_Bunny and Katie1494 for reminding me of their name!).

Cassava Terrace also held a beach buffet every Thursday evening, during which - weather permitting - they move everything outside onto the beach. It's honestly amazing and I marveled at how much work they must put forth to make this happen. 

Mr. Palm Tree said this was his favorite restaurant, which was not surprising to me. I thoroughly enjoyed it (and took full advantage of the self-serve Mimosa area for brunch each day) and have not a single negative thing to say.

Next: Heliconia Grill.

This is CN's other 'casual' restaurant, although it's referred to as resort casual. We found the difference between the two to be simple: Cassava Terrace would serve you in your beach-wear, but Heliconia Grill required you to wear clothes (and the men's shirts had to have sleeves) during dinner. 

Heliconia during the day.

Heliconia was interesting because it changed depending on the time of day - or night - you visited. During the day, it had a beach grill atmosphere. Aside from the daily special, it featured items like Jerk Chicken Wings, Short Ribs, Cheeseburgers, French Fries, Onion Rings, Fried Fish, etc. They also had a self-serve nacho bar and had these patties available that are apparently a big hit in Jamaica (seriously, we even found them in the airport) but reminded me of something you'd get at school lunch. . .not that that stopped me from eating them. During the evening, it became a dinner restaurant with a specialized menu that changed each day. Then, from 10:00pm - 5:00am, it was a 'snack' bar with items like Grilled Cheese, Burgers, Fries, etc.

Our view while dining at Heliconia.

Trying to capture how close the water was. . .and failed. 

My deeeelicious brunch one day: tuna wrap, french fries and the drink of the day.

Palm Tree's post-meal.

This was my favorite restaurant at Couples Negril. We ate there our first evening and it really just set the stage for our honeymoon. Everyone was so friendly, the food was amazing (I had the lamb and I'm STILL talking about it), the drinks were delicious, the setting was gorgeous - it was just an all-around win. We also made much use of the late night offerings. Two thumbs up, for sure.

Lychee is Couples Negril's Asian-Caribbean fusion restaurant. . .at least, I think that's how they refer to it. It's a little fancier and honestly, all that meant to me was that the portions would be smaller. I don't have any pictures of our food from this place. We ate there with two of our friends on our third day there and had no inkling to return. It was decent, but I was still hungry when we left, the service was slowish and the food wasn't good enough to make it worthwhile. That having been said, everyone else we talked to LOVES this restaurant, even the people who work there. I'm also an odd bird when it comes to these types of things (Mr. PT always jokes that I am an uber-American), so take this particular review with a grain of salt. I definitely say it's worth trying at least once. 

Finally, Otaheite is the resort's super fancy, guys-must-wear-pants, reservations required restaurant. Again, folks: guys must wear pants. Not jeans. Pants. You will not be admitted if you aren't wearing pants, men. We ran into a handful of guys who were turned away because they didn't pack any pants and the gift shop's offerings were $75.00. So, please, take heed. Thankfully I remembered this from doing my research and made sure Mr. PT had one 'nice' outfit. 

Insider Info: the portions are absolutely small HOWEVER you can order extra! I don't know what I would have done if people didn't tell us this beforehand. I was prepared, so I ordeed the open-faced vegetable lasagna "with a side of beef". Ha. Mr. Palm Tree also ordered two entrees. No shame in our game, friends. 

We each had a salad (that was created and tossed in front of us by our attendant) and soup before our main.

True Confessions time: our soup bowls were placed in front of us without liquid. They had little pieces of food at the bottom, but nothing else. I said, "oh, is this a palate cleanser? Is it THAT fancy?!" and a neighboring couple and their attendant thought it was hilarious. . .because shortly after that, our attendant showed up and poured fresh, hot liquid into our soups. I was baffled. Mr. PT ordered the Tomato and Sausage, I ordered the Shrimp Bisque - so the food pieces were the sausage and shrimp, respectively. We ended up switching once the soup became, you know, soup. I will never forget how truly baffled I was when I saw the empty bowl in front of me, though. ;)

I'm very glad that we ordered two entrees each because otherwise, again, I would have been very hungry (I like to EAT, Hive). I am also happy to report that our food was absolutely, undoubtedly delicious.

Although way out of my comfort zone, Otaheite was fabulous. We ate there on our last evening and I think it was a wise choice - sort of an extra treat for ourselves before we returned to normal life. They change their menu every Friday, so depending on your timing and preferences, it could be worthwhile to visit twice during your stay. I know Mr. Palm Tree said he would like to eat there more than once on our next trip.

The menu for each restaurant was posted in Cassava Terrace and right outside of Heliconia Grill as well as outside of each respective restaurant. I'm big on planning my meals for the day so each morning, we'd inspect and decide where to go. Cassava won most of the time but honestly, it's not like you can go wrong. It was so great that they had so many options. 

And so concludes the Palm Tree Honeymoon recaps. On a scale of 1-10, I'd say our Honeymoon rates about a MILLION. Seriously, it was beyond what we dreamed it would be. I cannot wait for our anniversary trip and I'm so glad I was able to re-live it with all of you.