Experience Culinary Delights at Centara Grand Maldives: Exquisite Dining in Paradise

This is a loaded post. I will start off by saying all the food we had was very good. The chefs are talented no matter which restaurant you go to or which meal it is. We did run into several issues with the food which we were surprised about when we got there… 

What we booked… or so we thought

We booked our original stay which was from Dec. 15- Jan 29 on Expedia. The remaining part of our stay (the 29-Jan4) was booked direct. 
Below are some photos of what we thought we were getting in terms of amenities. We booked all inclusive which typically means all food and beverage included with exceptions to certain marked items. We were even sent a booklet of menus by the resort which only confirmed our assumption. I will link that menu library in the button below. 

Now here are the same images again but everything circled in red does not exist. Everything wrrriten in red is what is truly accurate. 

Also, the property is not smoke free. They offer Hooka and the only place you truly cannot smoke is in the restaurants and rooms. 

Click here for the menus

Meal plan surprise

What is not even listed on these images is the meal plan surprise. What we thought we paid for was not at all what we received. We received a nice room and a fair meal plan, but it was still a surprise. 
We booked all inclusive which was supposed to allow us to have all food and beverage included with exceptions that are marked as chargeable.
Instead, we were not allowed access into the club as in we weren’t allowed to even walk in there. The club has one of the two pools so technically if you don’t pay for the second pool (which is INSANELY expensive) then you only get one pool. 
Also, we had a $40 per person per meal limit on the sit down restaurants. The restaurants also don’t even open until 7. This does not work for kids. This was another surprise. It gets better though…
Room service is not included. Room service is actually not included in ANY meal plan and this is not stated anywhere. 
This left us eating most of our meals at the Reef buffet. The food here was good most days but sometimes the options for foods I could eat (based on what I’m used to eating and what looks good) was slim. This buffet also opens at 7. 

When we got surprised the resort told us we should have booked direct, which was hilarious because for the second part of our stay we did book direct and still had the same ideas. 
The only thing more shocking than this was that the reviews did not explain this… actually the reviews didn’t mention this dilemma at all. 

Solving the meal plan situation 

We got in touch with the food and beverage manager, Susitha. He was the most helpful person during this. He included room service breakfast in our price (mostly because the online image says breakfast opens at 6 when it really opens at 7 and that is falsely advertised). He also gave us a price to be able to upgrade our meal plan from the 29-Jan 4 but that was a whopping $7,000 extra and we kindly declined. 
Despite an expensive package price, he always made sure we were happy (which we were) and he was always very easy to find. 

Food at Centara 

Okay, besides the meal plan hiccup the food itself was very good. I’m going to go in depth for each restaurant, but since this post is already so long, Christmas and New Years dinners are going to have their own posts which I will link in the button below. 

Christmas and New Years Dinners

The Reef 

The Reef is the restaurant located down by the dive and fitness centers and the coral bar. The Reef is buffet style and it is very good. For all inclusive meal plans, The Reef had no unknown restrictions. I am going to break down what to expect by meal: 
Breakfast: 
When you walk in on the left there are mostly vegetables. Straight ahead there is a guy who makes fresh eggs. You can order these any way you would like and he will make them. 
In the middle there is cereal and honeys of all kinds. Milk is here too. 
On free standing tables, there is fruit, yogurt, and smoothies. There is a separate table that has pastries on it including THE BEST DONUTS EVER!
On the far end, there is some other non breakfast foods. There is usually fried rice and some type of beef or chicken in separate pots. 
Over by the hibachi bar are fresh waffles and pancakes along with syrup. 
Lunch: 
When you first walk in, the pots on the right were traditional Indian and local cuisines. When facing the line of pots, the pot furthest to the right on the end usually has some type of really delicious chicken. 
Straight ahead when you walk in is some type of soup. 
On the free standing tables is salads, salad dressings, and then fruit, and then breads. They have Caesar dressing in the back if you ask for it. 
The middle of the buffet is the desserts which are delicious and plentysome. They also have ice creams which change. The best desert up there is the chocolate pudding, hands down.
Farthest down is the sushi station which is FABULOUS! There is also usually some type of fish, chicken, and/or beef. In the pot farthest to the left is always a pasta dish which changes daily. 
Dinner: 
The dinner set up is very similar to the lunch setup. Sometimes, there is live pasta making or live grilling of chicken and beef. Once, there was live fried rice making where you could chose ingredients. 

The restaurant is set right on the water. For lunch and dinner you can sit on the outside deck literally over the ocean and it’s beautiful. 

Suan Bua 

This is the Thai restaurant. The food is really good. The chicken appetizer and the fish appetizer are so delicious! I usually get the stir fried beef medium-hot spice for dinner and that is also delicious. We only went to this restaurant a couple of times sadly because it is infested with mosquitoes. I put on so much bug spray and did not wear lotion and I got eat up. It’s too hot to wear pants really so we only ate here a couple of times. 
The restaurant is set inland around still water which is great for mosquitoes so thats probably why it has so many. 

Azurri Mare 

Azurri Mare is the Italian restaurant. The food is delicious! The pizzas are good but I would ask for it to be cooked “well done” because it makes it crispy and not burned. If you don’t, the bottom will be slightly soggy. Also, if you custom order a pizza, make sure you specify that you want sauce on it. My brother ordered a cheese pizza and the only thing he said in the order was “cheese pizza” and he got his pizza with no sauce- just bread and cheese. 
The pasta is delish. I tried the seafood pasta which I liked and then I special ordered corkscrew noodles with tomato sauce. This was my favorite meal at the restaurant and ask for some extra Parmesan cheese!
As far as appetizers and deserts, the caprese salad and lava cake are not at all worth it. The tomatoes are the tiny cherry tomatoes and they give you 6 halves of the baby tomatoes. The lava cake is the size of a child’s fist and it doesn’t really even have runny lava. The Caesar salad, though, is really good and comes with chicken on it.  

The restaurant is set right on the water and can be a bit breezy at times. The workers can put the clear shades down on request and you can see lots of fish in the water waiting for a little snack. It is next to the reception which is on the opposite end of the island as the reef. 

The Club

The club is the best food of all. They have a private chef and nice outdoor dining right on the beach. Of course, you have to pay for it in your meal plan which costs an arm and a leg, but I would say it is well worth it. We got to eat here one night complimentary of Susitha and it was delicious. 

Reef Tepanyaki

This one is tedious… If you have no meal plan it costs $125 to eat here on one menu and $135 for the other menu. If you have the all inclusive meal plan it is free to eat here on the $125 but not the $135 menu. If you want to eat on the $135 menu it will cost you $135 not $10 more, which I think is ridiculous. 
The $125 menu has two options. It is either prawns or a steak of cheese. To be clear, the steak of cheese is CHEESE not beef. It’s disgusting… If you prefer prawns, which I did, you only get TWO SHRIMP for the whole meal. I left hungry. The meal also comes with a small amount of fried rice and vegetables, but none is enough to sustain a human for dinner. My whole family left hungry. 
Nobody had told us about the $135 menu which included actual beef and chicken and a lot more of it… I was unhappy with this place. 

Room Service (breakfast)

We were able to get room service breakfast included with our meal plan. In order to get food in the morning, you need to call and order it either in the morning or the night before. Because we wanted ours at 6 am, we called the night before. They ran 30 minuets late in delivering it once and they usually forgot parts of our order. We managed the best we could and were grateful to have it. 

The Service

The service in every restaurant is above and beyond. Really, the service in the whole resort is fantastic. The staff are amazing and will go out of their way for you. 
My only service critique is that the staff will not serve you coffee before 7 am, even though they have it. My mom went to the front bar and reception and asked for a cup that they had and they refused her request. We did get this sorted out but I thought that was slightly twisted. 

Covid 

COVID was taken seriously at the restaurants. All staff wore masks. At The Reef, masks were required in the buffet as well as gloves placed at the entrance. If you forgot your mask they could provide one for you. Masks were also required when entering all restaurants but you could remove them at the table. 

Wrap up

Overall, the food here is really good. The restaurants are tasty, even the buffet is good. I really enjoyed the food despite meal plan hiccups.