Max and I are huge fans of luxury all-inclusives. In recent years, all-inclusive resorts have popped up touting delicious a-la carte options and focus on local cuisine, healthy food and quality over quantity. We were very impressed with Sanctuary Cap Cana’s many options and focus on high quality cuisine. While many outlets were not open during our stay due to the COVID precautions, staffing and low occupancy, we did get to try a number of restaurants.
Our favorite dining outlet was Blue Marlin. Located over the water, Blue Marlin features delicious options, such as ceviche, grilled lobster tail, meat and salad options for lunch. We loved the atmosphere, food and service. We also absolutely loved that the lobster was included, as often you will find all-inclusive resorts stamping ridiculous add-on prices for dishes like lobster and steak.
We also tried The Steakhouse and Capriccio. The Steakhouse features indoor dining for dinner and we loved the BBQ for Two special. We highly recommend this option as we heard this is by far the best dish. The BBQ for Two comes with numerous steaks, chicken and sausage presented on a hot stone grill, so your food is still cooking as it comes out. It was a fun, exciting experience for dinner.
Capriccio is the gourmet Italian option that also features indoor dining, complete with white table clothes. It is the elevated experience and one of the only “formal” dress code restaurants. I personally don’t love being forced to wear specific types of clothes on vacations, but I respect the choice. The food was excellent as well, our favorite dish being the Seabass. The pasta was also excellent and we wouldn’t hesitate to eat here again.
Breakfast is served at the buffet restaurant, and they’ve done an exceptional job transforming the buffet during COVID times. The hotel has completely encased the entire buffet in glass, cleverly creating small slits in the glass for the chef to hand a plate through with anything you want on it. Guests can walk down the line and pick what they want from the many options. We thought this was an incredibly safe and effective way to still have the buffet experience. Frankly, I hope this becomes the new normal for any buffet. That aside, the food options were plentiful. From omelettes, pancakes, side dishes, meat, a giant leg of prosciutto fresh sliced in front of you and endless juice options, we were thoroughly impressed.
The cocktails were good, although, I never found a great Aperol Spritz at the bars. The wine selection is ok as well, the Sauvignon Blanc being the best option in terms of taste, in our opinion. Since it is all-inclusive, the nice thing is you can always reorder ;). Some bars did seem to be better than others.