Inside Europe Travel Experiences
Eating Italian when in Mexico seems wrong, especially when in an island like Cozumel. But, after sadly learning that none of the other restaurants at the Intercontinental served any fresh local fish, we decided to give Alfredo Di Roma a try and thoroughly enjoyed the experience.
Host Marlene was friendly and welcoming, the crissini were crispy, the focaccia authentic and José Ramon offered spectacular service, including asking the chef for a variation of their signature risotto to include local shrimp. It turned out excellent!
Eating here became the surprise culinary highlight of our stay. Make sure to take a good look at the XXL wine list, too and maybe try a Mexican (sparkling) wine.
The signature Pasta Alfredo dish was very close to the Roman version created for American visitors.
… moreKochede
Fine dining – food is really good (gnocchi, risotto, lasagna), very attentive servers, same price level as other restaurants at the resort, but much better value for same money and comparable to NYC fine dining Italian places.
… moreRyan Coleman
The food was excellent and the service was perfect. Thank you Andy and rest of the staff for a wonderful night!
… moreTuvia Rosenthal
Excellent Italian food. Fresh products, doneness, tastes,… Very attentive service. Precision also with the restaurant’s temperature, which is important in the hot season; and very good ambiance (decoration, acoustics).
… moreEls Borgions
We were surprised to have such a good pasta: really al dente! It are basic italian dishes alfredo, cacio e pepe,…: then your cooking has to be really good to have a good experience, which was the case! The atuna tartare was not special: too large pieces. Tables inside are not cosy, outside sitting is ok. Wines are expensive but good. We went back during our stay because we were satisfied.
… moreScott Linge
We dined here twice had four dishes and found the food quite good service excellent. Don’t listen to these one star complainers here this is a mid-price Italian restaurant of good quality. I recommend the arugula salad the rigatoni and the fresh fish. The only quibble found was the tomato sauce on the rigatoni was a little salty.
… moreCJ Lintner
For the love of God do not go here, everything is microwave food where they taste level that is less than banquet brand frozen meals. The salt level is so strong it hurts to eat. It is very very obvious there’s no cooking going on in the kitchen. The waiters are super nice but they know it’s bad because they don’t look you in the eye when they set the plates down nor when they take them back to throw them away uneaten. They don’t even ask you if it was good because they already know. We ordered the lasagna, salmon, eggplant and had maybe 1-2 bites of each.
Forgot to add – the Mexican and Mediterranean places at the hotel are fortunately both pretty solid but this place is no good.
… moreHarry Bomer
Pretty average Italian food at very premium prices. Not bad exactly, just lacking in the magic that usually comes with simple Italian fare.
There are several excellent italian places a short drive away in Cozumel town that are literally half the price and serve better food.
Service was good but felt very by the book, not particularly personal.
… moreDoesn’t Matter
Well, I was torn to go or not to go as there’re either very good or very poor reviews. So I took the risk (and probably shouldn’t have). We’re guests at the Intercontinental for 10 days and tried all their restaurants, the Italian wants to be the upper class one but they aren’t. The whole service felt artificial, not authentic. The reason might be that we’re in Mexico and not Italy or at least Europe. The same probably happens for 80% of Mexican restaurants in Europe. But we’ve been there for the food but unfortunately this didn’t convince either. Quality of food (and we’ve chosen rather simple Italian dishes) is average, definitely not worth the price tag.
We’re Swiss and have some awesome Italian restaurants in our country and we’re close to Italy and also know the originals very well – what we’ve seen here is not close at all to a good Italian restaurant. Maybe it’s enough for US tourists but it will disappoint Europeans who value a good Italian restaurant. Anyway, we tried (assumed) and know now
… moreKate Moo
This was the best restaurant I ate at while in Cozumel. It’s located inside a hotel and a little far from the downtown but the food is totally worth the trip. I recommend the calamari, eggplant parmesan and the salmon. The service was excellent, it was a very romantic place to spend an evening. Amazing Italian food!
… more