Vila Vita Parc — Hotel in Lagoa

With all the outstanding reviews of Vila Vita singing the praises of its grounds, food and service, our expectations were set very high, and quite remarkably they were met in virtually every way.

A few, hopefully useful, hints / observations:

Garden View room : Be aware that some garden view rooms have a somewhat limited view compared to the other views this site has to offer. We were initially allocated room 304, a deluxe garden room in the main building (through a BA booking), however on viewing, due to the view mainly being of tall palm trees and ornate high bushes (see attached image) we chose to pay for an upgrade to a ground floor ocean view room in the “Residence” building, as this offered a direct panoramic view of the ocean (see attached images).

Although expensive at roughly 100 euros a night extra, the view and additional outside space (including sun loungers) we would highly recommend this option.

The restaurants : A minor note of caution, each restaurant will very naturally offer an aperitif, and then a basket of bread will appear, which is presented as though here is your bread, but with a slight questioning tone… both are optional extras even on half board and you will be charged.

The Adega Restaurant : One of the restaurants included in the half board option. Traditional Portuguese food. The maitre d seemed hassled, and seemed to resent any questions regarding the menu, which being our first night wasn’t the best start, and probably impacted our overall impression. The food was simple and simply presented. We chose not to return.

The Aladin Grill Restaurant : Not one of the half board restaurants… but tell them when requesting to sign the bill and 43 euro per person will be deducted.

This is how it should be done. Excellent service and food in a very ornate and stylish setting… cannot fault it. We ate here twice, highly recommended. We chose to keep the price down by accepting the bread and accompaniments as a starter and then having mains only.

Praia Dourada Restaurant : This is on the beach front a 10 minute shuttle bus ride away, and is one of the half board restaurants.

It was dark, so we couldn’t see the view…. which we assume would be one of the attractions. Much better priced drinks …. as I assume they have to compete with others on the sea front. A perfectly pleasant restaurant. The shuttle bus is well organised.

The Cave de Vinhos - meet the chef : An expensive option. Interesting environment in a wine cellar. The price includes a glass of wine with each course. Delicious tapas type starters, and deserts.

The main course was a choice of Traditional Portuguese Octopus stew or Veal. We had one of each. Neither was to our taste.

It was enjoyable to be provided with wine selected to complement the food… but it is not clear why it is called “meet the chef”, as you pre order the food on booking and it is prepared beforehand. There is no chef to meet.

Unless you are very keen on Traditional Portuguese food and a wine enthusiast I’m afraid that I would not recommend.

The Bela Vita Restaurant : Another one of the half board restaurants, and in our view by far the best. Excellent food and service in a very stylish environment. We ate here twice. Would definitely recommended,

Breakfast : If you don’t have children with you use the Atlantico Restaurant as you choose specials from the menu, and then help yourself from the buffet. With a lovely view across the ocean you can’t ask for a better start to the day.

Coastal walk : You can walk to the nearby village/town along a cliff edge path, which is narrow and steep and right on the edge in places. However you can skip the more tricky part of the walk by using a small exit gate positioned in the far corner of the grounds on the edge of the 9 hole pitch and putt course …this exits directly onto the coastal path. There’s a push button to exit and you swipe your room card to re-enter. We took this route a couple of times as there are a number of supermarkets there…...

We stayed in the hotel for one week. Initially, we were going to come with our child, but then we decided to leave her with the babysitter at home. The hotel has some big pros and big cons which disappointed us.

Pros: The hotel has so much in it between all the restaurants (we dined in a different restaurant every night), creative (art classes, pottery, time painting, etc) and sport activities (good tennis courts, yoga, golf, etc), beautiful private guarded white sand beach, wine cellar, several pools, and lots more, that there hasn't been a single day where we thought let's go outside the hotel and see what there is. Food in the restaurants is excellent. Most restaurants are Michelin star. One has two Michelin stars. The organisation of activities and hotel overall is running very smooth, which makes your stay very pleasant. -Spa and the gym are great Staff in the outdoor bar on reception floor goes above and beyond to make you feel special. The private beach is a wonderful add on

Cons: The restaurants are very expensive and for the first 3 nights we left every dinner hungry, having spent 300-400 euro for the meal, and having to go to the bar for a bowl of chips or a burger. Eventually, we spoke to the manager to express our frustration. The remaining dinners (The Grill restaurant and the Ocean) were very filling, whether the manager had a word with the chefs or it just happened to be so. The Ocean Restaurant has 2 Michelin stars, and the basic spending is around 900-1000 euro per couple. There is a set price for the tasting menu and wine pairing. We both have a very developed pallet, but we left the restaurant thinking its okay to try it once, but we wouldn't return again and its not worth it. The mixture of food in a single dish was very unusual. One could argue that it's what 2 Michelin star restaurant does, but the taste mix at some point was almost making us feel sick. There was also something pickled almost in every dish. The dishes were served so fast and we're so many that I couldn't have thought of another dish that I could fit. We had a wine tasting in the cellar before the dinner, which was probably a mistake in our side, but there was then so much wine served over dinner too that we almost didn't want more (and we love our wine). A couple of wine pairing were off for our taste too. One morning in the breakfast restaurant where kids are allowed, I got a yoghurt from the buffet, which had a piece of glass in it. I was lucky that I chew my food very well and I didn't cut my mouth or break my teeth. Up on showing to the staff, there was no big surprise on their face. They took the glass away, said they'll look into how that happened, and they've never had this before, but the rest of the yoghurts haven't been removed from the buffet. Also, no one offered us to see a doctor, just in case. The assistant general manager then came to see us in the evening to apologise. We were in a bar then having a burger and cesar salad with 2 glasses of wine, which ended up on the house.

Overall, they probably know that they have a unique offering, and people will come back anyway, so they don't seem to sweat too much to keep things perfect since they're good enough. Would we go back again? Probably... but for the offering of the hotel, not for the service. We'll also not be going to the Ocean or mizu tepanyaki again. Atlantico was okay, but we left hungry. Adega, Whale, and the Grill were probably the best in terms of service, food quality & amount vs. price. I also dont know how Id feel eating in the restaurant where I had glass in my food again, especially with kids. We might have to go outside the hotel and see...

SUMMARY: Beautiful resort, but beware of food poisoning and lack of management responsibility!

My family and I stayed three nights at Vila Vita Parc. Undoubtedly a beautiful resort. Unfortunately, I had a violent bout of food poisoning shortly after eating at the Giardino restaurant. While these events can happen, the rating is a result of the poor customer experience I received in response to reporting the incident.

We arrived at the hotel around 1400 and was able to check into our Junior Suite. The grounds are beautiful and the accommodation sufficient for our family of 3. After exploring the resort for an hour, we settled on the Mediterranean themed Giardino. I ordered the octopus, which I had routinely ordered in every restaurant during our holiday. Within 30 minutes following the meal, I began to feel lightheaded and nauseous. We returned to our suite and I became violently ill. We called to let the management know that I likely suffered a bout of food poisoning. The reception asked if there was anything they could do, and I asked for some herbal tea. They stated they would send the tea at no charge (it was only upon checkout I realized there was the same complimentary tea in the room).

The next morning, I woke up feeling like I had been hit by a truck. Extremely weak, but thankfully no more exorcism of the prior days' meal. I contacted the front desk and asked to speak to a manager. The front desk requested we come up. Walking was extremely taxing but we made it up, and were told to come back in a few hours to discuss with the GM as no one else reported any food poisoning.

We were not able to do much that day as I was extremely weak; my energy was about 30% of my usual self. Despite this, we drove to a few viewpoints to try and redeem our journey to the Algarve. The smallest journey exhausted me.

We returned to the resort around 2PM and requested to speak with the GM. While the GM listened attentively, he quickly suggested that perhaps I had eaten something prior to the octopus that could have caused food poisoning. While my husband and I tried to explain that we hadn't eaten less than 6 hours before the lunch meal, the GM refused to accept any sense of responsibility. After much arguing, he finally agreed to comp just my meal from the lunch bill. I expressed that most five star hotels would accept the feedback and do something to make right by their customers. The GM continued to insist that it wasn't food poisoning and that it must be a virus or maybe a weak stomach for me.

I have worked in customer experience for several years and one element is clear: what does it cost to apologize for a poor experience? What was unfortunate, is that the GM of the resort was too arrogant to say a simple, "We apologize...." and compensate at LEAST my family's meal, much less the night my family couldn't do much besides watch TV in our room because I was glued to the WC.

It is unfortunate that this poor response of the management left a worse taste in my mouth than bad octopus I consumed.

NOTE: the staff, waiters and attendants are the hotel are first class, and are thankfully uphold the expectation of a five...