La Palapa by Eden Roc — Restaurant in Higüey

We made our reservation 3 months in advance, which is the most you can make in advance, due to the demand. If you stay at the resort, I believe it is easier. About an hour before our reservation, they text us on WhatsApp and shared we needed to download the community app (for Cap Cana) and upload our passports (bc we don't have Dominican Republic IDs). It was difficult to understand why if we were just going to dinner. It seemed more reasonable to just stop by the registration office, but they said that wasn't an option. It was quite a frustrating experience before the dinner since we didn't get much notice and it was a random WhatsAppt number. I still really wanted to try the restaurant out because the reviews were so good. We ended up getting in the community after waiting an hour (no one was responding on the WhatsApp number and when they finally said they sent a code, we didn't get it.) The restaurant staff was really nice about it and no one was even at the restaurant when we arrived since our reservation was so early. It was a very odd experience. The food was really good. The food was also very expensive. If we were staying in Cap Cana or at the resort, I'd probably go again for a nice occasion because the food was fantastic. Since we stay elsewhere, it seems more of a hassle for the price. If they had asked us the morning of or day before to send documents and we had time to review, I think it would have been a...

Honestly I never leave restaurant reviews but unfortunately La palapa did not hit the spot. That being said, the atmosphere and staff were absolutely lovely but the restaurant truly is a ripoff. For Eden Roc standards, I felt severely let down. They claim to be the #1 hotel in the Caribbean and then let a restaurant like this operate on their property. Now for the food. We started with the shrimp, avocado and hearts of palm salad. It was fresh but lacked any flavor, especially in the so called “mustard seed dressing.” We also had the tuna tartare, which was fresh but the miso ginger sauce lacked in flavor, once again. For our mains we shared the ‘special sushi roll’, a king crab and red tuna roll, which was fine, but there was nothing special about it. And the cherry on top was the 1lb red snapper we had for our entree. The server filleted the whole grilled fish table side and proceeded to scrap off maybe a 1/2 cup size portion of fish flakes. Overall, two appetizers, a sushi roll and a 1lb fish (and a bottle of water) was $167usd, just...

For the level of Eden Rock it’s quite "poor".

For a price several times higher than in any other restaurant you expect that the level will be several times better. But unfortunately not... The food is absolutely simple.

The staff is friendly, but not particularly attentive.. They don't look after the wine and water glasses. You have to ask or do it yourself every time. Dishes “to share” the waiter doesn't put on the guests plates, you have to do it yourself. Of course, is not a big deal, but this is a restaurant in the Eden Rock Hotel, not a self-service cafeteria, I guess.

The atmosphere is definitely great! Cap Cana is a very beautiful...