First meal in the Dominican Republic when arriving later in the day and having some time to kill before getting into our rental home.

This restaurant is located right on the beach at the Punta Cana Resort and Club.

We aren’t large eaters, but after a pretty early morning of travel, followed by airline snacking we were ready to get some food in. We were seated in Manuel’s section, and he greeted us warmly and provided us with some time to get settled in and look at the options.

Our group of 3 Started out with a glass of Woodbridge Cabernet Sauvignon, red sangria, and I had a michelada with the local El Presidente beer. Very tasty, cold, refreshing and as you sit Oceanside and watch people kite surfing, learning how to sail, chilling on the beach you have a vacation is finally here vibe.

My parents split the linguini de frutti de mare, and I ordered the risotto with tomatoes, burrata, and pesto. It took a little while, but it’s island time and we weren’t in a rush. When the food came out it was perfectly executed. The linguini was cooked Al dente, the risotto with pesto drizzled on it along with a big chunk of burrata and alfalfa sprouts on top (it baffled me but it worked out!) was superb. Rice had some bite to it, but not crunchy. Just really well done.

We had to get back to the home but I had to find out the next time Manuel was working so I could bring our entire group later in the week. Thank you to him for an excellent meal and a warm welcome to Punta Cana.

We hope to be back!