The Ritz-Carlton Maldives, Fari Islands — Restaurant in Malé Atoll

Rewrite We had an incredible and unforgettable stay at the Ritz-Carlton Maldives, its next-level service, thoughtful surprises and its staffs — easily one of our most memorable stays anywhere!. In fact, the family agrees that we should make RC Maldives an annual family get-away vacation from now on!!||||We transferred in from the Waldorf, and Shaan met us at the dock to make sure our journey to RC was seamless. Although he couldn’t be there to send us off during our flight back home, he made the effort to stop by during our check-in back just to say goodbye, a very kind gesture. Another gentleman (I wish I got his name!) handled our luggages and check-in and was equally wonderful, warm and helpful.||||Our Aris Meeha (which we learned means your “closest one”), Shuhu, deserves a huge shoutout — she was efficient, super professional, warm and friendly, and always there when we needed anything. Super professional and thoughtful. She surprised us one day delivering cold cut fruits to the villa and made sure our daughter’s snorkeling excursion a smooth and exciting one, which turned out to be one of her trip highlights.||||Dining at this resort was a blast of gastronomy highlight of our trip. We had dinner at La Locanda, Eau Bar, Summer Pavilion, and Arabesque — all are exceptional. Breakfasts at La Locanda were something we looked forward to each morning. Azu, Retno, Martina, and other team members (whose names we unfortunately didn’t catch) always greeted us warmly and remembered us — it felt like being welcomed by friends. The breakfast spread is amazing and taste sooo yummy. Don’t miss the chicken gyoza — it’s a must try.||||We later saw Retno again during my partner’s birthday dinner celebration at Arabesque. A special thank you to Naseem and the amazing chef who suprised us with a super delicicious and refreshing complimentary fish soup, man it was super delicious. Naseem also gave my partner some Maldivian chilis to take home, after noticing how much she loved them, he made sure to show up and that she received it personally on the day we were leaving— a small but incredibly thoughtful gesture. Please please try Arabesque truffle hummus — it’s divine.||||Chef Komang from Eau Bar blew us away with her japanese cookings. On top of that, she surprised us with complimentary fried rice, a generous spread of desserts, and fresh fruit. The bartender from Bali (I wish I remembered his name!) remembered I love Negronis from the other day and made a perfect one for me. He also whipped up two refreshing mocktails for my partner and daughter — it was such a nice and thoughtful touch.||||Chinese food dinner at Summer Pavilion was another standout. It was on-point following Saheed’s recommendations. I dare to say that its truffle shrimp har gao was better than any we’ve ever had in Singapore — no joke.||||The spa deserves its own spotlight — the architecture is stunning, with an open-air lagoon in the center that creates a calm, meditative atmosphere and a soothing feeling, walking into the treatment room. Ayu welcomed us at the reception and we connected immediately; followed by a superb relaxing messages from Abby and Yao.||||Now, about my partner’s birthday — it was honestly overwhelming in the most wonderful way. The day started with a surprise birthday cake from the La Locanda team, followed by a beautiful sand art surprise in our villa from Afree, our amazing room attendant. The Spa team left a lovely birthday message made from stones in our treatment room. After a blissful massages, we returned to find a birthday song playing on the villa’s TV, together with floating leaves art in the bathtub along with a bottle of non-alcoholic wine (which we couldn’t finish, but the gesture was so sweet) . The celebration continued with a lovely dinner at Arabesque, complete with a cheerful birthday song sang by the Arabesque team and another surprise cake — all of this made her day feel extra magical and full of love.||||A huge thank you to Audy, the F&B Director, who checked in with us daily and genuinely cared about how were enjoying our meals and our stay. He even offered to prepare Balinese food for breakfast, knowing that we are Indonesian family from Singapore — and we will definitely take him up on that on our next trip to RC! And salute to him for having curated all the fine and super delicious restaurants with excellent team members. ||||Overall, this was more than just a luxurious getaway — it was thoughtful, heartfelt, and full of personal touches that made us feel truly special. A heartfelt thank you to everyone at Ritz-Carlton Fari Island Maldives. We’re already dreaming about our return. ||||We’ve been fortunate to stay at many top-tier hotels around the world — from RC Mandapa , Vienna and Geneva, to Park Hyatt Zurich, Mandarin Oriental Tokyo, St Regis Bali and Osaka, the Four Seasons Bali, Budapest and Prague to name a few — but this was the first time we truly felt sad and depressed to leave. As Shuhu lovingly said, “Until...

Hello all! Thought I would post now and be able to help anyone else, who like me, was searching for specific info on this place at this time of year (End of July / early August) the rainy season. ||Background: I’m 44 and my wife is 39 (for a few more days, we are here for her 40th birthday). We are both professionals who love to travel and enjoy luxury hotel/resorts. We do prefer beach/pool type vacas. ||I booked this trip about 5 months ago for her Bday getaway knowing we would be coming during the rainy season. The obvious plus was the significantly cheaper prices. Obvious potential negative was the weather, especially since I planned 2 days in Dubai on the way here and 1.5 days in Dubai on the way back (I’d rather stay and explore Dubai instead of a 5-8 hour layover coming from Chicago, USA). Dubai was awesome, fantastic food (Burj Khalifa afternoon tea, Ariana’s Persian Kitchen and Trèsind so far and Orfali Bros on way back) but it was INSANELY hot. You can literally almost not breathe during peak daytime from the heat / humidity. We cancelled our evening desert excursion as well cause it was still very hot/humid after sunset. We did a day trip with a private car to Abu Dhabi, this was great since you are cool in the car and most of the sights we visited were indoors. If you end up coming during this time of year, just plan for indoor stuff (shopping / eating / Burj Khalifa/Al Arab etc). ||Anyway, back to this resort. It has been AMAZING from the start since we arrived to Velana airport in Malè. Lovely staff. Beautiful luxury yacht transfer from Malè to the resort (about 65 minutes). I wanted a hotel with boat transfer and not be stuck with sea plane option only. ||Our butler (known as Aris Meeha here) whose name is Arafath has been nothing short of spectacular. (I actually requested him based on other people’s reviews, def do the same). He is always available and tries to anticipate your every need. An absolute gem. He said we are at 70% occupancy. Doesn’t feel full at all. No issues getting a lounger/seat at the beach or main pool. ||We have been here 3 days now, 4 more to go. We both said we never want to leave the day we arrived. We have stayed at multiple other Ritz Carlton Hotels (Chicago, Miami, Grand Cayman Islands), Four Seasons (Tamarindo, Bora Bora, Florence, Chiang Mai) St Regis (Punta Mita, Bora Bora, Chicago, Kanai) and this Ritz Maldives trumps them all. The modern aesthetics, crystal clear water, service and food thus far is the main reasons. ||Food: so far we have tried room service (fresh/piping hot arrival). La Laconda (Italian focused for dinner and AMAZING breakfast buffet). EAU Bar for hookah/Shisha (AMAZING, better than most of the hookah/shisha we had in Dubai prior to arrival) and Beach Shack (beach side grill). We are going to their sister resort Patina tonight for the Nordic/Japanese tasting menu at Koen. Special starlight dibs at dinner tomorrow. Then arabesque (Indian / middle eastern) followed by IWAU (Japanese omakase). ||Weather: I was tracking weather for weeks before we left. Everyday showed rain, that’s just how it is with most tropical islands. Yes this is the rainy season but weather has been great so far. It has been about 82-84 degrees Fahrenheit everyday. It was overcast with a short light shower when we arrived, some rain while we slept but the rest of the days have been sunny or some clouds, see pics below. ||Atmosphere/amenities: we met some lovely couples here. Seen a few families with kids. We have a 3.5 year old back at home that we will absolutely bring back here in the future. Kids club looks awesome. Gym is beautiful. Tons of daily activities. Main pool is beautiful. Beach is beautiful. Automatic toilet BIDETS in the bathrooms. We have these at home and are soooo glad they have these here. Snorkeling around our over the water bungalow has been great. Yes this is a man made island and the reefs need more years to grow but it’s just fine for the average snorkeler. We are doing their guided snorkel excursion in a few days as well. ||So, all in all so far this has been a fantastic resort that you should NOT HESITATE to come to especially during the rainy season if that works for you. ||Post any questions and I’ll be happy to answer...

Last week, my wife and I celebrated our honeymoon at the Ritz-Carlton Fari Island. I could certainly spend hours describing the breathtaking view from our water villa and the clear, blue water of the Maldives. However, the wonderful people we met on the island outshone both the incredible setting and the luxurious facilities. The relationships we created with the ladies and gentlemen of the Ritz-Carlton Fari Island will remain in our memories forever.

Our Aris Meeha Hussain Adam exceeded all of our expectations. He managed surprises and arranged every detail of our stay. From confirming our dinner reservations to recommending water activities, he took exceptional care of us. He always went beyond what we asked for, and we could tell that he cared about us. There was one night when, upon our return from dinner, romantic music started playing, and candlelight illuminated the room, with congratulations balloons surrounding the bathtub, which had been filled with bubble bath. He has been so warm and kind to us, and we couldn't have asked for anything more.

Divemaster Ali at the dive center was an excellent teacher. During our stay, I decided to take the open water diving course with him and upgrade my PADI certification. I had some mental difficulties getting back into the water after such a long time, but Ali was very encouraging and did not put any pressure on me. He rearranged the course plan to ease me in, and I could tell he was proud of me when I completed the moves properly. By the end of the course, we had grown close and shared more than just diving techniques.

We decided to go for sunrise yoga one morning because my wife does yoga at home every day. Manish, the yoga instructor, was fantastic, and we then decided to do sunrise/sunset and aerial yoga with him every day. He is a very inspiring yoga instructor with a thorough understanding of yoga philosophy. He would not force you into any postures during the practice, but you will notice that your body limitations have gradually decreased after an hour of practice.

We went to the Summer Pavilion for dinner one night and were blown away by the food, and we ended up having a great conversation with Chef Franco about his inspiration for creating the wonderful dishes. On our final night at the resort, he treated my wife and me to a special dinner. We could tell how talented he is from the two dinners we had with him. He would incorporate ingredients from the western food culture to add layers of flavor, and he is considerate and deliberate about the presentation. His menu is full of traditional Chinese dishes, but the actual dishes went above and beyond the home-cooked flavor and presentation. He improved the taste and presentation of traditional Chinese cuisine while preserving its essence. If you enjoy authentic Chinese cuisine, you should try Chef Franco's carefully curated menu.

The ladies and gentlemen on the island are all extremely knowledgeable, and we had many interesting conversations with them about food, their lives on the island, and Maldives’ culture. When Faruha, from La Locanda, was on duty, we always talked for a long time. We were impressed by his cheerfulness and talent, and if the weather had been nicer the last few days, we would have asked him to take some photos for us, as he is also an expert in the area. Although the photo did not happen due to the weather, he surprised us with a specially ordered honeymoon plate with three heart-shaped pancakes during one breakfast.

There are many things we miss about the island, but the wonderful people are what we miss the most. My wife had fried rice from Iwau made especially for her several times, and almost every restaurant we visited had a surprise for us. We are overjoyed that we chose to spend our honeymoon with them; it could not have been better.

If you have any doubts about this trip or are undecided about the various tropical destinations, we strongly recommend you book your stay with them. You'll enjoy it! Please say hello to the lovely ladies and gentlemen for us...