Monday, November 8, 2010

Ritz Carlton Naples Golf Resort

Work took us as a family to Florida last week. While there we were housed at the Ritz Carlton Golf Resort in Naples. The resort is beautiful in so many ways - the rooms, the golf course. The jazz trio that plays in the lobby deserves more than a mention. Their pools are salt-water pools and hence very swimmer-friendly.

However, in keeping with the focus of this blog, I must admit that the children's menu was very disappointing. Thinking that we would be at a 5-star resort and therefore must at least have decent food for kids, I decided that my son will just eat the kids' fare they serve. But upon arrival, I found that the only healthy and appetizing main item they had for the little ones was the mac and cheese. As we were there for almost a week, my 20-month old son had mac and cheese for almost every meal the first few days. Finally on the third day, he retaliated. So I decided that perhaps he will like the chicken fingers with fries. After all, which kid does not like fries. And fries it was. The kiddo wanted nothing to do with the tough and oily chicken strips and just wanted the fries which I greatly disapprove of - they were very greasy and extremely salty.

Ritz Carlton has another resort nearby - the Ritz Carlton Beach Resort; and the Golf Resort shuttles its patrons over for free. Desperate and in search of food for my son, I shuttled over in hopes of finding more palatable meals. I was disappointed. They do have a slightly more diverse menu at the coffee house and I decided to try the fail-proof chicken noodle soup. After his first spoonful, my son rejected it like bad medicine. I tasted it and realized why - it was SO salty. I could barely finish the leftover. So the poor boy ended up having cereal for most of his meals. By the time our conference was over, I was thrilled that we'd be moving to a service-apartment where I can cook again for the tyke.
Beautiful rooms, but...
The skinny: If you have kids, Ritz Carlton Golf Resort Naples is perhaps not a place where you'd want to stay if you plan to dine at its F&B outlet during your time there. On second thought, even if it were just an adult-only holiday, I would suggest you eat out and give the restaurants at the Resort a miss. Seriously.