Hyatt Ziva Cap Cana - Amazing All-Inclusive Restaurants

The restaurants at the Hyatt Ziva and Zilara Cap Cana put most all-inclusive resorts to shame. All-inclusive resorts generally get a bad rap in the food and beverage department. When you are able to get as much as you want and drink as much as you want, many resorts will skimp on the quality. They instead will skew the menu and selection towards quantity. For the most part, this is not the case at the Hyatt Ziva and Zilara resorts.

I traveled to the Hyatt Ziva Cap Cana in the Dominican Republic in February 2021. As the Ziva and Zilara Cap Cana resorts are colocated and I was traveling as an adult-only group, we had access to both resort’s restaurants. Over the course of six days, we sampled a majority of the restaurant on offer.

This is the second post in a three-part review of the Hyatt Ziva Cap Cana. The other two parts of this review are linked below:

Room Review – Hyatt Ziva Cap Cana Ocean View Junior Suite
Restaurants – Hyatt Ziva and Zilara Cap Cana (this review)
Amenities – Hyatt Ziva and Zilara Cap Cana

One important note for this review is that this visit occurred in February 2021. During this time, travel was still depressed due to the COVID-19 global pandemic. While the restaurants did not change due to COVID-19, some services did. I will make the best effort to identify the areas that were modifications of regular service due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Post Contents

Shutters

Shutters is an oceanfront, outdoor restaurant located along the beach on the Zilara side of the resort. The restaurant is built in a colonial style similar to what you would find in the old sugar mills or sugar plantations of the Caribbean. The restaurant serves Peruvian and Caribbean cuisine. During the breakfast and lunch hours, this is a club-level guest-exclusive restaurant. During dinner hours, the restaurant is open to all resort guests.

Review

Shutters was the first dinner that we went to upon arriving at the resort. The food was good as will be the case for most restaurants at the resort. The portion sizes were small. Because this was the first restaurant that we ate at, we were not yet accustomed to the small sizes and didn’t order enough items. The most memorable part of this meal was the wind that comes off the ocean. The strength of the wind was pretty intense. As the restaurant is open-air, there is almost no hiding from it if you do to this restaurant. If you have the opportunity I would try to find a location in the restaurant sheltered from the wind, as the wind made enjoying dinner difficult.

Hours

Breakfast: 7:00 AM – 10:30 AM (Club Level Guests Only)
Lunch: 12:30 PM – 4:00 PM (Club Level Guests Only)
Dinner: 6:30 PM – 10:30 PM (Open to All Guests)

Dress Code: Smart Casual

Brandos

Brandos is the French Polynesian (sometimes called French Tahitian) themed restaurant located in the 1^st floor of the Zilara lobby building. The atmosphere of Brandos is very upscale with dim lighting, ornate art, and ambiance lighting. Several of the table groupings are also surrounded by black-bottom pools adding to the chic atmosphere. If you want to have an upscale dining experience for the price of all-inclusive, Brandos is a great restaurant for that.

Review

In line with most upscale dinning expereiences, the food portions were small. However, the size of the dishes were made up for in the quality and variety of dishes. This was probably my favorite menu in terms of entrée options provided. The service also provided the upscale feel during our entire dining experience.

Hours

Dinner: 6:00 PM – 10:00 PM (Open to All Guests)

Dress Code: Smart Formal

Journey’s

Journey’s specializes in Indian cuisine and features themes and decoration from the Indian subcontinent. The seating centerpiece of this restaurant is the train car modeled after the Maharajas Express that allows guests to dine inside the car. Journey’s is located on the first floor of the Zilara lobby building immediately next door to Brandos.

Review

This is the restaurant while I wanted to visit most, but was unable to due to the restaurant rotation in effect due to COVID-19 during my travels.

Hours

Dinner: 6:00 PM – 10:00 PM

Dress Code: Smart Formal

Waves

Wave is billed as a grille/steakhouse and is located in the middle of the pool area on the Zilara resort. Waves serves a wide variety of cuts of meat as well as some seafood selections. The meats selection includes Ribeyes, Skirt Steaks, Filets, BBQ Ribs, and BBQ Chicken.

Review

Because of the similarity in the menus between Navigator Grille and Waves, we passed on dining at Waves during our stay.

Hours

Dinner: 6:30 PM – 10:30 PM

Dress Code: Smart Casual

Noodle & Thread

Noodle and Thread is an Italian restaurant located on the bottom floor of the Ziva lobby building. The restaurant is decorated like a tailor or cobblers shop. Vintage clothing, sewing machines, and shoe molds create the decorations throughout the restaurant. The restaurant serves your Italian classics (Spaghetti, Lasagna, Pizza, etc…) but will also serve many other traditional Italian dishes.

Review

Noodle & Thread starts every table with a charcuterie board containins meats, breads, cheeses, fruits, jams/honey, and nuts. While nothing on the board was overly fancy, its was pretty good and elevated the experience above the traditional bread and herbs being brought to the table. A notable difference about the Noodle & Thread menu from most other restaurants at the resort is that it didn’t have a natural flow beyond the starters.

During my visit, I ordered Caprese Salad, Corgonzola Pumpkin Soup, and the Brazed Beef Rib. My wife ordered the La Mia Terra Salad, Minstrone Soup, and Spaghetti with Bolognesse Sauce. Each of our meals were well prepared and we thoughoughly enjoyed them. The portions here are larger than at many of the other restaurants so be warned if you get in the habbit of 3 courses while at the resort.

Hours

Dinner: 6:30 PM – 10:00 PM

Dress Code: Smart Casual

Navigator Grill

The Navigator Grill is the open-air grill located on a slightly elevated building above the Ziva pool deck. This restaurant is billed as a Caribbean restaurant specializing in seafood: fish & shellfish. However, the menu also provides several steak options for those who want more steakhouse fare from the grill.

Review

As usual the food was good. Portions tended to be small on several of the dishes, but it is all inclusive so you can order as many items as you like. The seafood is cooked well and the presentation of the food is quite nice. This is one of the more casual restaurants at the resort so when you are looking for an easy dinner night, this is the place to go.

In an unusual turn during our stay, we had two negative experiences while dinning at the Navigator Grill. First, due to the outdoor dining location, the wind coming in off the ocean can be quite strong. We often battled to keep items on our table from blowing away. The second negative was that the service tended to be a little off. Given that the service in the majority of the rest of the resort was spot on, this is likely a fluke or a staff that was short on people that night. Off the 4 drinks we ordered during dinner, only one of them matches what we ordered when it arrived a the table.

Hours

Dinner: 6:30 PM – 10:00 PM

Dress Code: Smart Casual

Chinola

The Chinola restaurant is a rarety at all-inclusive resorts at this price point. Health eating is the theme of this beach-side restaurant on the Ziva side. This will either draw people in or push people away depending on the type of atmosphere you like on vacation. Chinola is a beach-side restaurant and the décor embraces the beachside hangout vibe. During the breakfast and lunch hours, this is a club-level guest exclusive restaurant. During dinner hours, the restaurant is open to all resort guests.

Review

I did not expereince this restaurant during my stay in Feb 2021 and am unable to provide a review.

Hours

Breakfast: 7:00 AM – 10:30 AM (Club Level Guests Only)
Lunch: 12:30 PM – 4:00 PM (Club Level Guests Only)
Dinner: 6:30 PM – 10:30 PM (Open to All Guests)

Dress Code: Smart Casual

The Mercado & The Pier

The Mercado and The Pier are the buffet restaurants at the Hyatt Cap Cana resorts. The Pier servers the Hyatt Zilara while The Mercado serves the Hyatt Ziva. The selections available at each of these are identical from our experience. The buffets provide a wide variety of foods from the traditional Caribbean to customary American fare and European fare.

Review

As the only options open for breakfast besides the club-level restaurants, we went to The Mercado or The Pier almost every morning. We also went to either of these for lunch when we didn’t want to have the pool/snack fare available at Prontoz. With the wide variety of food available, we didn’t have to have the same thing twice at either of these restaurants. Several of the buffet stations also provide made-to-order food. This blurred the line between traditional buffet and restaurant food, elevating the experience.

Hours

Breakfast: 7:00 AM – 11:00 AM
Lunch: 12:30 PM – 4:00 PM
Dinner: 6:30 PM – 10:30 PM

Dress Code: Smart Casual

Presto/Prontoz

Presto and Prontoz are the pool deck snack bar and quick lunch restaurant. Presto is located at the Hyatt Zilara pool deck while Prontoz is located at the Hyatt Ziva pool deck. Both have very similar menus featuring salads, pizzas, and wraps. These make easy simple poolside or beach food if you aren’t looking to go into one of the resort buildings to eat. You can either eat in the restaurant or take your food back with you to the beach. While none of the food from these snack bars will be the most memorable part of the trip, they are convenient, delicious, and filling options when enjoying the pool and beach.

Review

We ate at Prestos and Prontoz a total of 4 times during our stay. All of these were for lunch when out by the beach or pool to keep from going back into the resort building to eat. The salads and wraps at Presto were fairly good, but Pizza is their signature dish. They have a variety of good pizzas with varied toppings. Because they make flat crust pizzas, a single pizza is appropriate for one person. The best part of this restaurant was being able to walk up to place a carryout order and come back 20 minutes later to get your food. Taking it back to the pool or beach allowed for relaxation to continue.

Hours

Lunch: 11:00 AM – 6:00 PM

Dress Code: None

Tempest Table

Tempest Table hosts an Asian cuisine-inspired menu. Roughly half the restaurant is centered around Teppanyaki tables (also known as Hibachi tables in some places). The other half of the restaurant sports traditional seating and is built around a Mongolian grill. In addition to the Teppan/Hibachi entrée, the restaurant lists Asian starters, soups, and sushi on its menu.

Review

During our visit to Tempest Table, there was a fairly long wait for the Teppan tables (about 45 minutes). The wait for the first available table was shorter at 25 minutes so we went for that option. As this is one of the two main building Hyatt Ziva restaurants, it always had a line during our stay.

We were seated at a regular both so we weren’t able to see the cooking show in front of us. However, the teppan tables were visible from where we sat so we got the atmosphere of the show cooking. During our visit, I ordered the Spicy Tuna Roll, the California Roll, Edamame, Misoshiru with Duck Soup, and the traditional Teppan Entrée. My wife ordered the Philadelphia Roll, Buuz dumplings, and the Teppan Entrée. We finished off by sharing Vanilla Fried Ice Cream and the Apple & Ginger Fried Stuffed Roll. As is usual at this resort, the food was well prepared and the service very attentive. The only downsides were that the menu is somewhat limited (only two entrée options and only one soup) and seating is limited so there is most often a wait.

COVID-19 Travel Note: During my visit the Mongolian grill station was not operational due to the COVID-19 pandemic. I feel that this would be a main part of the menu and atmosphere of this restaurant. Therefore, I don’t believe the above review is a true representation of this restaurant when operating normally.