Tropical oasis

My husband and I needed a relaxing break after a very hectic family Christmas. We had stayed in Puerto del la Cruz several times over the last thirty years and were attracted by the mild climate at this time of year. For the last two years we had wintered in the Caribbean but did not want to travel that far. We also had an easy fight from Stansted which is our closest airport. When we arrived at the hotel our first impressions were good. We stayed in an Ambassador junior suite which was extremely spacious. The room provided all the facilities we needed apart from a kettle which we asked for and had to pay over 7€ a day. Our bed was very hard and when we asked reception if anything could be done about it they offered to change the mattress which was done within the hour. The age of the room does not have easily accessible sockets for charging iPads or phones but free wifi is available throughout the hotel which was very good. Our room was serviced well every day and was spotless. The gardens around the hotel were beautiful and helped us relax into their calm tranquility. The Oriental Spa garden was a real haven and we enjoyed our time in there with free use of the facilities. You only pay for treatments. The bar hall had entertainment on every night which varied in quality. We particularly enjoyed the Flamenco dancing and the Canarian Folklore night. The group that played every Saturday night were also very good. Breakfasts were excellent with a vast range of delicacies available. We enjoyed late breakfasts till 11.00 a.m at weekends. The hotel has a beautiful range of original art work all over the hotel which I enjoyed looking at. The hotel has four restaurants. One by the pool for lunch and three in the evenings which take it in rotation to close some nights. After staying in many Leading hotels of the world we had high expectations of enjoying a mixture of Thai, Spanish and Italian food. Our first night we visited the Italian restaurant which at this time of year is in the basement of the hotel. The room is strangely designed with lumps of concrete painted white and mirrors on the ceiling to make a dim room resemble an Italian sea side resort. The furniture is also worn and very uncomfortable. We were very disappointed on our first night with an overdone sea bass and a pizza with a very soggy bottom. We put this down to being tired after travelling all day and were willing to try it again. The Thai restaurant was good and we ate there twice. Sadly the Spanish restaurant which should have been the flagship restaurant of the hotel was awful. My husbands steak was all gristle and my lamb chops with Canarian potatoes and courgettes was a vision in black on a greasy plate of inedible food. We kept persevering with the restaurants until we were given another uncooked pizza and raw vegetables. This food we were paying top notch prices for and it was the poorest we have had in a five star hotel. We did let the management know and they said they were not used to people complaining. They perhaps did not notice the amount of their clientele eating out in restaurants outside the hotel or rushing up the stairs with bags of food from the local supermarket. After a week of supporting the hotel restaurants we could take no more and with a lot of research we found three excellent alternatives to the hotel food. One close by and two a short taxi ride down into the town. We are both retired but felt very young among a very elderly clientele. I would thoroughly recommend the hotel to other visitors but go for the Bed and Breakfast option and eat out. My last comment is about the staff in the hotel who all worked very hard and made our stay an enjoyable and comfortable one.Thank you