Lovely Hotel. Shame about the restaurants!

We stayed here for a week at the end of January when the grey skies of England got too much for us and a quick fix of winter sun was needed. The hotel is about as far away from the airport as you can get on Tenerife - about an hour's drive - so the transfer included by booking through an agent was well worth it. A taxi would be expensive! The downside of booking through an agent was that we were initially given a dismal room, low down on the north side (the spa side) of the hotel behind some trees which unsurprisingly felt cold and dark. We immediately asked to change to the south side and were fortunate to be able to do so as the hotel was not full. The room was first class. Comfy bed, good TV and wifi, well furnished and decorated, huge bath and separate shower, plenty of storage. And a lovely sunny balcony! A different world from the first room we were shown. The hotel has vast public areas, many of them hung with a superb collection of Canarian and Spanish artworks. There is a decent library and a couple of pool tables. There may have been a little wear and tear on the carpets in places but overall the impression was one of luxury. The spa was wonderful. A smallish swimming pool not far off bath temperature surrounded by a good sauna, steam room etc. My wife did some of the yoga and Pilates classes (included in the price) and reported they were excellent. The two small pools outside the spa were warm and sunny for most of the day and proved a delightful place to relax. The big pool on the other side of the hotel was also excellent, very big and deep though sometimes shaded by the trees. The food side of the hotel was a strange mixture. We were on a half board deal as the hotel seemed to be (and is) some distance from the town centre. The three specialist restaurants in the hotel, Spanish, Italian and Asian, were a considerable disappointment. The Spanish restaurant had few good typical Spanish dishes, and the Italian restaurant had few good typically Italian dishes. The Asian restaurant was mostly Thai cuisine with limited Chinese or Japanese or Vietnamese cuisine, if any. Also, bizarrely, only two of them were open on any particular night, so there was less choice than appeared to be the case. The food and service in these restaurants was simply not up to the standard of the hotel itself. Not actually bad, but not good either. Against that, the buffet breakfast was very good indeed, one of the best we have seen anywhere, and we loved having a light lunch in the excellent small bar/restaurant outside by the big pool. The huge gardens of the hotel are truly spectacular - more so (and better maintained) than the nearby Botanic Gardens and there is a pitch and putt golf course or something similar. As you will gather, we loved staying at the hotel and just relaxing in the sunshine during the day and never felt inclined to hire a car and go elsewhere. The entertainment in the evenings wasn't bad either - only one act was so dire we had to walk out. In fact we found it is a pleasant 10/15 minute stroll down into town which we often did after dinner. The taxi back up is only about 6 Euros, a good investment! In summary, a lovely hotel which we would go back to in a heartbeat. Probably best not to be locked into the hotel's restaurants every night so when we go back we will just do bed and breakfast. But it is a proper luxury hotel. We went down the road and had a look at the Riu Garoe which is just above it in the TA ratings. We didn't think the hotel or its grounds were in the same league as the Botanico at all and found it very soulless.