Cristal Praia Resort & SPA

I visited the hotel with my BF for our anniversary. We've decided to make a last minute change of plan as we saw many positive reviews of this hotel, especially reviews on their food. Hence, we booked half board package which included breakfast and dinner. When we arrived at the restaurant, we were surprised to see that it wasn't international buffet but a la carte menu. To make it worse, we were offered only 2 menus - grilled fish and pork chop (which then we realised it was lamb ribs). The food was terrible. We were served cold bread and the meat that I've ordered was so cold, salty, tough and tasted like carpet (the fish wasn't clean well, part of the gut was still inside). I puked it out immediately and refused a second bite. We tried to feedback to the waiter but he couldn't speak English. Not only so, after that we realised that the drinks weren't included in the menu and we had to pay extra for it. We've already paid for half board which wasn't cheap to begin with! I was extremely upset about the whole experience that I cried afterwards, refused to believe that our anniversary was ruined because of this. As for breakfast, the variety was really little and the quality was equally terrible (worse than the 3 Stars hotel we stayed in the night before). I even ate a piece of spoiled pork ham!!! This is just ridiculous! There are indeed some positive points about the hotel. The indoor heated pool was good (you will have to pay €5 for a swim cap if u don't have one. Towel required a deposit of €10 each). Room was spacious with nice view. In my opinion, the negatives outlived the positives. You can find cheaper and better hotels nearby. I will NEVER be back again.