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Michael and I decided it was time to give pureocean a try again at Divi. I always say the food is mediocre here at Divi but I have seen some positive reviews so I thought, why not?
Well, I'll tell you why not!
I looked at a menu on line and there were several options for me. We got a reservation on Open Table for 5:30 at restaurant opening. We arrived a bit early and sat outside waiting for the restaurant to open. Promptly at 5:30 the restaurant opened and we walked inside. There were three couples awaiting tables at the time. The hostess appeared a bit confused with the Open Table reservations. She sat the couple in front of us. She came back to us and attempted to find our reservation. And failed. She seemed very confused. I said, "Ok. You can't find our reservation can you seat us anyway?" There was literally only one couple seated and one other couple waiting to be seated. She seated us, but appeared very confused.
We perused the menu which was different than what was online. I elected the chicken piccata despite it being served with cherry tomatoes, green beans and corn instead of with pasta. My husband selected the duck.
Our server was very good (although he didn't ask the temperature my husband wanted his duck). He brought rolls and our wine selections promptly. We talked a bit and I told him that we had never been a huge fan of this restaurant. He said that he would do his best to make us happy. Our food arrived fairly quickly which was nice.
My husband's duck was nicely presented with a sweet potato puree underneath and wonderfully fresh broccoli and carrots. The plate was beautiful. My plate, however, was a piece of chicken atop obviously canned green beans and corn. Why on earth would you elect to serve the piccata with corn and beans if they are canned???? Alongside my dinner came mashed potatoes. It seemed an odd pairing but at least the potatoes were good! My chicken was rather tough. The lemon sauce was decent. But this was no piccata. Michael's duck was very very tender although the fat was not very well rendered leaving a flabby layer under the skin. Michael cleaned his plate while I elected to leave the canned vegetables on mine. Now I know that this is an island and it may be difficult to get fresh vegetables. But again, chicken piccata is not usually served with green beans and corn!
As we awaited our bill, we noticed the head of food and beverage walking around the restaurant and we called him over. We hadn't seen this particular food and beverage manager for two years. Turns out he had left to go to Curacao and had come back. Now the good news is that he is the one who had made some good changes at the resort's restaurants in the past. So, perhaps, next year, the restaurants will be better. He said that pureocean was going to go to a more buffet style restaurant every night. (This is not something I would appreciate but perhaps others will). I will say that our server Andrew provided excellent and attentive service and was tipped accordingly. They do add the 15% service charge to the bill but we added more because he was very attentive.
I'm not sure we will try pureocean again if it is buffet only. That's not really my scene.
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