I pushed the buggy towards the restaurant counter and smiled at the lady. “It’s that way,” she pointed to the bathrooms behind me. Confused, and trying to contain my offense, I told her that we actually wanted to have dinner here. “Can we?” I added, with a smile. It must be the pool hair, make-up all washed up from an entire evening spent in their pools. Bloody hell. Took them a few seconds to register the misunderstanding, and they started to fumble on the screen to find us a table. I pointed out to the tables outside the door and said “We could sit here?” Maybe it’ll be better to stay away from the rest of the diners should the two girls make a fuss. A bit of fumbling from the team, and then I decided, Stuff it, let’s just sit in this nice restaurant tonight and told them the same. More to and fro-ing, the team came back and told us there were no tables left inside for 4. Outside the restaurant it was. I was sceptical. Really? The husband was happy to just stay out, the girls were hungry and tired, and I really couldn’t be bothered. Let’s just have our meals and call it an evening 😉
So, Park Hyatt Abu Dhabi Hotel & Villas – one of the many resorts on the Saadiyat Island that we’ve never been. Have seen so many photos of it on social media and I was pretty excited to check it out, using Privilee. How was it? Was it as pristine and special as it’s made out to be? Did the food make up for the misunderstanding? Our thoughts :
Pools
- The main pool is an adults-only pool. Beach House is next to it – had a glass of white for 50AED, and no, we don’t get discounts on Privilee there (nor do they have any happy hours deals). If the kids are fussing, suggest not to bring them there as the crowd is mostly adults, plus it wouldn’t be very ‘nice’ for all those adults in that adults-only pool. Quite an odd set-up I felt to have the main pool as adults-only instead of putting it away in a secluded area i.e away from the kids, just like what Waldorf the Palm, Rixos the Palm does.
- Love the family pools – the ‘baby’ area is shaded, and there are further family pools – one’s 0.9m deep, the other 1.2m deep with steps. It’s nuts (in a good way) that all pools close at 10pm. Great for the late swimmers (like us, last night) – however it’s very dim by the poolside so you gotta use your phone torch to pack things up and make sure you don’t use the 101 things you’ve brought.
Kids Club
- Right next to the family pools in a standalone single-storey building.
- Simple indoor area – large group of kids were watching cartoons when we got there. No soft tiles so not great for the little ones I’ll say, but ok for toddlers. Supposedly ‘face painting’ activity was on when we were there, it’s one of those passive activities where you gotta go ask them to do it.
- Nice shaded outdoor playground area, with their resident tortoise, named ‘Tabbouleh’. Cute huh 🙂 Girls had fun watching and patting the little guy.
- Shuts early though, at 6:30pm. Not to worry, pools shuts at 10pm so you have a couple of hours to go if the kids still wanted to swim!
Dinner @ The Cafe
It was buffet last night but we opted to do ala carte, as it was in the Entertainer. Didn’t start out right, and would have been better (maybe) if we could actually sit inside the restaurant. Regardless, food was great- and I assume they tried to make it up with service as well. The nasi goreng – spicy, tasty, and so appetisizing especially after a big swim. The prawns linguine was cooked perfectly al dente and their prawns were large, succulent and just right. Large sparkling San Pelligrino – priced at 33AED (Dubai/AD standard), and dinner altogether was 142AED using the Entertainer. Was tempted to waltz in to do more photos and see if there really were no tables for 4. Pick your battles they say. I’ll let this one slide. Note to self : Bring some make up next time so you can look a bit more decent after a swim. Doesn’t help when you’re pushing a pram with little kids.
Not one of the best Privilee resorts for us, but the family pools sure is beautiful. Missed out on the beach itself – we love love love Saadiyat beaches – gotta return then next time 😉 Have you been to the Park Hyatt? Where should we dine at, next time?
Note : This is not a sponsored post. I paid 1499AED, based on the Summer Deal with Privilee (great deal!)