Asiachi

Amathus Beach Hotel, Amathuntos Ave, 25832000, LEMESOS (LIMASSOL)
Tue-Sat 20:00-23:00
Food: [rating:2] 2/5
Service: [rating:4] 4/5
Ambiance: [rating:3] 3/5
I couldn’t have planned it any better myself: every now and then after a series of good meals there has to be a less exciting experience to shake things up. The truth is I didn’t expect a restaurant that is part of Amathus Hotel group to be the one to disappoint but unfortunately it did.
I always thought the particular hotel group had relatively good food. This is why I was also proud of my decision to visit their oriental restaurant on Friday night. Mr Proud Cypriot was not particularly happy to risk his dinner, but I politely ignored him as we have a blog to write!
Arriving there at 21:00 sharp I was surprised to see that there were only 3-4 other tables that were occupied. The restaurant was on the reception floor of the hotel in a rectangular room with a large window overlooking the lovely garden before the beach. It was a pity that neither the garden nor the beach was lit so we couldn’t really enjoy the sea view, despite the fact that we had a table right by the window. The high ceiling made the room look a bit cold and so did the neutral colours of offwhite and beige that prevailed. Nevertheless, it was quiet and comfortable with large round tables and comfy chars, hence a good opportunity to catch up with two proud Cypriot friends.
The menu looked promising with a sushi and sashimi selection, soups, salads and some cooked oriental dishes. We went for the usual combination of dishes to share as well as a lovely bottle of Rioja for 35€, which I thought was good value for money for what it was. Little did I know that it would have proved as the only thing we had ordered which would be good value for money. The kind waiter asked if it was ok for the sushi to come first, the soups later and the cooked food at the end. We, of course, nodded as his plan sounded right.
The sashimi selection which arrived 45 minutes later was up of a good standard with fresh and tasty fish. The maki pieces were fairly tasty and were fortunately not topped with mayonnaise and other sauces, a common feature amongst Japanese restaurants in Cyprus. The amount that we ordered was, however, not as much as we thought, but we thought to wait for the rest of our dishes and see before ordering more.
What we didn’t know is that the second round, which consisted of two soups would come 45 minutes after the sushi, a total of 1.5 hours after we had ordered. What was even worse was that the crab soup looked like liquid jelly with a funny taste of sweet and sour crab, while the spicy soup was again, a funny jelly-like substance that look like brown sugar syrup but tasted like boiled soy sauce with tofu. The proud Cypriot friend insisted that the crab soup was a “love-it-or-hate-it” kind of deal. I was definitely not loving it.
Thinking back the point when I actually got upset was not even at round two, but round three: the salads and the main dishes. Not only had they arrived at 11:05, almost two hours after we had ordered, they weren’t even worth the wait. The salads were quite average with fresh lettuce but funny-looking fried soft shell crab. It had a solid rounded crust rather than crunchy fried bits around it. The tuna Tataki, instead of raw tuna pieces with light sour sauce consisted of mini tuna steaks cooked to a medium. The honey-glazed black cod had a light red colour and it was a bit dry. It didn’t taste bad but it was nothing like the soft white cod fillet with a perfectly sweet but light skin that I had imagined.
All in all, the sushi and sashimi were not bad (and we could have left sort of happy had we ordered just that). The main courses and soups were quite average in taste, but the fact that they had arrived two hours after we had ordered made the whole experience twice as bad. Our bill of 50€ per person was the cherry on the cake as we thought it was way too much for a meal we didn’t really enjoy. At least we had the opportunity to enjoy a good Rioja and catch up with our friends in a quiet environment!
http://www.amathus-hotels.com/limassol/facilities/restaurants-bars