Grand Lido Lido Braco

My wife and I just returned from spending a week (December 7 - December 14 ,2002) in Jamaica. This was our eighth trip to Jamaica and our second to Grand Lido Braco this year. We were at Braco in late February of this year (2002) just before the "Russian" invasion occurred and we also spent the prior week at Grand Lido Sans Souci

We booked our own flights with Air Canada out of Winnipeg with a connection through Toronto and everything was acceptable. On our previous trip earlier this year, we flew with SkyService (charter) and thank goodness for regular scheduled flights. We booked GL Braco directly with Superclubs as we had a sunshine credit and 2 free nights to use and they were very accommodating.

We arrived in Montego Bay at 2:15PM and it took about an hour to clear customs and get to the Superclubs desk for the bus ride. There were about 4 couples on our bus going to Grand Lido Braco with us as well as about another 4 couples going to Sans Souci. One of the odd things was that there was a couple with 2 "youngish" teenagers going to Braco. We found a little odd. We saw the 2 teenagers throughout the week and they seemed lost, as Braco is definitely not suited for young adults.

I will try to do our review in comparison to our earlier trip to Grand Lido Braco this February.

We found the staff at Braco to be very friendly and polite and very willing to help out in any way they could. The usual long-term employees (it would take me a full page to name them all) were still there and we thoroughly enjoyed their company. In Victoria Market, there was a larger than normal (as in last visit) number of "trainee" name tags but we found the service to be better than it was back in February. Piacere service was great as usual and Ralston was very eager to please his guests.

The food at the resort is some of the best we have had at any "all-inclusive" resort in the Caribbean. The food, as I have said to any one that asks, is definitely better than Sandals properties. I keep saying this for a reason; I can’t believe that anyone would go back to any Sandals property after they had tried any of the Lidos! One thing that we did notice was that the beef was the best that we have had in the Caribbean (better than last trip). I had the strip loin roast at Victoria Market, my wife had the fillet (with the Lobster) and I had the strip loin and veal at Piacere and all were very tasty.

Definitely the best restaurant of any resort that we have stayed at in the Caribbean. Preparation was great and the food quality superb. The only thing we noticed is that the menu had NOT changed since we were there in February. The menu had everything on it from lobster and fillet (surf & turf) to rack of lamb to a very wonderful Sword fish (used to be sea-bass) encrusted in a spicy Thai rub, veal medallions with giant prawns with a fruit based demi-glaze and a seafood medley of shrimps, scallops, tuna and snapper in a saffron sauce. We ate here 3 times which is about the "Maximum" without repeating entrees. The appetizers/soups/salads start repeating themselves pretty quickly.

This is held on Wednesdays and as a result of last year’s beach party, we decided to skip the meal and just come back later for the entertainment. We ate at La Pasta that night. From what we could see of the food, it was similar to last time, which is not one of Braco’s "high-points" from a culinary standpoint. The beach party at Sans Souci blows this away, so we will continue to make dinner plans else where on return visits unless some thing changes with the food.

This is Friday night at Braco. Tables are set up in the main square with food stations nearby. Still no lobster being grilled at the Street party but there was lots of shrimp, sushi, roast beef and just about everything else. Having been to Sans Souci’s Friday Gala night, the Braco street party is not as well done but it is a "street" party not a "Gala" dinner so it fits the night!

This is the main continental restaurant. Both breakfast and lunch is served buffet style. The selection was decent. We ate here in the evening on the day we arrived at the resort and it was very good. It seemed slightly better than it was earlier in the year and we heard from a number of other guests that they thought the same. The menu changed every night but you had to wait until about 5PM to find out what menu was being served as they never changed the menu which was on display on the street marquee with the menus from the other restaurants.

This is Braco’s Italian restaurant open from 3:00 to 11:00 pm. The selection was pastas and pizzas with a salad bar and a desert bar. We ate here twice and found it very good. The tables are outside by the fountain in the main square, which add to the atmosphere. They had tiramisu for desert, which they didn’t have on our prior visit. Actually, the desserts were fabulous and if you didn’t like the desserts at any of the other restaurants, you could just come here and have dessert with a coffee.

The beverage selection was pretty much the same. They had all different kinds of Scotch (Chivas, JW Black), Canadian Club, Jack Daniels, Tanquay, Beefeater and Gordons Gins, Smirnoff vodka, Dubonnet, etc and most liqueurs including cognacs. The beer was Red Stripe and Red Stripe Lite on draft in the bars. The Pool bar at Braco on the "Au Natural" side had Miller Lite in cans for all the non-beer drinkers. This was the first time that I have seen Red Stripe Lite on tap and it was like most US lite beers, thin and didn’t taste like beer!

The wines available at Braco were decent. I only drink red wine so I can only comment on the red wines available. I had a Tarapaca (from Chile) Cabernet Reserva, a Valpolicella and a Chianti (Italian). All were very drinkable and I couldn’t find one at a particular restaurant, one of the guys would go and get a bottle from where ever. Everyone’s comments were that the wines have improved dramatically over the years. No more Jamaican swill. For champagne, they had a low end French as well as an Italian Spumanti(sparkling). We didn’t try either of them but we had a bottle of Mum’s (French) at the Street Party which I am sure is better than both of the others.

All rooms at Braco are being renovated in the coming year. I know that most of you are saying that they have been saying this for years but they were working on our block when we were there. Our unit had just been freshly painted and the unit directly above us, they were moving in the new furniture: all dark mahogany, four poster bed, large TV/His armoire, large double her dresser(6 drawers), night stands and a very large internet ready desk. It almost looked like too much furniture but it will depend on how large the sitting chairs will be. Don’t know what will happen to the bathrooms but they need something done with the tub/shower area.

We had a regular room at Braco but this room was the closest room in the resort to the beach, "415" (Block 4). This was the same room that we had in February! We were celebrating our 25^th wedding anniversary, so I faxed ahead to make Piacere reservations, which may have helped in our being assigned that room. The great thing about this room was that we ordered room service breakfast (coffee, juice & a basket of sweet things) every morning and sat out on our main floor patio and enjoyed the ocean view in our Grand Lido bathrobes. These robes are available, but if they are not in your room (check the closet) when you arrive, be sure to request them. Also, we locked ourselves out of the room one morning while sitting on the patio eating breakfast. It took us about 30 minutes to get someone to come over and open the door.

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This was our eighth time to Jamaica and we were very pleased with this visit. This was the first time ever that we have returned to the same resort twice. As a result of this, we probably will not return for a couple of years and that has nothing to do with Braco. You only go around once in a lifetime, so there are many other places to experience in the world.

Just a note to the "Braco Dogs" who provided us with the entertainment for the week. You guys are great and hopefully some time in the future, we will see you at Braco at the same time. In the mean time I will try and "perfect" my volleyball skills for next time.