Is hotel food good in Side Turkey or should you eat at local restaurants?

The hotel restaurant always has available seating even during peak meal times. The menu doesn't change much but offers enough variety to stay interesting for a week. Staff offer drinks without being pushy, though they tend to clear tables a bit too quickly. Outdoor food stalls operate roughly from 12:30 to 14:30.

Food at the Elite-category hotel is fine overall, but lunch requires leaving the beach separately, and there's no individual-portion ayran or packaged ice cream available.

Breakfast is the same every day — the main downside. However, pastries and desserts are genuinely tasty and varied, unlike budget hotels where everything tastes the same. Dishes are clean and unchipped, and queues are at most 3 minutes.

The hotel beach has a stall selling delicious gözleme (Turkish flatbreads) — worth trying. You can eat reasonably well right on the beach.

For a city outing: hotel shuttles go directly to central Side near the Temple of Apollo and the port. The restaurants there are decent quality. Tip: order just one main course — portions are large and two is too much.