Omni Amelia Island Eats

While staying at the Omni Amelia Island Plantation Resort, we were pleasantly surprised to find a number of good dining options right on-property. We ate breakfast every morning,  mostly at the bountiful breakfast buffet, but also once on our balcony with room service; had dinner our first night at Natural Slice, the on-site pizza place/surf shop (we just wanted something light – turns out the pizza was awesome); had lunch one afternoon at Marché Burette, the market & deli; & enjoyed a fancy anniversary dinner at Verandah. We also enjoyed lunch by the pool one day, delivered right to our lounge chairs.

Sunrise Cafe

Rarely are hotel buffets worth their money. In fact, that I almost always skip them. But we had heard good things about the Sunrise Cafe, so we decided to give it a shot. We were not disappointed! Their daily breakfast buffet is $22 & worth every penny. While the selections don’t change much day to day, there are so many options you can stay for a few days & not have the same thing twice.

We enjoyed the omelet station (a pretty standard buffet offering) but this one came with a twist: five different fancy cheese options to add to your omelet, along with a selection of jalapeños. We also enjoyed the selection of yogurts & the giant granola bar. There were also lots of hot options available, as well. If you’re gluten free – either by choice or medical necessity – there’s a whole section for you, with freshly baked bread.

Perhaps most impressive in the buffet were the pastry tower & the fresh honey station. All the parties are made in house & the honey is actually made fresh on-property at one of the 70,000 bee hives. Hint: if you splurge on the cinnamon roll, they’re happy to warm it up a bit for you.

Chef Daven, the Executive Chef at the resort, has a passion for farm-to-table & local cooking. So local, in fact, that all the herbs & many of the greens used on-property are grown right there, in a huge greenhouse called the Sprouting Project. There’s also a smokehouse in the works.

In-Room Dining

One of my favorite things about staying at a fancy hotel is room service breakfast & Omni’s didn’t disappoint. We enjoyed a simple, healthy breakfast on our balcony one morning, delivered & set up by a smiling room service attendant. Room service prices were actually fairly reasonable, considering how much food we got & the cost of the daily buffet.

My favorite favorite thing about staying at an Omni is taking advantage of their morning beverage delivery service. Make sure you’re a member of their Select Guest program & you’ll be given hangtags at check-in. Hang the tag on your door, with the beverage of your choice marked on it, & it’ll be delivered complimentary the next morning. You can have them come in & set up service for you or, my preference, have them knock & leave it on your doorstep. The best part? If you’re not hungry for a full room service breakfast, you can order a little nosh to eat like greek yogurt & honey (my go-to business trip breakfast), an English muffin or fresh fruit. My breakfast tray from Omni came along with a little honey cake.

Marché Burette

We had lunch one afternoon out on the back patio of Marché Burette & loved it. This little market/deli/bistro/ice cream shop is the perfect place to grab a sandwich for lunch & a six pack to have in your room later. We enjoyed turkey, apple & brie panini sandwiches, a cheese board & one of their monster cookies for dessert.

During the summer, Marché Burette has a low country boil every Friday night & a steak cookout every Saturday. The steak cookout seems especially cool, we walked by on our way to dinner: for $45 you get to pick the steak of your choice & have it cooked over an open grill. It comes with all the fixens & you can even help grill. The steak cook out continues year round, but the Friday night festivities are only during the summer & early fall.

Verandah

I feel torn about our time at Verandah: I loved it, it was one of my favorite meals of the trip, yet B didn’t really like it that much. I had an excellent, spicy seafood gumbo for dinner & B had mahi mahi. Our server was excellent (she even brought us champagne when she heard it was our anniversary!), as was the wine & the giant piece of pie we had for dessert. It’s not that there was anything wrong with it… it just wasn’t as special as we had hoped it would be. The laid-back atmosphere was great & the view of the golf course & marshland would be especially nice during the day.

One thing that was nice about Verandah, & all the restaurants on-property, is that they are connected by a very easy to use shuttle bus system. I’m normally totally skeptical of these sorts of things, because they never work as quickly as they promise (every 10 minutes is never every 10 minutes). Yet at Omni Amelia Island, they did actually work! Now, we were there during a slower off-season, which basically meant that shuttles ran on-demand, but it was really a more efficient system than expected.

Poolside Lunch

One of life’s simple pleasures is having lunch delivered to you by the pool. During one lazy day in the shade, we ordered lunch from Oceanside Grill, which was delivered right to us. The prices were a bit steep, which is to be expected poolside, but my Asian shrimp salad (excellent book not included!) & B’s turkey wrap were both excellent.