The 14 Best Restaurants in Playa del Carmen, Ranked
By Eric Barton | Jan. 31, 2025
Playa del Carmen is full of places serving up the kind of food you remember long after the vacation tan fades. Some are fancy, some are gloriously casual, but the best spots all have one thing in common: They’re worth the trip. I’ve spent enough time eating my way through this town to know where to go and what to order. Here’s what made the cut.
Taquerias el Fogon
1. El Fogón
At some point, someone will tell you that you must eat at El Fogón. And they’re right. This downtown taqueria serves the best al pastor in town, with spit-roasted pork sliced off the trompo straight onto handmade tortillas, and it’s exactly the kind of thing you eat standing up, forearms dripping with salsa, and thinking, I could live here. Does it make sense that a humble taqueria beats out all these fancy, Michelin-ranked restaurants? Yes, yes it does.
2. HA'
HA’ is inside Hotel Xcaret, and it's the kind of place that knows it’s good. Chef Carlos Gaytán, the first Mexican chef to earn a Michelin star, runs the kitchen, and you can feel it in every bite of his contemporary Mexican tasting menu. If you don’t mind dressing up and paying the price of a domestic flight for dinner, this is the kind of experience that makes you rethink what you knew about Mexican food.
3. Bu'ul
At Chablé Maroma, Bu'ul does Mexican food with all the high-end trappings—white tablecloths, ingredients you can’t pronounce, and servers who look like they just finished folding a pocket square. The menu leans heavily on Yucatán flavors, but it’s executed with a precision that makes everything taste just a little better than you expect.
4. Axiote Cocina de México
Axiote is what happens when someone who really loves Mexican food decides to make it just a little fancier. The flavors are all there—slow-cooked cochinita pibil, impossibly fresh ceviches—but the plating is a notch above your standard taco joint. The dining room is intimate, the cocktails are solid, and it’s the kind of place you leave knowing you made a good decision.
5. Cocina de Autor Riviera Maya
This one’s for the tasting menu crowd. Cocina de Autor at Grand Velas is helmed by Michelin-starred chef Nahúm Velasco, and it’s exactly what you’d expect from a place that has “de Autor” in the name. Courses are artfully plated, service is impeccable, and by the time dessert comes around, you’ll be Googling how to justify a return visit.
6. Woodend
Woodend is one of those spots that doesn’t try too hard, and that’s a good thing. It’s got a laid-back, tropical-industrial design (think: wood and concrete, but expensive), and the menu is a mix of Mexican and international dishes that all taste like the chef actually cares. This is the spot if you want a place to sip a good mezcal and eat something that isn’t predictable.
7. Xaak
Xaak is the somewhat more casual sister restaurant to HA’ inside Hotel Xcaret. While HA’ is more Michelin-tasting-menu-style dishes assembled with lots of tweezers, Xaak focuses more on bold flavors and contemporary techniques with dishes that are more familiar. The interior is stylish, the plating is on point, and whatever they’re doing in the kitchen is working.
8. Casa Amate
Casa Amate at Andaz Mayakoba looks like someone’s dream home, and it kind of is—each dining area is designed like a different room in a stylish Latin American house. The menu pulls inspiration from across the region, so one night you might be eating Peruvian ceviche and the next a plate of Argentinian short ribs. Either way, it works.
9. Osteria De Roma
If you need a break from Mexican food (which, questionable, but okay), Osteria De Roma is where you go. The pastas are handmade, the pizzas are wood-fired, and the charcuterie boards come overflowing with well-sourced ingrdients. It’s small, cozy, and exactly where you want to be after one too many tequila tastings.
10. La Cueva del Chango
La Cueva del Chango is half restaurant, half jungle hideaway. It’s the kind of place you go for breakfast and end up staying long enough to justify a margarita. The menu leans traditional—chilaquiles, huevos rancheros, fresh juices—and everything is good enough to make you consider extending your trip.
11. La Perla Pixan Cuisine
La Perla Pixan does traditional Yucatán dishes with a slight modern twist. Expect live music, a solid mezcal selection, and dishes like cochinita pibil that taste like they’ve been cooked the right way—slow and with the kind of patience you don’t get in the touristy spots.
12. La Cochi Loka
La Cochi Loka is the kind of place that proves size doesn’t matter, at least when it comes to tacos. Just off Fifth Avenue on Calle 10 Norte, this tiny stand churns out some of the best cochinita pibil in Playa del Carmen—slow-roasted pork, deep with Yucatán spices, piled onto handmade tortillas and topped with pickled onions. The tacos are worth the trip alone, but if you know what’s good for you, you’ll order a costra—griddled cheese fused into a crisp shell around the meat. Seating is scarce, but odds are, you’ll be back in line before you even think about sitting down.
13. Lido Beach Club
Lido Beach Club is what beach bars should be. There’s a laid-back vibe, the kind of seafood that doesn’t need a lot of fuss, and a location that makes it entirely too easy to justify one more drink. It’s the perfect place to eat fresh ceviche with your feet in the sand and start dreaming about a second home within walking distance.
14. Alux Restaurant
Alux is what happens when someone decides to put a fine dining restaurant inside an actual cave. The underground setting is dramatic—think candlelit tables and stalactites overhead—and the menu matches the vibe with upscale Mexican dishes that are probably the most romantic thing you’ll eat on vacation.
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