Favorite Restaurants Riviera Maya/ Playa Del Carmen Area

[biskits Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close biskits]

One more week and its off to Mayan Palace (thanks again, Joy!!!)
I have read many of the threads but I have found no posts recommending any particuliar restaurants in the area. I will have car rental so traveling outside resort should not be a problem. What are your favorites and why????I appreciate any/all suggestions
Best wishes,
Paul

[bigfrank Administrator Find all posts View Profile Close bigfrank]

If you want to save money and try something that is more traditional there is an old Fishing village about 10 minutes just before Rivera Maya. Forget the name of the town right now. I do recommend you eat at the Restaurant overlooking to pool at the Mayan Palace. Cancun has a ton of nice places to eat at but they are 30 to 45 minutes drive. Fargo's lighthouse was one that I liked but if you want romance make reservations now to eat at the Westin restaurant that is below. What service best I have had and they even make you a paper rose.

[tonyg Goomba & Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close tonyg]

I think Faro's is gone now. There was a La Parilla in PDC and if it is any where as good as the one in downtown Cancun, it should be great.

[janapur Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close janapur]

If you want to save money and try something that is more traditional there is an old Fishing village about 10 minutes just before Rivera Maya. Forget the name of the town right now. I do recommend you eat at the Restaurant overlooking to pool at the Mayan Palace. Cancun has a ton of nice places to eat at but they are 30 to 45 minutes drive. Fargo's lighthouse was one that I liked but if you want romance make reservations now to eat at the Westin restaurant that is below. What service best I have had and they even make you a paper rose.

I believe you mean Puerto Morelos. Wonderful location without all the tourists.

Jana

[bigfrank Administrator Find all posts View Profile Close bigfrank]

I believe you mean Puerto Morelos. Wonderful location without all the tourists.

Jana

yep thats the one

[biskits Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close biskits]

Thanks!!!

Thank you all for the suggestions....
Frank, is the lighthouse and the Westin in Riviera Maya or Cancun???
I love places off the beaten path...that little fishing village sounds like my kind of place. Any other suggestions for things to do or see???? I did read JWC's travel notes of his visit to Mayan Palace, which
I will put to good use. Is it worth traveling to Cancun 1 day???
How about Cozumel???? My wife and I are not drinkers so we will not
be spending much time in the local pubs or clubs (unless there is good food there!!!! )
Best wishes,
Paul

[gophish Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close gophish]

We ate at a couple of restaurants in Playa del Carmen but don't remember the names but wouldn't recommend them anyway, they were both just so/so.
The restaurants on site at Mayan Palace/Grand Mayan were all really pretty good, a little expensive but about what you may expect to pay at resort.
The cheapest rest on site is Balche pool side. They call it the snack bar but at nite it is a full restaurant and is quite good, and most nites has a roving mariache band playing. The Havana Moon is also an on site rest. on the Ocean side of the main pools. It is designed to look like an old Havana bar/rest with a kind of Hemmingway style but the food is very asian influenced but fairly good. The best part about this one is that there is a band there each nite for dancing and listening. While we were there they alternated between a latin band and a classic rock cover band, both of which were very good.
The other restaurant on site that we had dinner in is the Tramonto which is very good good but the highest priced one there. It is normally an Italian rest but was having a guest French cheif there the week we were there.
Their big open air restaurant is Del Lago. Here they have a different theme buffet each nite, we did not eat there but I understand that the Mexican Fiesta is very good. We only had the buffet breakfast there and it was very good.

[cirkus Member Find all posts View Profile Close cirkus]

Returnsed from Mayan Palace Riviera Maya

We just returned from Mayan Palace Riviera Maya and had a great time. My wife & I were there with our 3 adult kids (21-27), and 2 of their significant others. We found the restaurants on site good, particularly Tramonto for their Prime Rib nite (Tuesdays) and Lobster night (Fridays). They still have a full menu each day.

Recommend signing up for Palalbos, which are queen size beds under thath roof overhangs. There are 50 poolside. The cost is 300 pesos per day ($30), but it is applied against any food or drinks you buy poolside that day. That was easy to reach for our group, so they were free. They don't publisize it, but you can reserve for 2 days at a time. They start at 7:15am, and they go quickly.

We normally don't go on updates, but decided to this time. They offered buffet breakfast for our group of 7 ($18 each), plus $100 credit plus 10% off the MP charges. Ended up to be worth about $450 for our group, so I'm not unhappy, but you should know they promise it to be 90 minutes, and it turned out to be 4 hours. I figured it would be 3 hours (1 hr for breakfast-nothing discussed then + 2 hours). I was able to get the kids released after about 30 minutes after breakfast, but not without pushing. I wasn't interested in buying, and didn't.

Staff was friendly and helpful. The only difficulty I had was with the front gate allowing transportation from a non-MP connected ATV tour to come to the lobby area to pick us up, even though the concierge told me the day before that since they no longer provide guests with a tram up to the front gate, they let others come in. I'm sure they just wanted to give non-related tours (not giving MP a piece) a hard time.

Lastly, I suggest that you get a printout of your room charges every few days to verify. I honestly don't think they were trying to pull something, but there were several adjustments that I made them make after review. I think their computer system isn't capable of automatically handling some of the deals they give, so the credit for the $30/day for the Palabos is a manual adjustment, when they verify that you spent at least that for food/beverage that day. I had forgotten about it until after my credit card was run thru, and he didn't look for it at all, so it was an after credit. Also, the 10% discount from the presentation is a manual calculation, and they gave it to me on all charges, even transportion from the airport, which they weren't supposed to.

Bill

[happymum Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close happymum]

Recommend signing up for Palalbos, which are queen size beds under thath roof overhangs. There are 50 poolside. The cost is 300 pesos per day ($30), but it is applied against any food or drinks you buy poolside that day. That was easy to reach for our group, so they were free. They don't publisize it, but you can reserve for 2 days at a time. They start at 7:15am, and they go quickly.

This is a change in policy since last year. I saw a number of near fist-fights over palapa use, so hopefully this will help. Some went so far as to pay staff to stay overnight in the palapa to ensure they had its use for the next day!

I am disappointed to hear that they have discontinued tram rides to the gate. That allowed easy use of public transportation options.

[biskits Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close biskits]

Thanks!!!

Thank you all again for all the info.....
With 26 inches of snow already on the ground this December and 6 more inches forecasted for tonight, next Sunday cant come fast enough!!!!
Paul

[bigfrank Administrator Find all posts View Profile Close bigfrank]

Thank you all for the suggestions....
Frank, is the lighthouse and the Westin in Riviera Maya or Cancun???
I love places off the beaten path...that little fishing village sounds like my kind of place.
Paul

They are both in Cancun but the Westin is closer since it is right near the start of the strip. The Westin was our favorite restaurant in Cancun.

[shaggy Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close shaggy]

Biskit, did you read my trip report under travel tales? I had a great snorkeling trip at Puerta Morales. I am sorry to hear they cancelled the van to the front gate. We used it almost every day. Maybe another way to keep you more on site ( I found the food expensive) shaggy

[cirkus Member Find all posts View Profile Close cirkus]

Since we were there with 7 adults and did not rent a car, we took taxis when we needed to go anywhere. I have the name (Marcos) and phone number of a very reliable taxi driver there who has a Yukon that fit us all. If anyone needs it, I'll post the number.
Bill

[Cheryl17 Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Cheryl17]

My favorite Mexican restaurant anywhere is Yaxche, and it is in Playa del Carmen. Here is a link to the restaurant's website: Yaxche Mayan Restaurant and Maya Cuisine Playa del Carmen Mexico .

[biskits Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close biskits]

Just back from Mayan Palace Riviera Maya

Hello all
Just back from 9 days in Mexico and had a wonderful time (thanks again, Pat)...
Mayan Palace was beautiful but a little too big for our liking...
They gave us a room on first floor of building 14 with a view of plywood fence, and after I asked to be moved closer to pool area they moved us
to 3rd floor of building 13 over looking golf course (at least I could smoke my cigars from the deck and have a view!!!). As mentioned in several of other reviews, I found the restaurants to be more expensive
than those in Playa del Carmen.
We spent most of our days in and around Playa del Carmen and really
fell in love with that city... Had some wonderful meals at several restaurants including Yaxche (Calle 10 between 5th and 10th) and Blue Lobster (Calle 12 at 5th Ave)...Did some snorkeling in Akulmal Bay
and spent some time at ruins and on beaches of Tulum...
If I get some time, I'll try to put together a more detailed trip report,
but in summary, the vacation was AWESOME and we hope to return to Playa del Carmen again next year. I certainly appreciate the info I received from board members who had been there before.
Thanks again, and best wishes
Paul