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This contemporary restaurant at the Wayam Mundo Imperial hotel in the García Ginerés neighborhood has floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking a lush, plant-filled terrace as well as flavorful Italian and Latin American dishes like ceviches, arroz con pollo, and pastas. Chef Maycoll Calderón's allows the fresh ingredients to take center stage, avoiding anything too fussy. The extensive cocktail and mocktail menus make the most of the area's bounty of tropical fruits.
508, Mérida, Yucatán, 97070, Mexico
Known For
- Stylish decor
- Innovative dishes
- Large terrace
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The food is not the primary draw at this restaurant, though it does a good enough rendition of basic pastas, salads, and burgers as well as some Mexican bar-food favorites. Instead, its popularity is due to delicious cocktails, aguas frescas, and a lively atmosphere. You can choose a seat outside and watch the activity on Paseo Montejo, or sit inside where the people-watching is just as interesting.
498B, Mérida, Yucatán, 97000, Mexico
Known For
- Lively atmosphere
- Outdoor seating on Paseo de Montejo
- Good value
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The creative menu here developed by its Sicilian chef, Giuseppe Genovese (commonly known as "Beppe"), blends Italian, Mediterranean, and Caribbean cuisine. Locals gather for seafood pasta, grilled lobster, octopus salad, and fresh ceviche, all bathed in garlic and olive oil. Breads, sausages, and pizzas are made from scratch in the small kitchen where Beppe works his magic. The pizza topped with smoked ham, mozzarella, and arugula makes a perfect starter for two. This is the only spot on the island where you'll find authentic espresso, sorbet, and tiramisu.
Av. Morelos 231, 77310, Mexico
Known For
- Smoked-ham pizza
- Authentic tiramisu
- Gourmet coffee
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This elegant colonial house on the south side of the main square specializes in hearty Yucatecan cuisine. Pollo X'catik (chicken baked in butter cream) and the city's eponymous dish, lomitos de Valladolid (cubed pork loin in a tomato-chile sauce), are menu highlights. If you're not feeling quite so adventurous, you can choose from mar y tierra (meaning, basically, surf and turf) options. The small front dining room is stylish, but we recommend snagging a table in the leafy back courtyard—it's perfect for lunch on a hot afternoon. El Atrio keeps long hours, opening at 7 am and going strong until 11:30 pm.
Calle 41 No. 204A, Valladolid, Yucatán, 97780, Mexico
Known For
- Stylish setting
- Lush courtyard
- Local flavors
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This bright and sunny café is on Calle 47, which has emerged as a bit of a restaurant row for Mérida (other popular favorites on the street include Catrín, Micaela Mar y Lena, and Oliva Enoteca). Latte Quattro Sette serves only breakfast and lunch, but it is an appealing spot for a cappuccino, latte, or tea, paired with an avocado toast, yogurt and fruit, or a pastry.
Calle 47 465, Mérida, Yucatán, 97000, Mexico
Known For
- Cheerful atmosphere
- Delicious pastries
- Variety of coffees and teas
Restaurant Details
Rate Includes: Closed Sun
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Recommended Fodor’s Video
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Inside a colonial-era building, this small family-run restaurant is decorated with Mexican crafts. Since most customers are foreign tourists, you'll find familiar favorites like burritos, pasta, sandwiches, and fajitas on the enormous menu. Grilled fish and steak are served with rice and shredded lettuce, as are the rolled tacos and enchiladas topped with red or green chile sauce. There are only five tables, but somehow this place can seem overwhelmingly busy on a packed night. If you’re an early riser, stop by for French toast or one of the breakfast crepes. Take note, Luz de Luna does not serve alcohol. Known for: traditional Mexican menu; hearty breakfasts; good selection of coffees.
Calle 59 No. 6, 24000, Mexico
Restaurant Details
Rate Includes: Closed Sun.
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Chef Jorge Melul, a master baker, has become known on the island for his homemade breads, cakes, and pastas, made from organic, local grown ingredients. For a memorable meal, start with shrimp tempura dipped in chipotle cream or homemade pesto and then order the fish cooked in white wine and topped with spinach and pears. The daily catch is purchased directly from the fishermen who dock on the shores. If it's just ambience you're after, head to the rooftop bar for a reasonably priced basil mojito or ginger margarita.
Calle Igualdad s/n, 77310, Mexico
Known For
- Fresh seafood
- Rooftop bar
- Beachside setting
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Traditional Yucatecan dishes—like panuchos (fried masa cakes stuffed with beans and piled high with shredded meat, lettuce, sour onions, and other toppings) or chile mestizo (poblano pepper stuffed with shredded meat)—are the specialty at Marganzo. If you aren't sure what to order, ask to see the album containing photos of top dishes with multilingual captions. Waitresses, dressed in colorful skirts from the region, offer helpful explanations. Lunch and dinner menus are finished off with a complimentary tamarind margarita, and a guitar trio performs some evenings. But this is also a great place for breakfast if you want to get an early start on sightseeing. You can try plain agua de chaya here—in other restaurants the chaya-flavored water is often sweetened with pineapple.
Calle 8, No. 267, 24000, Mexico
Known For
- Colorful local flavor
- Attentive service
- Stylish colonial decor
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This bakery just a few blocks north of Parque Santa Ana is a perfect choice when you want to start your day with a light breakfast of a pastry and a coffee rather than a plate of huevos rancheros. The shop has a small garden and plenty of seating if you want to linger for awhile at your laptop. The decor is an inviting updated colonial style with pasta-tile floors and more contemporary touches, such as the steel staircase leading up to the second-story seating. You'll only wish it didn't close so early—at 1 pm during the week and 2 pm on the weekends.
Calle 43 No. 485, Mérida, Yucatán, 97000, Mexico
Known For
- Coffee drinks
- Garden
- Delicious pastries, savory and sweet
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Residents of Izamal have strong opinions on which restaurants make the best panuchos, salbutes, papadzules, and other local specialities, but Restaurante Muul is on many short lists. The atmosphere is no-frills, though the location is convenient, right on the main plaza just steps from the ex-convent.
Calle 28 300, Izamal, Yucatán, 97540, Mexico
Known For
- Location on the main plaza
- Local specialties
- Good value
Restaurant Details
Rate Includes: Casual
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Grab a seat in this palapa restaurant directly across from the water and watch the day's catch come straight from the docks. The menu features local specialties like ceviche, seafood soup, fish fillet stuffed with shrimp, and breaded seafood rolled into a ball and deep-fried. In season (July–December) you can order lobster and octopus cooked several different ways. With a seashell-strewn floor and plastic tables, it's far from fancy, but you're sure to leave satisfied. Owner Diego Núñez and his family also operate Río Lagartos Adventures and can arrange a variety of tours.
Calle 19 No. 134, 97720, Mexico
Known For
- Quality seafood
- Beachy vibe
- Lobster and octopus in season
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This elegant restaurant at the hotel of the same name is beautifully designed in hues of pink and brown, with long-stem roses on every table. Chef David Segovia's menu is an haute interpretation of Mexican and Yucatecan cuisines with sauces incorporating local chiles, tamarind, and hibiscus (or jamaica) flowers. There are also pastas, salads, and sandwiches if you are in search of a lighter meal. Choose from the formal dining room, the more casual open-air patio, or the rooftop bar.
Paseo de Montejo No. 480, Mérida, Yucatán, 97000, Mexico
Known For
- Six-course tasting menu
- Rib eye with cardamom-seasoned eggplant
- Stylish hotel setting
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This oasis of carnivorous delights serves tortas—Mexico's answer to the sandwich—and tacos at four locations in Mérida. In addition to ham and cheese tortas, you can get pork loin in smoky chipotle-chile sauce, chorizo sausage, turkey strips sautéed with onions and peppers, and several other delicious combos guaranteed to go straight to your arteries. If you don't speak Spanish, just point to one of 20 types of taco ingredients while they heat up your tortilla. Not a meat lover? Try some unusual combos, like chopped cactus pads sautéed with mushrooms, or scrambled eggs with chaya or string beans. All of the Wayan'e locations are casual and unassuming, with plastic tables and chairs, but most diners gather around the counter where the food is handed over. The restaurant closes when the food runs out, which is usually around 2 pm.
Calle 59 408, Mérida, Yucatán, 97000, Mexico
Known For
- Fun, informal vibe
- Astounding taco selection
- Torta-style sandwiches
Restaurant Details
Rate Includes: No dinner. Closed Sun, Reservations not accepted