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The open design of this popular family-owned Italian eatery makes it a nice place to enjoy the cool evening weather. The food here is filling and the menu is made up of salads, thin-crust pizzas, and pasta. Happy hour runs weekdays from 7 to 9 pm (there's usually some kind of deal on the excellent wine list, too). There is also a second, smaller location on Parque Santa Lucia in Centro.
Prolongación Paseo de Montejo 479C, Mérida, Yucatán, 97127, Mexico
Known For
- Good pizza selection
- Huge salads
- Great wine list
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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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This vintage Yucatecan restaurant with high colonial ceilings and an elegant atmosphere is a longtime local favorite. The combinado yucateco (Yucatecan combination plate) is a great way to try different dishes: cochinita pibil, longaniza asada (grilled pork sausages), escabeche de Valladolid (turkey with chiles, onions, and seasonings in an acidic sauce), and poc chuc (slices of pork in a sour-orange sauce). In fact, Los Almendros invented some dishes that have become Yucatecan classics—including the cheese soup, which is also spectacular. A live trio performs daily from 2 to 5 pm.
Calle 50A No. 493, Mérida, Yucatán, 97000, Mexico
Known For
- Combination platters
- Cheese soup
- Reasonable prices
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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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Recommended Fodor’s Video
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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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$$$ | Centro | Mexican
In the evening this patio restaurant is bathed in candlelight and the glow from tiny white lights decorating the tropical shrubs. Much of the menu, as well as the decor, is geared toward tourists—you can even buy a Pancho's T-shirt on your way out. Although you won't find authentic Yucatecan dishes at this lively spot, the tasty tacos, fajitas, burritos, and other dishes will be pleasantly recognizable to those familiar with Mexican food served north of the border. Waiters—dressed in white muslin shirts and pants of the Revolution era—recommend the shrimp flambéed in tequila, and the tequila in general. Happy hour is weekdays from 6 to 8 pm.
Calle 59 No. 509, between Calles 60 and 62, Mérida, Yucatán, 97000, Mexico
Restaurant Details
Rate Includes: No lunch.
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The wonderful smells of fresh-baked bread and pizza waft from this small corner establishment between the market and the main square, where scenes of Old Italy and the Yucatán adorn the bright yellow walls. It’s pretty informal here: patrons pull padded folding chairs up to yellow-tile tables, or take their orders to go. Pizza is the name of the game here, but tortas and pastas are also served.
Calle 23 No. 208, Yucatán, 97860, Mexico
Known For
- Impressive variety of pizza
- Fun informal vibe
- The only nighttime dining option in town
Restaurant Details
Rate Includes: No lunch
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This little gelato shop in the heart of the historic center has significantly raised the caliber of Mérida's ice-cream offerings. The flavors on any given day vary, but you can typically expect somewhere between five and ten sorbets and the same number of gelato flavors. You can count on some classics, like chocolate and chocolate chip, but most of the flavors are inspired by the region, its cuisine, and its produce—chocolate with chiles, flan, pineapple with chaya, and lemon with rosemary are a few of the unexpected, though always delicious, options you might find. If it's not too hot, quickly make your way to Parque Santa Lucia (a block away) and enjoy your sorbet or gelato there.
Calle 55 467D, Mérida, Yucatán, 97000, Mexico
Known For
- Locally inspired flavors
- Excellent gelato and sorbets
- Cheerful store
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The town’s most comfortable eatery comes complete with white tablecloths under a wide palapa, surrounded by plants and with a burbling fountain. In a small hut in the back, the cooks make tortillas by hand and menu highlights include locally made longaniza (a tasty grilled pork sausage) and excellent sopa de lima. A small shop sells a carefully selected and cleverly displayed collection of local folk art. The restaurant is open evenings until 8, but keeps later hours when there's a sound-and-light show downtown.
Calle 27 No. 299, 97540, Mexico
Known For
- Longaniza (a local sausage)
- Folk art
- Traditional atmosphere
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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 beautifully designed restaurant is one of Mérida's most upscale eateries, serving house favorites like the tuna steak with black pepper crust or the Angus beef served with a side of rosemary potatoes. A glass wall separates indoor and outdoor dining rooms; although less formal, the outdoor patio is surrounded by lush vegetation, helping you forget that you are on a bustling avenue. Although steaks are the specialty here, you'll also find plenty of delicious tapas and salads. In fact, the starters alone make Trotter's worth visiting; try the octopus carpaccio or foie gras.
Circuito Colonias, Mérida, Yucatán, 97127, Mexico
Known For
- Contemporary decor
- Steaks
- Foie gras
Restaurant Details
Rate Includes: No dinner Sun
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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
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$$ | | Seafood
Near the main square, this unpretentious family-run restaurant is one of the oldest (and most affordable) eateries on the island, and it's considered one of the best places to try island-style food. There are quite a few tasty seafood dishes, including a huge mariscada for two that includes a fish fillet, a whole fish, a lobster, and octopus on a bed of shredded lettuce. The delicious seafood soup includes the freshest seasonal seafood and is an island classic. People come here for the food and not the ambience, so grab a seat at a plastic table, listen to the Mexican music, and take your pick from the extensive menu.
Calle Palomino s/n, Isla Holbox, Quintana Roo, 77310, Mexico
Restaurant Details
Rate Includes: No credit cards