6 Best Restaurants in Cancún, Mexico

The grande dame of Cancún restaurants delivers on the promise of its name, with candlelit tables and discreet waiters who will make you feel as if you've been transported to Italy. The fare includes homemade pizzas and pastas such as Bolognese-style lasagna; veal scaloppine and calamari steak in shrimp and lobster sauce are other options. The wine list is excellent, and the dessert truffle is a must for chocolate lovers. Be patient when waiting for your order, though, as good food takes time to prepare.

Brick-oven pizza and excellent pasta dishes, handmade in full view, have made this fine Italian restaurant a Cancún favorite. Best bets include the melt-in-your-mouth-tender beef or octopus carpaccio appetizers and such stellar pasta dishes as the "green hats"—little pieces of handmade pasta filled with ricotta cheese, butter, and fresh sage. Cenacolo also has a small wine cave with a romantic table for two (reserve this section in advance). Although it's inside a mall, the restaurant's main dining room is elegant, with stained-glass panels on the ceiling and live piano music.

This aptly named eatery is a welcome respite from El Centro's busy streets. House specials include grilled seafood with rice, fish fillet with coconut cream, and smaller dishes like ceviche or aguachiles (spicy lime shrimp). Many of the dishes can be prepared with your choice of mango, tamarind, or guava salsa. A small wooden bridge leads into a palapa (thatched roof), which is colorfully decorated with turquoise chairs, mosaic flooring, seashell lamps, and a bamboo bar. Relax to the sounds of a cascading waterfall, skirted by palm trees and tropical plants. Note that menus are in Spanish, and the staff doesn't speak much English.

Don't be put off by the shopping mall location or shared entrance with the Macao casino, because this modern Japanese restaurant serves truly fresh sashimi and sushi with unique toppings such as miso foie grass, black truffles, or lemon caviar. The excellently trained servers guide you through the extensive menu and offer cocktail suggestions to complement the myriad of main courses and roll choices—from uramaki to futomaki. Make a reservation for the speakeasy, Shinkai, which is hidden behind the sushi bar and only open on Friday and Saturday nights.

Flowers and artwork lend warmth to this sophisticated Italian restaurant, where the cuisine includes linguine with lobster, angel-hair pasta with seafood, specialty lasagnas, plus assorted meat and fish dishes. The waiters are laid-back and seem to know everyone who walks in the door. (Most patrons are locals who've been dining here for more than 20 years.) On any given night, many of chef Paolo Ceravolo's offerings are colorful and innovative specials that do not appear on the menu. If you're coming for lunch, plan on a late one—Locanda Paolo opens at 2 pm daily.