42 Best Restaurants in The Riviera Maya, Mexico

Dig your toes in the sand floor and enjoy the catch of the day at La Cueva del Pescador. A crowd of easygoing expats hunkers down for the afternoon to feast on octopus, shrimp, or conch ceviche prepared with lime juice and flavored with cilantro—usually with a generous helping of beer on the side. Great grilled garlic shrimp and simple quesadillas are also served. Portions are sizeable, and prices are moderate. There’s a pool table here plus a TV that's typically tuned to sports.

If you want to try authentic Mexican and pre-Hispanic cuisine, La Perla Pixan is the place for you with its wide variety of traditional specialties such as pozole (and its vegetarian option), barbacoa, enchiladas, tlayudas, and more. Look for the weekend brunch buffet, and the extraordinary variety of mezcal cocktails. At night, live music and pre-Hispanic shows make La Perla one of the favorite spots of locals, expats, and visitors alike.

Two blocks north of the town square, the "dining room" room of this family-run eatery consists of plastic tables and chairs beneath mini palapas and tarps. What it lacks in charm it more than makes up for with food and prices—this is where locals go for seafood soup, fried fish, shrimp tacos, ceviche, and fresh guacamole. Plan to either practice your Spanish or use sign language, and plan to eat early, too, as it closes at 8. La Playita is the perfect place to sink your toes in the sand and enjoy a refreshing rice-milk horchata.

This upscale seafood taquería is an anchor of Playa's alternative culinary scene, an in-the-know spot for lunch or dinner that reimagines tacos sautéed in olive oil and topped with cucumber or strawberry-habanero salsa. Local favorites include shrimp tacos with "black gold" (beans), fish ceviche with green salsa, and fish tacos wrapped in your choice of corn tortilla, flour tortilla, or a giant leaf of Bibb lettuce. If you're not into spicy food, be careful with the house specialty aguachile. You'll find a second location on Avenida Constituyentes; there's also one in Tulum and another in Cancún.

This Tulum outpost of the Playa hipster cantina has a light take on traditional tacos and seafood, which are served with lots of lime and creativity. Batter-fried shrimp on a bed of hydroponic lettuce, grouper with avocado and cucumber, and tacos de pescado are all good bets. Salsa lovers will find eight types on the table and more on the menu. The setting is simple (picture plastic plates, paper napkins, and silverware in buckets), so you can justifiably eat everything with your fingers. After lunch, you can try your hand at the foosball table in back, but you can't while the night away here—it's only open from 12:30 to 7:30.

This oceanfront, thatched-roof, palapa restaurant serves simple but tasty food. The Tex-Mex shrimp tacos accompanied with a cool beer are perfect for lunch, while dealing with the midday heat, and, for dinner, try the Poc Chuc pork or the traditional chicken with mole.

Perched on the rim of the 300-foot-deep cenote, this palapa restaurant charges a MX$50 entrance fee to access the site. Busloads of tourists come to dine on chicken, pork, and fish dishes, as well as house specialties like the seafood platter and shrimp kebab. Although the setting surpasses food, it's still worth lingering over a meal to gaze out over the deep blue waters. After your food digests, enjoy a swim off the dock. There's also a souvenir shop.

Locals rave about the grilled steaks and garlic shrimp at Sergio's—one of the nicest restaurants in Chetumal. The barbecued chicken (made with the owner's special sauce) and smoked-oyster or seafood pizzas are equally tasty. When you order the delicious Caesar salad for two, a waiter prepares it at your table. This place also offers a huge breakfast menu plus a variety of lunchtime pasta dishes. You can order takeout or have food delivered, but the gracious staff and free Wi-Fi give you an added incentive to eat in.

This collection of plastic tables under a tarp may not look like much from the outside, but it's where the locals go for some of the best (and cheapest) tacos in town. Grab a seat, and order up pork or vegetarian options and a bottle of agua fresca (water mixed with fruit and sugar). Tables and salsas are shared, so get ready to make some new friends.

This Italian restaurant stands out for its elegance, excellent service, extraordinary steaks, and noteworthy pizzas and cocktails. There's a great brunch on weekends and live music every night.

This funky café, where expats and locals congregate, serves up smoothies, baked goods, tacos, homemade ice cream, and everything in between. The breakfast menu spans acai bowls, eggs Benedict, pancakes, and fruit plates, and for lunch and dinner you'll find blackened fish tacos, coconut shrimp, burgers, and vegetable wraps. Set back from the little plaza, the colorful garden is a pleasant place to have a coffee, and its location by the ecological center makes it the closest thing Akumal has to a downtown. If you fall in love with a local stray, the owner will help you get the paperwork to take your new pet home. The restaurant is open until 10 pm and has free Wi-Fi. This is the only place in town where happy-hour specials include food. Stop by between 4 and 6 pm any day of the week for pizza, taco, and drink specials.

With tables under a palapa on the beach, this restaurant is a perfect place to sink your toes in the sand while dining. Chef Sandra offers understated appetizers like tuna nachos (tuna tartare and avocado with tortilla strips) or shrimp and chipotle sopes (corn flour "disks" with different toppings). Veggie fans will love salads made with cooked potatoes, peach, avocado, and sunflower seeds. The fish is about as fresh as it gets—if you’re an angler, the kitchen will even cook up your catch. By day, the menu focuses on sandwiches and wraps; by night the attention turns to ribs and surf and turf. And the bar, where they've traded in bar stools for swings, is just as nice as the table seating. Service can be slow, but it's worth the wait. There's Mexican wine tasting on Thursday and Caribbean Latin Rhythms on Saturday.