A great taco meal at 100% natural
There are heaps of restaurants in Playa – most are centred around the tourist strip (5th avenue), and all market themselves pretty aggressively to get you in there. Here are the places in town that stood out for us – both good and bad.
The good
Skinny Bikini Potatoes – Calle 20 between 5th and 10th Avenue
Excellent food – great service and great drinks specials. Live DJ some nights. Highly recommended.
El Jurador – Constituents between 25 and 30, across road from Mega
Excellent fish and shrimp tacos (19 pesos each!), great milkshakes, good priced beers, excellent ceviches. A great inexpensive option – our favourite place in Playa!
Ambasciate D’Italia, on corner of 5th Avenueand 24
This is definitely the best Italian we’ve had in Playa. Excellent fresh pasta – great service and great value. If you dine before 7pm the deal is even better. Highly recommended.
Taqueria Arandas, Corner 10th avenue and Calle 16
Excellent cheap (13 pesos each) meat based tacos (including beef tongue and other delicacies). Doesn’t open until 7pm but stays open till late. Not recommended for vegetarians though.
100% Natural
An excellent chain you’ll find around Mexico (Oaxaca, Mexico City etc) – this is always reliably good. It’s one of the few places that serves fresh and healthy food options. They actually have things like salads and vegetables! Sometimes hard to come by in Mexico. Highly recommended.
Kaxapa Factory, Av Constituyentes, betwen 10 and 15 avenues
Great inexpensive Venezuelan food and friendly service. Most of their food is gluten free and they have great vegetarian and vegan options.
The bad
Lucky Luciano (5th avenue corner Calle 28)
Famous for their pizzas (which admittedly we didn’t try) but in terms of pasta they got a big fail. My pasta was made with 2 minute noodles – they even seemed to use the packet flavouring – which was then bizarrely mixed with very nice fresh vegetables. They clearly don’t know how to make pasta. And it was expensive.
Babes (Calle 10 between 5th and 10th)
A Lonely Planet and Trip Advisor favourite, this was a big disappointment. The entre was sensation al(seafood rolls) but the two mains were both terrible. Both used great fresh ingredients, but were drenched in a sickly sweet sauce. This is Thai food for people who’ve never eaten proper Thai food, and who love their meals very sweet.
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