Cozumel Restaurants
While you might not eat the best meal of your life in Cozumel, the island offers a surprising number of very good restaurants. Many do a respectable job with Caesar Salad, grills and anything flaming. If you don’t mind venturing a few blocks out of the tourist district and know where to look, you can still find inexpensive "real Mexican" restaurants with safe kitchens where you can enjoy a $3-$5 meal. We have personally visited every one of the following restaurants and include our own impressions of what we’ve found there: both the good and the bad. .
Inexpensive Cozumel Restaurants
Probably the cheapest lunch you will find in Cozumel is at El Laurel on 11th near the Ave. 30 circle. This is really a small store with a limited Spanish newsstand and a deli counter in the back. Our favorite order is the empanadas, which are on display at the front counter. You can choose from bean (frijoles), potato (papas), chicken (pollo) or beef ( stake). Three or four empanadas (at a cost of about US$1.00-$1.50 total) should be enough for lunch. Flavored chips are 3 to 4 pesos.
Another good choice for a real cheap lunch is 3 Patitos Empanadas at the corner of Ave 30 and Calle 15. As you might imagine, pretty much the only items on the menu are fried empanadas. They usually have chicken, beef (hamburger meat), cheese, potato and bean. Of those, the beef is our least favorite. You can get your order to go or eat standing at the front counter. The food is nothing fancy but is definitely worth the price. A lunch of 4 empandas and a Coke before the tip is about $20 pesos or about $2 USD per person. Before making big plans to eat there you may want to double check on their hours of operation. On one attempted visit a few months ago, we found them closed at 12:30pm on a Saturday.
At some point during your stay, you should have dinner at a real tacqueria. Our favorite is Los Serra located on Ave 30 not too far (and across the street) from Ace Hardware. It is one of those hole in the wall places with inexpensive prices and good food that people who don’t venture far off of the oceanfront don’t think exists in Cozumel. The Tacos al Pastor con piña (grilled marinated pork with a slice of pineapple) at about 60 cents each and frijoles charos (bean soup) are both excellent. Other items we’ve tried and liked were the chuleta con queso taco (grilled pork chop with cheese) and the al pastor torta (grilled marinated pork sandwich.) If you visit Serra’s be sure to take advantage of the patio seating, which makes for a much cooler dining experience away from the open cooking fires. Four to six tacos and a bowl of soup make a good meal for about $4. Like most tacquerias, this place opens after dark and will usually be hopping late into the night. While they do not serve beer, you can bring your own if you want..
Taco Pique is located on Av. 30 between Benito Juarez y Calle 2 Norte and has an extensive menu with lots of dishes other than tacos and a wide assortment of beverages including jamaica, horchata, aquas, soft drinks and beer. There is a nice sized garden area in the back where you can dine.
Up and down Ave. 30 you will see a number of take out grilled chicken (pollo asada) places. The food is good and very reasonably priced. While the side dishes vary, it usually comes with corn tortillas, pickled onions or cabbage and at some places, (some pretty awful canned) spaghetti. On our last visit, a whole chicken with the sides was $60 pesos or less than $6 USD. There are multiple locations on every block of Ave. 30 that offer a similar product but one of the better ones is the Triunfo Rotiseria at Calle 8 Norte and 30th where you can watch the chickens pop and sizzle as they turn over an outdoor wood fire. If you’re planning an afternoon at the beach, consider picking up lunch to go on your way out of town.
There are quite a few Super Hit locations around town. The one we tend to frequent at lunch time is located on the corner of Calle 15 and Ave 30. The daily specials are usually tasty and offer a good value. Their sandwiches and soups also are a good choice. This place is a bit rustic but we’ve never had any stomach problems after eating there.
El Candela, at the corner of Calle 6 and Ave. 5, does a big take away business but has a few tables under a palapa and a few more inside that usually fill with locals by about 2:00-2:30pm. For a set price of about $55-60 pesos, you get a choice of soup, a choice from 3 entrées, either rice or spaghetti, a choice of steamed vegetables or new potatoes and unlimited refills on jamaica, an herbal tea-like cold beverage made from hibiscus flowers. The selection of entrées changes daily but usually includes a chicken cutlet stuffed with ham and cheese, the same pork in tomato sauce recipe that we’ve always loved at La Chosa plus one or two others. Canela is only open for lunch and closed on Sunday.
We know of two restaurants in Cozumel that go by the name Chilango’s, the word used to describe someone who is a native of Mexico City. The first is one of the few food stalls you will find gringos eating at in Cozumel. It’s a yellow structure located near the baseball park on the corner of 30th close to the fruit stands and is open only for dinner. Your server will flatten and cook your tortilla shells after you order. There usually is a choice of six to eight mixtures to stuff them with. There will likely be chicken, pork, beef, potato, fish and usually a cactus mixture. Prices for each is less than US$1 and you have to be real hungry to eat three of them. If you want beer, you’ll have to bring your own. Be prepared to try your Spanish or be ready to point at what you want.
The second Chilango’s we know is a Cocina Economica, which literally translates to "Cheap Kitchen." Cocina Economicas are usually inexpensive restaurants that serve a plate lunch, most often at a communal table in the kitchen or living room of a residence. If you look, you can find quite a few of this style restaurant all over Cozumel.
We’ve eaten in several Cocina Economicas in town and in our opinion, Chilango’s is the best we’ve tried in Cozumel. As is typical, you’ll find long dining tables in the entry room of this home on Ave. 10 between Calles 15 & 13. It isn’t hard to find; just look for the sign on top of the house painted on a surf board. Don’t worry if you’ve never been to a Concina Economica. Just walk in, find a seat and they will bring you lunch. The food here is real home cooking and the people you find there are very nice. It’s open only for lunch.
Another very good place to try homemade Yucatan cuisen and the chance to walk through someone’s living room is Sabores Loncheria located in a yellow house on Ave. 5 between Calles 3 & 5. They don’t speak much English here but everyone is very friendly. Everything on the menu is good. Ask to sit in the garden and you’ll be walked through the kitchen where the cook will be glad to lift the lids and show you what’s for lunch. It’s a changing menu but usually you’ll have a choise of 5 entres. The meal comes with soup and an iced pitcher of jimaica (hibiscus flower tea.) All for a total of $40 pesos. Desserts are an extra $10 pesos.
Another spot the brave might try a food stand is the row of stalls beside the "El Mercado" or Town Market located on Ave. 25 and Rosado Salas. You’ll get a meat entree with rice and beans and a beverage (try the papaya water drink) for US$3-4.
You won’t be able to find El Moro by yourself (and once you get there you’ll think you’re in the wrong place) so take a cab. It’s in a residential neighborhood off the main road a few blocks past the "Big Conch" circle on 65th. Everything on the menu is good, especially the seafood and the hand written specials. To be perfectly honest, this place used to be cheaper and the food a little better before it was discovered by tourists but it’s still a good experience.
We had eaten there before but a friend turned my wife onto the vegetable burrito at Otate’s on Ave 15. She now proclaims it as one of the best vegetarian meals she had ever eaten. Not a single bean or grain of rice could be found in the burrito. Rather it was filled with sautéed and grilled vegetables and topped with a mild cheese. She liks it so much that we typically will make a 2nd trip there on another night. My favorite order is the posole soup chock full of hominy, pork, chicken, onions, tomato, garlic, cilantro and who knows what else. It also is a terrific meal.
Of all the restaruantes that we enjoy in Cozumel, there is one that we dream about when we aren’t on the island. If you look real close, you can find the name of Santa Carlos across the bottom of the front wall but in all likelihood, the first thing that will catch your eye when you arrive at this restaurant will be the word PESCADERIA in blue. Regardless of what you call it, this is a great little fish place back in the neighborhoods. They sell a lot of to go orders of both cooked and fresh fish but in back are a couple tables where you can dine in. The conch ceviche is usually very fresh and a single serving at $50 pesos is an ample appetizer for a table of 6. A plate lunch with a fillet entrée is $60 pesos. A whole fried fish for one starts at around $65 pesos but can go higher depending on the weight. If you want, you can walk into the open kitchen and pick your fish out of the cooler. If more than one person wants the whole fried fish, pick out a larger one and share. The species of fish will vary depending on what they caught that day but if available, try the hog fish. Given the location, you’ll probably be pleasantly surprised to find that English is spoken here. The easiest way to get to Santa Carlos is to drive east out Calle 11 past 30 and take a left onto Ave. 50B. That will be the second Ave. 50 you come to. Santa Carlos is on the right between A.R. Salas and Calle 3. There will also be a blue sign in the median for "CMC Hospital". Turn left at that sign. Drive past a park and over a large toppe and Santa Carlos will be in the next block on the left.
Cocina Mexicana is located on the central square near the front of the Hotel Lopez. If you walk down the south side of the square, this is one of the places where the waiters stand out front and try to wave you in. Lunch specials usually include a choice of soups and entrées served with rice and a delightful fresh fruit flavored water (liquada) for about US $4.
Plaza Leza is the restaurant right next door to Cocina Mexicana and offers a similar Mexican menu. But to tell you the truth, it bugs us that every time we walk by this place we have to tell these guys three different ways that we don’t want to eat a meal with them at that very moment. As a result, we find we rarely think of going there when we are ready to eat.
Costa Brava Restaurant is located on Calle 7 about a block off the waterfront. It’s nothing fancy but is a good inexpensive choice for breakfast, lunch or dinner.
Parroquia is upstairs behind the Central Plaza church on Ave. 10. The chicken in mole sauce and soupa de lima are good choices here. This is a hang out for the local food & beverage service crowd and is open quite late.
On Ave. 5 just south of Pro Dive, El Foco serves inexpensive light meals, and while you might not think so on first impression, a clean kitchen. Try the El Foco Special Taco.
Looking for a good breakfast restaurant? Try Cocos, on the Ave 5 mall one block south of the Central Plaza. The double shelled Super Taco or the egg and bacon (or ham) soft breakfast taquitos are both good, as is the $2.95 hungry man style Coco Loco breakfast. The fresh fruit plate is always a good choice.
Cofelia’s is a really cute breakfast and lunch restaurant with seating in a pleasant garden on Calle 5 less than a block from the waterfront. We’ve had scrambled eggs with bacon and the house quiche and both were good as was the jamica (hibiscus flower) drink. They had a really nice chipotle (smoked jalapeno) sauce on the table that went well with both the eggs and the quiche. Good service, nice atmosphere and well prepared food.
Jeannie’s Waffle House has moved from the front of the Vista Del Mar Hotel to the waterfront behind the Aquario Restaurant at the corner of Ave. R. Melgar and Ave. 11. While bi-lingual menus are available and the staff speaks English, your waiter will give you a menu "book" with pictures of each dish so if you can’t make yourself understood in either Spanish or English, you can just point at the picture of what you want. In addition to doing a pretty good job with the usual breakfast fare, it offers a decent in-house bakery. The only problem we have with Jeannie’s is that since the move, prices seem to have risen.
An evening visit to Michoacan’s ice cream is a local tradtion in Cozumel. There is one located on Ave 20 near 1st and another closer to the downtown square. There are lots of others around town including one in the first level of the Mega supermarket. We’ve sampled several varieties including pineapple (more of a sorbet than ice cream), chocolate and mamay; a tropical fruit that looks like it has cantaloupe skin but an oblong shape. It isn’t Ben and Jerry’s but it is more than decent and reasonably priced. A medium cup, which would equal two large scoops, was $14 pesos.
Moderaterately Priced Cozumel Restaurants
For authentic home style Mexican cuisine try La Choza, It is still located on Ave. 10 but has moved from from the corner of A.R. Salas a few storefronts south. It features interesting soups, condiments, nightly specials and what we think is the best flan in Cozumel. The price of your entree at lunch and dinner includes a choice of soups. If you visit here for lunch, ask about the daily specials. Prices for the unadvertised lunch specials will be significantly cheaper than similar meals on the menu but your waiter won’t mention them unless you ask. Lunch and dinner favorites are the pork in tomato sauce and seafood either grilled or Vera Cruz style. Our son says La Choza serves the best beef fajitas in Cozumel and my brother says they have the best margaritas in the world. This place is a good choice for breakfast too.
Casa Denis is a small place with outside seating and what many consider the best choice for moderately priced dining in the downtown square area. It features a traditional Mexican menu including empanadas, tacos, soups, sandwiches and full dinners. It is located on the mall, a half block east and a half block south of the central square right across from the entrance to the Cozumel Flea Market. In our opinion, this is a much better choice for lunch or dinner than either Plaza Leza or Cocina Mexicana, the other on-the-square restaurants listed earlier in this document. One word of caution – While the food costs here are reasonable, a large marguarita will run you $60 pesos at Casa Denis.
El Turix is located on the square in front of the Corpus Christi Church on Calle 17 Sur between Ave. 20 & 25. The owners of El Turix, Rafael and Maruca, treat their guests to a home style Yucatan cuisine with preparations and dishes not found in very many other local restaurants. While the menu has recently changed and the price of eating there has risen, the food is still very good. If offered on the evening you go there, this is an excellent place to try conchinita pibil, pork that is slow roasted in banana leaves producing a consistency and flavor that is somewhat similar to North Carolina style bar-b-que. Another featured dish is zodobachoy, a tamalé stuffed with ground pumpkin seeds and wrapped in chaya, a locally grown green similar to grape leaf. The deserts here are also excellent. If available, the coconut pie is not to be missed. The kitchen in this place is spotless, the service friendly and the food is good.
If you eat there frequently, on occasion you may get an excellent meal at El Capi Navegante but it has a tendency to be inconsistent. As you might expect from this place’s name, the menu is primarily seafood. On a good night, the conch ceviche, Caesar salad and Octopus Mexican style are all recommended. On a bad night, you’ll wish you had eaten somewhere else. El Capi is located on Ave 10 near Calle 3.
Las Palmeras Restaurant is on the central square across from the ferry pier and because everyone knows it, a good place to meet at as in "I’ll meet you at 8 at Las Palmeras." Insist on a street side table. The mariachi band is not the best in the world but is sincere. The food is decent and considering the location, really not badly overpriced (at least not on the menu.) However, be sure to check your written bill carefully as the waiters sometimes attempt to tell you how much you owe without providing a written check and/or overcharge on the bill they provide you and try to pocket the difference. This is another good place to try the Cochinta Pibil. Unless you’re really hungry, a single order of the fresh fruit is enough for two at breakfast.
There is some movement at the old Pasta Prima Italian restaurant. In late May 2009, the original location near the corner of Rosada Salas and Ave. 5 had a sign up that all fixtures were for sale but the restaurant was still open. The American owner announced that he has merged it with Wynston/Prima Too into a new restaurant with great views on top of the El Cantil Condominiums called Prima Trattoria. But it’s possible that something similar but under different management might remain at the original location as well. All these events were going on in May so we’ll probably know more on this in the near future.
At the old location Prima could get expensive quickly if you order one of the nightly specials like imported Angus Beef or Lobster, but for homemade pasta, one of the better pizzas in town, salads and other Italian specials we’ve always found the prices to be relatively moderate.
.You’ll find a good version of Texas style fajitas at Ernesto’s Fajita Factory. While the downtown location on Ave. R. Melgar is now closed, there is still one in the south hotel district near the Casa Del Mar. The portions are large but not cheap by local standards. On the other hand, daily breakfast specials here are a good deal.
La Veranda (formerly D’Pub) is located 2 blocks from the Main Plaza on Calle 4 Norte between 5 and 10. As the name implies, the outside tables sit on a porch overlooking a nice small garden, which makes a pleasant setting for a cold drink. The food includes influences from all over the Caribbean. La Veranda is owned by Ernesto of local fajita fame.
The Mission is another good Mexican restaurant that has unadvertised inexpensive lunch specials that you won’t know about unless you specifically ask about them. For dinner, the shrimp entrees are good as are the traditional Mexican dishes including flan and the flaming coffees. Both the original location on Ave. B. Juarez and the one on Ave. A.R. Salas next to La Choza have been closed but there is a new location on Calle 3 less than a block off the waterfront.
The prices at The New Mission fall somewhere between moderate and expensive category but we list it here with the other Mission location to avoid confusion. Beto Miranda, the owner of both Missions and a long time Cozumel restaurateur has opened this place at his beautiful mission style home just off of Ave. B. Juarez & Ave. 55. Tables wrap around the veranda of the hacienda and spill out onto the lawn. The downstairs of the home is open for dinner guests to have a look around. Towards the back of the property Beto keeps his pet monkey and two African lions in cages. Some may find the housing conditions of the animals offensive but others see the same thing and find it an amazing sight. The menu includes all the standard Mexican favorites and the service is usually very good. You’re paying a little extra for the atmosphere but for a special occasion, it is probably worth it.
Sonora Grill features steaks and seafood. While flavorful, the steaks are "Mexican Style" and a bit chewy for American taste. The soupa de lima, beef kabob, beefsteak tacos and lobster (at about $13 the last time we ate there) are all good. Located between Ave 10 & 15 on Ave. B. Juarez.
Del Museo is located on top of the Cozumel Museum on Ave. Rafael Melgar and provides a very nice view of the downtown beach area. To date, the only meals we’ve eaten there are breakfast but we’ve heard it is a decent choice for lunch or dinner as well.
Rock’n Java serves a very good breakfast and lunch including a broad list of vegetarian meals and homemade deserts. With airlines now reducing food service, we will occasionally pick up a club sandwich or chef’s salad to go on our way to airport. It’s located on the waterfront near the main Dive Paradise office — just north of the Barracuda Hotel.
If you’re getting tired of tacos, there is still an Oriental alternative in Cozumel. Sams Wok in the palapa mall across the road from Puerto Maya (cruise ship pier) just south of the El Cid La Ceiba Hotel. Our understanding is that the location was picked to cater more to cruise ship crews than to tourists.
And we didn’t try it but noticed there was a new Asian restaurant upstairs over the Pizza Hut.
The traditional Louisiana cuisine at The French Quarter offers another nice change of pace from Mexican food. It’s located on Ave. 5 about a block south of the central square. The bar area here is usually a good spot to watch games from back home. Telephone at 87 26321.
Expensive Cozumel Restaurants
While we have come to expect the coming and going of restaurants in Cozumel over the years, recently there has been a bit of attrition in some long time favorites. For years, many considered Santiago’s Grill the best Mexican restaurant in Cozumel. Others felt Morgan’s in the wooden building on the corner of the central town square was one of the better traditional restaurants in town. In recent years, business at both had fallen off and on our visit to Cozumel in December of 2002, we found that both had been closed.
It was good while it lasted but one of the casualties of Hurricane Wilma was the very well regarded restaurant Mesa 17. The former owners/chef decided to move back to the States and the restaurant is no more. Hopefully, another good restaurant will find the space next door to El Turix on the Corpus Christi Square on Calle 17 Sur between Ave. 20 & 25 formally occupied by Mesa 17 and before that, La Cocay.
We haven’t been to the new location at Calle 8 between Ave 10 & 15 but used to love the food at La Cocay RestaurantL. When they first opened on the Corpus Christi square, we considered it the best food in town.
Guido’s Pizza, formally known as Pizza Rolandi, is located on Ave. Rafael Melgar on the north end of town and while it is not cheap, it is very good. Along with the pizza, they offer a very nice salad, "puff" garlic bread, various Northern Italian specials and homemade sangria. Garden diners find themselves under a canopy of bougainvillea and philodendra vines and are treated to an eclectic mix of recorded music. This is a great choice for a late leisurely lunch.
Manati is located in a very small old wooden building on the corner of Calle 8 and Ave. 10. Don’t be surprised if owner Leo Rojo not only takes your order but then goes back into the kitchen to prepare it as well. The menu features local ingredients in recipes inspired by cuisines from around the world. One of our favorites is the Mango chicken in puff pastry. Telephone at 87 25169.
Pancho’s Backyard is a part of the Cinco Soles retail store on the north end of Ave. Rafael Melgar. It is the site of one of the oldest tourist hotels in Cozumel that catered to wealthy Mexican Nationals from the mainland before Cozumel was discovered by gringos. The area that is now the restaurant was formally the hotel lobby and it is a lovely setting. The food is very good and offers some interesting modern twists on standard Mexican dishes but at a higher price than most other Mexican restaurants in town.
At Pepe’s Grill the local seafood and steaks are recommended. This is the nicest salad bar in town and can be eaten without worry of picking up a stomach problem. Try to sit upstairs by a window. Sometimes this place is a little pretentious but the food is good. A reservation during the busy seasons and holidays is not a bad idea. It is located on the waterfront on the corner of Ave. Rafael Melgar and Salas. Telephone 87 20213.
At The Lobster House you can pick out your own lobster and pay for it by weight. If you don’t eat lobster, don’t bother visiting this place because that’s just about all there is on the menu. It is located several miles north of the center of town across the street from Hotel Playa Azul.
The Coffee Bean not only has the requisite coffee offerings; it also offers an excellent selection of very well prepared home made deserts and a good if limited selection of lunch specials. It is located on Calle 3 near the Pizza Hut a few blocks south of the central square and is very popular with locals and tourists alike.
Where else but in Cozumel would American fast food be considered "expensive". If you have to…you can find McDonald’s, Subway, and Domino’s on Ave. Rafael Melgar. Most of the ingredients are imported from the States, which does help insure a reasonable facsimile of the food but also contributes to prices that are quite a bit higher than what you find back home. One additional closure was noted on our December 2002 visit – The Dairy Queen that was next to Morgan’s on the square has gone to that big blizzard in the sky.
The Punta Langosta shopping center at the cruise ship pier near downtown is home to a large number of chain restaurants. We’ve never eaten in any of the Punta Langosta locations of these restaraunts but we’ve heard that typically, prices will be higher than you would find in a U.S. location of the same chain. Eateries at Punta Langosta include: TGIF, Shokumi Sushi, Subway, Burger King, Mama Roma’s, Senor Frog’s, Carlos ‘N Charlie’s and Baskin Robbins.
