This restaurant is in a large hotel, and fills up quickly on weekends, when the tour busses from…read moreCancun roll into Valladolid, after their trip to ChichenItza.
El Meson is clearly a tourist destination: literally every diner I saw during my meal was clearly not a Yucutan native. However, if you are looking for familiar food in a restaurant with helpful staff, and you are exhausted from your day trip, then you won't go wrong with El Meson del Marques.
We started our meal with a couple of the delicious Mexican margaritas (not too sweet, and just as I like them!) accompanied with some tortilla chips and Sikil P'ak, a delicious Yucatan appetizer dip of crushed pumpkin seed, roast tomato, various herbs (often chive; I like cilantro, which El Meson included), all crushed in a mortar and pestle to produce a roasty, slightly chunky dip that is delicious with the ubiquitous tortilla chips.
When it came time to order the main course, my husband, who didn't want any more Yucatan cuisine tonight, ordered the salmon. The helpful waiter asked him how he would like this done, and he looked at me in bewilderment, never having to answer such a question about fish. "I'd like it cooked," he said. I immediately had visions of overcooked salmon, and quickly added, "Medium, not overcooked.". He was pleased with the finished product, cooked but not dry!
I took a risk and ordered a specialty, the "stuffed cheese". The waiter looked at me hesitantly, and then quickly filled me in that this dish is a bean stew, with a cheese rind. Having done some research into Yucatan cuisine, I knew that incorporating the rinds of Edam cheese into stew is a very traditional approach. The stew arrived, with a big thick cheese rind. I probably only ate half of it, not because I didn't like it, but because the helping was huge! It looked like an innocuous bowl of soup, but just half of that bowl ate like a full meal. Wow.
This is a somewhat pricey (by local standards) but good, reliable, very touristy restaurant which will offer you familiar Canadian or American dishes as well as some genuine Yucatan specialties.
Service is as polished as it gets, in a dining room with spectacular decor and a wide ranging menu with plenty of choices.
