BEST OF MERIDA 2025 - Botanas Botanas are a special treat,…read morebasically free food you get with drinks. Lucero doesnt call it in here, they serve a great variety of excellent options (mmm the gizzard is absurd). It varies throughout the day the service levels and botana availability; but show up around 7-8pm for a safe bet on a good experience with solid service, availabilty, and a good place to hang. See prior reviews for more details and happy eating from John Seeto!

What a great surprise this was! I had no idea what we walked into, I thought we were just going to…read moregrab drinks at this ultra chic looking bar. We ordered beers, we received those, and literally 2 min later a waitress came out with all these mini tapas and I was in shock. I had mentioned that we didn't order them and she said they came with the beer, and oh my, it's genius! we literally didn't feel the need to leave the bar and ordered more than we should've. Some of the tapas were great, some were decent, nothing terrible but what a deal and concept.

I can't speak for any of the food, but this is a super cool spot to hang out for drinks and live…read moremusic. Picnic bench style seating, and plenty of it. There's a very small "dance floor" between the live band setup and the bench seating. Lots of beer and cocktail options. Definitely a younger crowd. Service isn't bad, but be patient. This place gets busy.

Slow service and the mixed drinks were weak. Felt like we ordered juice and water. Terrible…read moreexperience and never will go back.

This place was right near when I stayed; a wonderful local cantina with a bar area, and also a…read moreseparate large dining area. We got a mix of Yucatán finger food platter, local beer, and hibiscus drink. Hibiscus drink a bit too sweet for my taste, but the local beer was delicious. The platter was all fried, was good, but I ended up longing for something more fresh. The service was good, the servers all seemed a bit frazzled (even though there weren't many customers). We got treated to a live band playing at the cantina so that was nice.

We went to this cantina on a Tuesday night for their 2 for 1 wing special. Once seated you can get…read morea large Carte Clara beer for 49 pesos. Just guessing it was at least 32 ounces of beer. Nice set up of a covered area and an outdoor area. We sat outside with fans keeping us cool. We started with guacamole and chips. Pretty good. We then ordered bbq and buffalo style wings. They were fried nicely but had to much sauce. A plate of fries came by that looked good so ordered some along with just buffalo wings. My wife in Spanish told our waiter no sauce just fried and sauce on the side. Wings arrived with even more sauce and very spicy. Each order had 16 wings. The jazz band was great and the atmosphere good. Try to make it back again.

Went here 2 nights out of the 5 days we were in town. The food wasn't overpriced like many other…read moreplaces in town and the service was very nice. They had live music one of the nights along with outdoor seating. Delicious drink options and a wide variety of quality food. Worth It!!

This place has a 1st floor and 2nd floor. Note that there is no balcony view in this building…read more Service was decent. I ordered a pitaya agua fresca drink that was more of a lemonade. My friends ordered a pitaya drink and another drink. For appetizer, we order the guacamole con chicharonnes and asada pizza. The guacamole appetizer seems to be a mix of salsa and avocado and not pure guacamole. The chicharonnes were crispy and crunchy. Asada pizza was pretty good. It comes with pineapple on the pizza and it was delicious. I'm glad I got to try the asada pizza here.

It's okay . Most of the current reviews are on google. My first time to the restaurant I rated it…read morehigher as the food was better. The second time I came the food wasn't that good. Cochinita pibil is good sometimes, bad other days. The service is good though and the tables are cleared fast.

Just happened to be walking by and noticed this restaurant. Had very good vibes so we decided to…read moretry it for breakfast. Excellent meals for outstanding price! Staff is very friendly and welcoming. Highly recommend breakfast or margaritas and chips with guacamole for an afternoon snack.

The bistec tacos are soooo good! The portion is quite ample. The order comes with two tacos and…read morefour tortillas. I had to eat some bistec before I could double up on the tortillas to actually pick it up. I actually tried the habanero salsa which is common for this area. Just a bit will add amazing flavor; just don't overdo it!!! We also ordered a side of beans which came with tortilla chips. Since the beans had chorizo I couldn't eat them. Hubby said they were amazing! Also amazing is the service. Our order came out very quickly and our waiter was fantastic. This is a relaxed restaurant that is quite clean. You can eat inside or outside.

Esta restaurante estate muy comodo para groupos largos or pequeños. Tambien los tacos estan…read moreriqisimos. Es un sitio donde comer los locales. La brisa afuera es encantadora, al igual que los artistas callejeros. Es un gran lugar para observar a la gente. Nuestro servicio fue fantástico.

GREAT CANTINA FOR A LOCAL VIBE - La Negrota is a really fun local cantina where most of the seating…read moreis in an open courtyard and you get packed in like sardines as it fills up at night. With live music playing often you will have spontanoeous dancing eruot as couples get into the groove and enjoy the fun. With drinks you also get botanas, basically free appetizers, which are fine but nothing to wrote home about. The food is pub food style with a latin twist and while they aren't shooting for fine dining if you are in the mood for a local style pub meal its a great optiion and a lot of fun. Happy eating from John Seeto!

Came through twice…read more The first was at noon on a Sunday. Joke is on us: we learned they're not open until 2pm (only on Sundays. Otherwise, they're open at noon all other days.) We came through a couple of days later because it came highly HIGHLY recommended by Big Bro. So, I was more curious than anything. Another reason I came through is to try their kibi's. (It topped my Yelp search when looking for this particular grub.) We wanted to get drinks as well since it was a hot and humid day! Pina colada for me, brewskis for Hubbers. We put in an order for the kibis because that's main reason I came through. Drinks came through, and then... mini plates of snacks, oh, WHAT! La botana, is what they call them. Whew, didn't plan on eating more than the kibis, but I welcomed it! It was a pretty good variety, too: there were sausages, pork skin, jicama and some sort of salad. Staff told us if we wanted refills on any or all of them, to let them know and they'd be more than happy to comply. Kibis finally came through, and I have to admit that I was disappointed. Not only did they lack taste, but they were also hard. They may have been overcooked which most likely contributed to the lack of flavor. Initial thought in mind were hockey pucks. Chewing through one was a challenge that I didn't bother going for a second. (It was practically inedible.) The guac, pico de gallo and sauce were great, but didn't do much for the pucks. Hubbers really liked it, though, so there's at least that. FOOD: 2. SERVICE: 4. I noticed staff mostly just hanging out together at the bar, but they were excellent at being mindful of guests. VALUE: 3. 5 for las botanas, 1 for the kibis. PARKING: Street only. It will be a challenge, for sure. OVERALL: 3. FUN FACT: They are the second oldest cantina in Merida (opened in 1917.) I learned the place is far livelier at night when they have bands performing. Someday, maybe...? Not a one-and-done, but it'll be a long minute before a second visit, if at all.

Went here the first time on a Carnival Cruise excursion ....recently went back since I live in…read moreMerida now and OMG ! I got the Pescado en Salsa de X'catic. Amazing flavor and the fish was exceptionally fresh and flavorful. In combination with the rice and beans and plantain....WORTH THE DISTANCE .

We were in the Yucatán for a week long vacation. My boss use to live in Merida and he said we had…read moreto go here if we were in the area. It was the first non-tourist place we ate. We started with the guacamole con chorizo y cerado. It was excellent. It might have been better than either of the entrees. I got the Lechon con frijoles negras. It's what my boss told me to get. It was good. I'm not sure it was worth a special trip but it was good. My wife is a bit of a picky eater. She wanted to play it safe so she got the Empanadas and a coke americano. The empanadas had a white sauce on them. I don't think it was cheese. It tasted like some kind of puréed yuca or potato. Everyone was drinking this green drink. It looked like a grass shot. I asked the server and they said it's called Agua de Chaya. They had a couple flavors so I got limon. It had a mild flavor. It was almost like a watered down fruit smoothie. The building was pretty neat. I think it was an old plantation house with several levels. There was a nice courtyard in the middle that most of the tables have a view. The courtyard has deer and peacocks wandering around. That was something I hadn't seen before. There was venison on the menu so it made me wonder.