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 ate here with friends and we all became sick later that day. I could tell that my fries were…read morefried in dirty grease. I would not recommend.

This is a great locals spot, in a somewhat hidden place above the Hotel Arco. Menu consists of…read moreburgers, burritos, ribs, some Yucatecan classics, and lots of other choices. Food is very reasonably priced - Four of us came here for drinks and dinner. About a dozen drinks and 4 main course orders came to $1200 pesos (~$60 USD). Service was great too! Recommended!

I do not speak any Spanish so I use my phone. This place is very kind for that. Drinks and…read morewaitresses are wonderful, Music is great, vibe is amazing. Cuz I don't speak Spanish it is nice that a waitress or any one working actually helps me out. I recommend this place if u want some drinks and good music

Love this place! Great drinks and cool atmosphere. I will be going back!…read more The staff were friendly and attentive too!

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.

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.

Great experience at Eladio's Bar! The food was delicious and full of flavor, and the drinks were…read moreperfectly made. Live music was amazing. Manager Jorge was very pleasant and welcoming, and our waiter, Juan Carlos Alejos, was amazing -- so friendly and attentive. His service truly made our visit special. Highly recommend and will definitely be back!

It was a great dining experience. The small tapas that come with your drinks were delicious…read more Service was excellent. Highly recommend this place

We've been here twice now on our three day stay in Mérida…read more They have a good local beer selection and a good German beer selection. Menu consists of German food offerings. Service is great and the air conditioning is cold. Great Happy Hour with local macro brew specials of $19 pesos (like a dollar) Only con is that they are out of a lot of beer and food on the menu (understandable because the supply chain was disrupted during the pandemic) They should print up a temporary one until they get things back in stock. All in all we liked it, it was a great place to escape the summer heat and grab a cold beer.

Yikes, what a great surprise! Initially was not impressed with their menu ( no sauerbraten) or…read moretheir lack of service, but I definitely underestimated it. I can't wait to return! We had the wiener schnitzel,which was a huge and delicious meal, served with the amazing German potato salad. And, the roast chicken was served in a light broth with a variety of baked veggies. Everything was beautifully seasoned and a lovely presentation.

Just ok. This was my first meal in Mexico so my expectations were high seeing how nice this place…read morelooks and how they have A/C (praise the Lord!). The food however was average at best. If you want an Americanized attempt at Mexican food, this is the place for you. The menu was large ranging from tacos to pasta. I went with tacos of course but these fell short. To be fair, I've never had Tacos de Milanesas before so I'm not sure what they're supposed to taste like but the meat was super dry. From a pure taste and texture standpoint, dry and bland. Others in my group thought their pasta tasted too salty and lacking in real depth. With so many great restaurants in Merida. I'd say come here for the drinks, A/C, and chill sports-bar vibes, but skip the food!

Yesterday we stopped at Lapa Lapa for lunch, we have been here many times in the past, but it seems…read morethey have a new Chef in the house, because my Chicken Parmigiana was dry, with no flavor at all, not only that they don't use Mozzarella Cheese, but a cheap Monchego Cheese. It comes on a bed of pasta that was cold, I had to send it back. My meal came with 2 sides, so I choose French Fries and Green Salad, they serve the salad with no salad dressing, and didn't even ask me if I wanted some, I had to wait until another waiter then ours to get some. The service is very non attentive, and we hardly seen our waiter. I asked for some extra tomato sauce because they don't put any tomato sauce on the chicken parmesan, they ended up giving me Mexican salsa. My wife had the shrimp Tacos, and she liked hers very much. Chef Bob Lissandrello Yucatan Food few I give Lapa Lapa Altabrisa 3 Chef Hats out of 5