4 Best Restaurants in Yucatán and Campeche States, Mexico

At the town's favorite lunch spot, glass walls replicate an oblong Maya house, which is surrounded by a profusion of plants. Seafood, with a campechano twist, reigns supreme here, and a truly ambitious meal might start with calamari, stone-crab claws, or camarones al coco (coconut-encrusted shrimp), perhaps followed by pan de cazón (a shark-meat casserole that's one of Campeche's most distinctive dishes) or robalo fish topped with puréed cilantro, parsley, orange, and olive oil. For dessert, the classic choice is the signature and impossibly sweet coconut cake. As the sun goes down, candles are set out on the white-linen tablecloths, and soft blue lighting illuminates the outside atrium.

A notch above its malecón neighbors, this restaurant has contemporary Yucatecan-inspired decor (think pasta tiles, tzalam wood details, and florescent pink chairs). The menu is extensive but almost everything is from the sea, including shrimp cocktails, Baja-style fish tacos, and platters of crab. There is also a second location in Mérida, but the food tastes better at this original restaurant, where it's paired with sea breezes. Reservations are suggested—on warm evenings and holidays weekends, all the tables are often filled.

Grab a seat in this palapa restaurant directly across from the water and watch the day's catch come straight from the docks. The menu features local specialties like ceviche, seafood soup, fish fillet stuffed with shrimp, and breaded seafood rolled into a ball and deep-fried. In season (July–December) you can order lobster and octopus cooked several different ways. With a seashell-strewn floor and plastic tables, it's far from fancy, but you're sure to leave satisfied. Owner Diego Núñez and his family also operate Río Lagartos Adventures and can arrange a variety of tours.

Near the main square, this unpretentious family-run restaurant is one of the oldest (and most affordable) eateries on the island, and it's considered one of the best places to try island-style food. There are quite a few tasty seafood dishes, including a huge mariscada for two that includes a fish fillet, a whole fish, a lobster, and octopus on a bed of shredded lettuce. The delicious seafood soup includes the freshest seasonal seafood and is an island classic. People come here for the food and not the ambience, so grab a seat at a plastic table, listen to the Mexican music, and take your pick from the extensive menu.