La Bodeguita del Medio Playa del Carmen

The food here is the worst I’ve ever had in Playa. You cannot be a CUBAN restaurant AND SERVE THOSE MEATLESS EMPANADAS. When we picked them up, it was just falling apart. At least the prices were fair. The best tasting thing there was the sparkling water and the natural water. The waitress was nice and definitely tried to help make suggestions, but they were out of everything. No fish none of their staple dishes were available. But everything we tasted was awful. The shrimp in the tacos were so chewy, I’m still chewing while riding in this review…. The cheesy tacos oh no please get rid of it. The cheese does not match the fishy taste. The rice of beans had the longest piece of hair I’ve ever seen in my food. I didn’t even care about that. what’s crazy is, I pulled out right in front of the manager and he ran away. 🤣 either way the beans and rice are tasteless. On a positive note, it is a great vibe if you want to grab a few drinks and dance to some Cuban Latin music bar scene type of vibe. But the food, they should just cancel that ASAP I told the server, Manager, the food runner, all of them just looked like “yeah it sucks so what?” I ordered a few things just to make sure and they all were bad. I was really rooting for this place. I’ve been walking past it for years now I’ve been saying I can’t wait to go. This was a huge disappointment. It’s definitely for the tourist who want to feel a little Cuban vibe. But NOT the food. Just imagine if this place had good food it would be so 🔥 in a prime location.

Great place! Great ambience and food! The Cuban Band is amazing… La Bodeguita del Medio is my place for a little of salsa dancing.

Come here for the amazing live music not the food. The food was chewy and bland, wouldn’t come back to eat here again. The Mojitos were good though.

Worst experience ever during my trip. During our last night’s stay in Playa, my partner and I decided to go for live music and was recommended by a local waiter to come to this place. While asking for recommendations for cocktails, the waitress didn’t appear to be knowledgeable but I appreciated her patience and ordered a sunrise with añejo cristalino because it was not a commonly seen option. The taste, to be fair, was far below my expectation and can be easily duplicated in a dive bar. I would not bother to write my first review on Google Maps for this disappointment, though. Soon after the performance began, my partner and I had to run because we found a nearby tattoo shop that was about to close, and it took about ten minutes for the same waitress to bring my bill. What happened later might speak to the delay - she asked me if I thought the drinks were good, to which I replied yes out of courtesy. Then she took my card and inserted it in the POS machine without asking me to sign anything or press the confirm button. There was only a receipt coming out after she swiped the card with an 20% “gratification.” I pointed to the extra amount and asked her why did you automatically add this, and she only said “the service fee, not included” - as if she couldn’t understand and say English properly. I was apparently upset, but the music was loud, the waitress pretended to be uncommunicable, and I was on a tight schedule. So I left the bar with that 20% tip. We talked about this situation in the tattoo shop later, and all the staff there were shocked and shook their heads saying this is too much. They even offered to fight for me and told me to write reviews for this. So here I am. If local people, your neighbors, think this is not cool, then apparently what you did - Ms waitress- put shame on your people. I believe there are plenty of people who would love to donate 80 pesos to you if you are in some kind of emergency and need that money so badly. But maybe you will never see this comment and were just happy with robbing another group of visitors who would have come back for lunch the next day. I hope the manager, if not a conspirator, can investigate this situation since I found myself being not the only one leaving a review on tip robbery. It’s not just about money, but respect and honesty. Otherwise, my fellow visitors, please just avoid this place since you will never run out of authentic, tasty restaurants in PDC.

We were looking for a place with live music and came across a trio acustico coming from a nearby restaurant. It was just what we were hoping to find. The atmosphere was relaxing, nice authentic decor and good food. Two of our orders were a little on the dry side, but the overall experience was great!

Went here on a whim. Was in the area. Just checking out the place. I thought what the heck hey let’s go have some Cuban food. Can I say delicious flavor for everything from the black beans on. My favorite part and I’m not kidding the chicken wings. If you go try these wings I’m telling you fall off the bone flavor. I don’t know what it is about Mexico but they make better chicken wings then the US does. Everywhere we went we had chicken wings I feel guilty for saying it but yes, we also had tacos, etc. but these wings are the best. Service was wonderful as well. Great smiles very attentive. Love the live music..

Great place to dance salsa! We were also very well served by the waiter Sergio. He helped us find a dancer so my sister could dance. We recommend this restaurant bar :)

Cuban restaurant and bar with an authentic feel and a great atmosphere. Tried the ceviche and cuban sandwich and they were both very good. They have live cuban music at night with customers often dancing to it. They stay open late which makes it a great option for a late bite on the way back to the hotel.