Casa Malca — Hotel in Tulum

Have you been craving mediocre food? Poor service ? All while being bent over a barrel without lube? If so, this is the place for you!

Summary: Traveled 40km to pay $260 (230€) for an avg meal for two, and very poor service due to their incompetence, and broken system.

Avoid avoid avoid avoid avoid!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

You can find better food, better service, elsewhere for a LOAD cheaper

My girlfriend and I visited Casa Malca as the first place outside of our hotel for our first trip to Mexico. We took a taxi 45 minutes to get there from our hotel in Akumal, just to experience their food and day pass.

As soon as we arrive, the gate security guard springs a price increase on us:

1500 pesos minimum per person. $85 (75€)

Surprising because a friend who visited a few months ago told us that it was 1000, but ok..

As entered, everyone from the reception until the hostess jumped to remind us that there was a 1500 minimum per person, and that we could pay with our credit card

We sit down, and the waiter grabs our passport and disappears with it to some unknown place - apparently the restaurant doesn’t trust its clients unless they have some collateral.

We wait for 20 minutes on our day bed, and finally flag down a waiter who seems too busy doing nothing, to come take our order and justify this 1500 minimum.

Finally he comes over, asks what we want to drink and starts to run off before we grab him and say, hey, can we see a food menu? 10 minutes later he comes back with a food menu completely in Spanish. Understandable since we’re in a Spanish-speaking country, so we ask for one in English. He stares at it for a minute confused and disappears again. We finally had to flag down his colleague to finally get an English menu

The food arrives, it’s ok - not horrible, but certainly not worth the price.

Then we decide to pay the bill to leave, and here’s where the circus begins.

All of a sudden, despite having a hotel and a restaurant full of people, their “system is down” Meaning they don’t have our order and can’t process credit cards.

We wait the 20 minutes they promised for the system to come back up, and still nothing.

It’s getting late, so we manually recreate the order, but tell them that we have to pay with credit card. At this point they suggest we go take money out of an ATM to pay. So I go wait out front another 20 minutes for an employee to go drive me to an ATM, which charged obscene exchange rates, only output dollars, and had a $35 fee on top of that!!!

Then when I return to the restaurant, they conveniently added a %15 “service charge” on top of the bill, which no one cared to mention at the beginning

I refused to pay the service charge given the lack of service, and the fact that I had to pay nearly $100 in ATM and exchange fees due to their incompetence

After all that, we had to fight to get our ID back. The waiter who took it disappeared without thinking to return it - no one else in the entire staff knew where it was. And finally we learned that it made its way out to the security guard at the front gate. Sketchy

Adding it all up - bill, atm fees, exchange fees:

My bank account is now $260 lighter solely due to this restaurant.

This is without the %15 service fee, and without the $60 (50€) round trip we had to pay in taxi rides

I’ve had entire vacations that were better and cost less than this meal

Don’t waste your time There are nicer places to go You can find better food, better service. And he place looks nice, but not THAT nice

DON’T WASTE YOUR...

First, I will start with the check in process, front desk and concierge service, it was EXCELLENT!!! Mr. Eduardo Hernandez room division manager made the check in process so easy and pleasant. He goes above and beyond for his customer service and makes sure all his guests are happy during their stay at Casa Malka. My friend and I stayed at Casa Malka for 10 days, and we were extremely happy with the hotel and the service. The staff is extremely attentive, anything you request is provided within seconds. I felt like I was the only person in the hotel because as soon I would hand up the phone, I already had someone by the door with the requested item. I had asked Mr. Eduardo where I can get a shampoo that is “sulfate free” that’s the only one I use for my hair, Eduardo had personally delivered it to me within 2 hrs while I was sunbathing by the pool, I was shocked, and he didn’t even charge me for it.

Monica, at the concierge service was excellent at setting up all the reservations for us for the entire 10 days. She had great recommendations for each day so that we have a great time. She made all the restaurant reservations, including the beach parties - brunches. The schedule was perfectly typed in and send to us on what’s app so we have it and changes that needed would be done within few minutes. Monica is incredible person to work with, she is a sweetheart😘.

Second, I would like to mention about the complimentary breakfast every morning at Philosophy restaurant. The food is fresh and delicious, I could tell the food is prepared With love. The waiters that serviced us every morning were Celso Abraham and David. Celso- aka Abraham provided an Excellent service. He treated us like a “Queen” He knew our daily breakfast time so he had a table ready in the shade with two memosa’s all set on the table. He would have our cappuccino ready including fresh squeezed juices. And then we would order breakfast from the menu list. And if we would not like what we had ordered he would changed without any issues thanks to his amazing manager Mr. Eliezer. Eliezer made special Bloody Mary for me every morning so I have it by the pool. That was special post breakfast drink. David also was an amazing waiter who made sure that his customers are happy with their breakfast choices. I want to say special thanks to Abraham-waiter for your outstanding service and for providing such friendly environment during our stay. Abraham was the Best !!!

The hotel is very clean. The pool gets cleaned every morning and evening.

The only thing that we were not happy with is the beach since it was off season. The water was full of seaweed so we could not swim in the ocean. But they were cleaning it every day. Out of 10 days we could use the ocean for 2 days when the seaweed was less but still the water was brown🥲🥲 The rooms in the hotel are beautiful and unique.

I would definitely recommend Casa Malka to all my friends and family. For sure will come back only during the Right season December to April. Never again off season May-October because of the seaweed and possible hurricanes. The weather was great, it rained only once in 10 days. The spa in the hotel is amazing too.

And people may request for a free yoga class every morning.

To all the staff at Casa Malka, Tulum special thanks for your excellent customer...

It’s been almost a week since I left Tulum, yet in the midst of a hectic work schedule, I still find myself reminiscing about every detail of my stay at Hotel Casa Malca. This was a spontaneous trip—I didn’t have much time to research hotel options. I initially looked into the most luxurious, most comprehensive, and highest-rated hotels, but none of them truly resonated with me.

Then, I stumbled upon a few rare posts on RedNote about Hotel Casa Malca. The photos of its environment gave off the vibe of a museum—elegant, artistic, and full of character. The beachfront decor wasn’t flashy or mainstream, but refined and thoughtfully curated, with a sense of escape. My intuition told me: this is the one. And just like that, I quickly booked three nights at Casa Malca.

After a long flight from my busy city life to Cancun and a two-hour drive alone, I arrived at Casa Malca feeling physically drained and mentally still trapped in “real life.” I probably walked in with my usual serious face. But as I made my way through the mysterious and atmospheric path to the lobby, I was greeted by the warmest and most charming smile from the front desk staff—instantly melting away my exhaustion and bringing a sense of comfort.

I was there to celebrate my birthday, and the hotel went above and beyond by upgrading my room and decorating it specially—completely unexpected surprises that transported me into a moment of pure joy and gratitude.

Over the three days I stayed, I had the best egg white omelet I’ve ever tasted—healthier and more delicious than breakfasts at luxury hotels around the world, loaded with clean and fresh vegetables. I still miss it to this day. Though I usually avoid pastries, I couldn’t resist trying the carrot cake brought to me by the lovely restaurant staff—and it was absolutely amazing. The pool design was also incredibly beautiful and thoughtful.

Casa Malca is the kind of place that would be perfect for weddings and private parties. It feels like a space that truly belongs to you.

I must give a heartfelt thank you to Yair, whose attentiveness and radiant smile made my solo birthday trip feel so warm and joyful. The staff here offered smiles that came from the heart—not the kind worn just for the sake of the job. There’s a huge difference between the two. In an era where design can be replicated endlessly, it’s sincere service and genuine warmth that become the invisible but essential details that elevate the...