Barba Negra — Restaurant in Isla Holbox

The waitress automatically added 18% tip on top of our bill without asking (the first place that did this throughout our 10 day trip in Mexico). Even though you go up to the counter to pay and the card machine gives options for tip she didn’t ask us, she just wrote the total amount of the check with the added 18% tip. This would’ve been fine if the service and food were actually good but neither was!!! We were thoroughly disappointed with both (and the waitress who took our check and added the tip was also rude).

We ordered 4 types of tacos with shrimp and fish (maya style, Baja style, and diabla style), they all tasted almost the exactly the same without interesting flavor combinations, just very boring and they were honestly the worst tacos we’ve tried throughout our trip. The waiter also got our order wrong but we didn’t bother to say anything since the service was so slow. The tuna tartare didn’t taste fresh and was very fat - drenched in some kind of mayo sauce (?). The drinks were NOT good either (seriously, who adds Coca Cola to a caipirinha?!). Honestly I truly don’t understand why this place seems to have a line of people every night? It’s not worth it!

All in all almost $800 pesos for 4 tacos, 1 tuna tartare, 2 drinks, and extremely confused and slow service, so this place ended up feeling like a rip off.

Go there if you don’t care about quality and just want a...

The food is great but unfortunately we left with a sour taste. The bill for 4 beers (food is paid separately beforehand) was 380 pesos, quite pricey for the island but hey-ho, that's the price and we were happy to pay it. With the suggested tip, the amount to pay was a bit over 400 pesos. We paid with a 500 bill and waited for our change. And waited. And waited. We had to ask for the change and got a 50 pesos bill (less than the change we were owed and the receipt had mysteriously disappeared at this point) and a funny face. Normally you might put this down to a misunderstanding but the funny face left us puzzled and everything felt very odd and uncomfortable. Pity, as the food, drinks and setting were great otherwise.

La comida está muy rica, los tacos son excelentes, pero por desgracia nos fuimos con un mal sabor de boca. La cuenta ascendió a 380 pesos por 4 cervezas (la comida se paga a parte al principio), más la propina sugerida fueron poco más de 400 pesos. Pagamos con un billete de 500 y esperamos el cambio. Y esperamos. Y seguimos esperando. Al preguntar por el cambio nos trajeron 50 pesos (menos del cambio que nos correspondía) con mala cara. En otra situación lo habríamos achacado a un malentendido pero toda la situación y la actitud fue rara e incómoda. Desde luego es una pena porque, como digo, la comida estaba muy rica pero se nos han quitado las...

This spot is one of many in the downtown area that caters to tourists visiting the island. Part of a foodcourt type situation where there’s multiple windows you can order different types of food at (they had pizza and sushi too??). You order/pay at the window, they give you a number and they bring you your food. Theres a full bar too, that they come to your table to take your order for. Cocktails were just okay.

My expectation going in was to get some fancy tacos that look really good for tourists’ Instagrams but taste kind of bland- I’ve encountered many a spot like this before in the likes of Tulum and Playa del Carmen. However I was taken aback by how good they were. Notably the Baja Fish Taco and the Ajillo Pulpo were excellent! The Mixto, which had asada, chorizo/longaniza and cheese, was alright.

My only negative note was with the service. Our first time we went it was super attentive, our second time, not so much. We had a hard time the getting our drink order in and…getting napkins. It can be hit or miss. There’s a ton of staff and it seems like everyone just does everything- a little disorganized at times.

Overall though, popular spot with live music, great seafood tacos and...