Babe's Noodles & Bar — Restaurant in Playa del Carmen

Post update Nov 30th, 2023:

It was a pleasant dinner. Tofu was grilled this time. The red and green curries were tasty.

Javier was great. When he realized it was a birthday celebration, he brought a candle right away.

They didn’t have rice for the curry, but they offered noodles instead at no extra cost.

He was very nice and attentive.

————————————— I’ve been going to this place since a few years ago when it was at an old location.

They offer a few vegan options 🌱 and tofu can be added to them.

My favorite dish is the vegan Korean noodles ($190 MXN for the small portion). It has a nice peanut sauce, and I’ve only been sick with this dish once a few years ago. The thing is that the tofu used to be grilled, and this last time it wasn’t 😒 It’s definitely not the same. Grilled tofu (like before) is so much better.

Prices have gone up quite significantly over the years, and portions seem to be smaller.

I also got the green vegan curry ($139 MXN for the small portion) this time. This portion was good and I liked the taste, but again, the tofu wasn’t grilled this time either.

My caipirinha ($120 MXN) lacked sugar, so I had to add some.

Service was seemingly ok (considering that there were a few tables that day). They brought the drinks fast, but it took a while for the food to arrive.

I’d go back maybe on a special occasion, and not during lunch or dinner time when it’s crowded and it takes longer for...

Not great. Service was beyond slow, almost non existent. Food took forever, and came incorrect. Waitress seemed miserable and all servers moved at a glacial pace. Drinks sitting on the bar melting for so long they were warm by the time they arrived at the table.

3/4 of the different dishes we ordered all tasted essentially the same, they must use the same base peanut sauce for multiple dishes.

Tuna sashimi was good, but a bit sweet. Spring rolls and cheese rolls were far too doughy and greasy. Noodle dishes all tasted like peanut sate (pad Thai, Korean pork, cashew chicken). Green curry was mild, more different, and our favourite. Coconut shrimp was crispy but covered in sweetened coconut flakes making it far too sweet.

Took over 30min and asking 3-4 times for the bill before we gave up and hounded the bartender to let us pay. Seemed to be the experience of all the tables around us.

Will not return and would recommend avoiding...

I had read a lot of reviews about this 20 year old Swedish Thai restaurant in Playa Del Carmen and chose to go there for my birthday lunch. I went at 1 pm when they first opened and I was alone for the first half hour in the restaurant which I found surprising. It was warm and the air conditioning was not on until a later customer with a small child asked for it to be turned on. The decor was eclectic and fun. The highlight was the fresh mango 🥭 frozen margarita which was amazing (I asked for Tajin and added it for a savoury sweet kick). The Phad Thai was fine but the Tamarind sweet flavour overwhelmed the dish. I asked for fresh habanero and this helped but it was far too sweet for my Canadian tastebuds. The...