Don Chendo — Restaurant in Playa del Carmen

We ate here based on the review on everythingplayadelcarmen… and We were all pretty disappointed. I had a feeling going to a Chicago deep dish pizza place owned by a New Yorker in Mexico want going to turn out well. Overall the food was edible, but I would not call it good. My wife and I had dominos pizza earlier that week while we did our Laundry at the mall and we both agreed that our $6 pizza from dominos was better than our $14 pizza from Don Chendo. The garlic bread was a little stale, the house salad was ok, but overall it had too much Spinach (I eat a lot of baby spinach, but this must have been "mature"). We ordered The Easterner (Sausage, green olives, artichoke, and pepperoni). The pizza came in a very deep dish, but apparently the bottom 2/3 is filled with some sort of tray. The crust was a little hard/tough and the cheese tasted like a processed cheese, definitely not like the Mozzarella from the US. Also the day we ate their it was very hot and the restaurant was on a busy street with car alarms blaring. If you really want pizza in Mexico I would try somewhere else. The wait staff however was very attentive. We have 2 young kids and they dropped their utensils 3 different times (not normal) and the wait staff quickly replaced them. On the other hand (having read reviews and watched a video on the business) I recognized the Owner and he didn't even acknowledge us and we were the only ones in the restaurant at the time. Other places I have been the owner usually goes out of their way to make good impressions, but he didn't...

Great gluten free pizza but only on Friday

Yes thats right gluten free pizza but only on Friday as that is the only day they hand make the dough and they only make 10 thin crusts. So if you want one your best bet is to go early in the week and make a reservation and reserve your crusts as they are sold on a first come basis, and are made with Almond flour and Rice flour. Also they have a specific list of pizzas for their gluten free crusts unlike their regular pizza deep dish menu which come with a lot of sauce to avoid them getting soggy. That said you can still get any pizza on the gluten free crust if you want, but for our visit we choose to stick with the gluten free choices. So how was it you are now asking? Well worth the trip and we enjoyed the 2 pizzas so much we immediately made a reservation for the following Friday! We ordered the Jill 220 pesos (vegetarian) and the Pepper 230 pesos (homemade GF Italian sausage and veggies) Both pizzas had a thin crisp crust and the toppings were fresh and they were very flavourful. The homemade Italian sausage had just the right bite and heat to it. Service was quick efficient and very friendly. As the place is open to 30th Ave which has a lot of bus and other traffic it can be fairly noisy if you are sitting near the front to carry on a conversation. The deep dish pizzas going by looked really amazing. If you need a gluten free pizza fix while in Playa del Carmen this is a...

Small restaurant, huge flavor.

We wanted to try their best known dish (deep dish pizza) but they ran out for the day. Found out they take reservations, and it's best to get there by 6:30 or so to guarantee getting a pizza.

Everything was super delicious. The first time we were here we got chicken parm and chicken alfredo. All the elements were well seasoned, well cooked, and tasty. The grilled veggies and side of spaghetti were so tasty alone, I would have returned for just that.

We returned two days later to try the pizza (with a reservation this time), and it was well worth the wait. Absolutely delicious pizza, and like no other I've had in Playa.

The pizza is deep dish, with a crispy fried bottom, and soft interior. It was loaded with melted cheese and toppings. The sauce was not overly sweet. We had the Hawaiian and the meat lovers, both highly recommend.

The pizza is definitely large enough to feed two people. We were both full on just one pizza shared, and we took home one entire pizza for later.

The staff were friendly, and they have WhatsApp for reservations and I believe delivery. They definitely do a ton of take away...