Ictio Fish House — Restaurant in Playa del Carmen

不得了。They are serious about making food, making an experience. This place is worth it.

Just when we were about to go back with the idea of Mexican seafood is only about the overcooked Tikin Xic or the uncooked cerviches, this place popped up and caught our eyes. It's partially because of the hype but a grilled seafood meal seemed to fit the ending of our trip, so we went. As we walked closer to the suddenly more quiet location of the playa, just one street away from the busy avenida, the smell of seafood from the grill filled that corner of the street. There was a wait but it didn't take too long to be seated later on.

My man Benjamin served our table that night. A knowledgeable, sociable, cultured and friendly guy who catered our needs to fine details. With Marco on the grill that night, the dynamic duo made our night memorable as they delivered such a fine seafood grill experience which I don't recall I'd ever had.

The menu seems quite simple, but since their specialty seem to be grill as the smoke has already filled the space because they grill in front of customers, we opted for a very grill focused course of things, but started with shrimp aguachile as appetizer. They use giant prawns for this aguachile dish which was cut, skinned and brined to a sashimi level. Reminds me of a Thai raw shrimp dish which has a similar taste but the mix of green chilly pepper and seaweed brought us to a more Mexican experience with it. We ordered oyster after some hesitation, but boy oh boy, we were so close to missing out. It's highly recommended. We asked Benjamin if we could grill 4 of them and left 2 to eat raw, so we could try both, I gotta say, while they are both great, you should try the grilled version. We did not do the one with cheese and other stuff, but maybe we should too. This is the highlight of the night, it was grilled to the best texture and temperature while retaining the original oyster flavor and the taste of the sea. It's fantastic. We left stunned by it but the following jumbo shrimp did not feel like a huge step down, instead, since it followed the grilled oyster, it was the best followed up fish to bring to the grilling experience. The shell of the shrimp smells so good and was done right to match the quality of this shrimp, you could eat it with the shells, and I did. It's amazing. Crunching thru the shell which is salted right and then reaching the tenderness part of the shrimp meat, you would be left asking for more than 4 of them almost but since the grilled whole fish came next, we had it at the right spot. The catch of the day they have left was a sea bass. It's not cheap, but the quality is there. We were left speechless because of how well the grill was done without overcooking it, and by not overcooking, I mean it's a little pink in the bone with the perfectly cooked meat, which by the way, is the golden Cantonese steamed fish standard, but Marco is able to do it on the grill, in front of customers, with multiple orders to juggle with in fast pace. I have no idea how they could do it so well. I gotta say, the salting can be improved as one side of it is less salted than the other, not sure if that's intentional because when I was eating the less salted part, I could really taste the fish itself, and then a relatively more normal grilled fish on the other side. But overall, we finished the whole thing and were left very happy and satisfied.

5-star overall, no less. I also love their attitude of always improving and finding out what customers like....

I just ate at this place called Ictio Restaurant, and it was amazing! I have to tell you all about it because it was like going on a yummy adventure, but there are a few things you should know.

First off, the place looked really cool and felt super chill, like everyone wants to be your friend. The people working there were so nice and always had big smiles on their faces. They made us feel really welcome.

They played this calm music that was super relaxing, kind of like what you hear in movies about peaceful days at the beach. It made eating there feel like a mini-vacation, which was awesome.

But here's the thing: the restaurant doesn't have a lot of seats, so you might have to wait a bit. They told us we'd wait 15 minutes, but it ended up being about 25 minutes. Just a heads up, so you're not surprised.

When we finally got seated at about 8:30pm, they let us know that the kitchen was going to close soon. So, we hurried to look at the menu and decide what to eat. We really wanted to try the Glazed Salmon – it sounded so good, we all wanted one! But, they only had one left (bummer, right?). And, some of the desserts were already gone for the night.

Now, let's talk about the food because it was so, so good! We got this Adobo Style Octopus that was super tasty and tender. The Glazed Salmon was out of this world – sweet, sticky, and just melted in your mouth. We only got one, but it was definitely a hit. The Shrimp Tacos were like a crunchy, yummy party in a taco, and the Avocado Salad was fresh and full of my favorite – avocado!

Even with the little wait and not getting all the salmon we wanted, eating at Ictio Restaurant was the best. Oh, and I almost forgot! I ordered Churros for dessert, and they were excellent. Crispy on the outside, soft on the inside, and just the right amount of sweet. They totally made up for the desserts we didn't get to try.

So, if you're planning to go to Ictio Restaurant, maybe go a little earlier than we did, and be ready for a short wait. But trust me, it's totally worth it. The food is amazing, the people are super nice, and the whole vibe is just perfect. I can't wait to go back and have more of their...

They won.

We started early dinner with two fantastic drink. Flor de jamaica and my drink, my absolute favorite, Cueritos veganos. It is rimmed with a delicious oregano salt and fruity pineapple base with spicy kick from jalapeño. Grateful to the bartender who really made these flavors dance. We had a second round of drinks. la Palomilla and the Paleta de sandia. La palomilla is a great midday drink it has a splash of Prosecco making it bubbly.

The Paleta is also very refreshing with watermelon juice and a pepper syrup. A great combination of flavors and not spicy. It’s rimmed with Tajin. I preferred Paleta over palomilla. But all these drinks are 5 stars.

I had fresh crispy calamari for my appetizer along with some beautiful Rockefeller oysters. We then ordered the fish and shrimp tacos. The batter on the seafood was perfect and the combination of ingredients give these tacos depth.

For dessert we had churro which were so fresh they were soft on the inside crunchy on the outside. The creme and chocolate sauce comes on the side. The creme sauce pairs very well with the perfectly prepared dish. As you can see we had every course here. I have not a single complaint.

I’d like to give a special shout-out to our waiter Benji who navigated us through our dinner with friendly service. Gave us some background Even gave us recommendations to other places where we wouldn’t be disappointed with food. He handled 7 full tables with grace. We never felt like we weren’t serviced and our food timing was impeccable.

Shout out to the manager who also helped in servicing tables and made sure every guest was satisfied and didn’t let the server struggle as some managers do.

The kitchen prepared everything with great flavor. Please patron this perfectly located tasty establishment.

I did want to give a compliment to the music. Ambience can really make or break your experience. Music wasn’t too loud like restaurants on 5th Ave and really fit the...