La Bodeguita del Medio Playa del Carmen — Restaurant in Playa del Carmen

Worst experience ever during my trip. During our last night’s stay in Playa, my partner and I decided to go for live music and was recommended by a local waiter to come to this place. While asking for recommendations for cocktails, the waitress didn’t appear to be knowledgeable but I appreciated her patience and ordered a sunrise with añejo cristalino because it was not a commonly seen option. The taste, to be fair, was far below my expectation and can be easily duplicated in a dive bar. I would not bother to write my first review on Google Maps for this disappointment, though. Soon after the performance began, my partner and I had to run because we found a nearby tattoo shop that was about to close, and it took about ten minutes for the same waitress to bring my bill. What happened later might speak to the delay - she asked me if I thought the drinks were good, to which I replied yes out of courtesy. Then she took my card and inserted it in the POS machine without asking me to sign anything or press the confirm button. There was only a receipt coming out after she swiped the card with an 20% “gratification.” I pointed to the extra amount and asked her why did you automatically add this, and she only said “the service fee, not included” - as if she couldn’t understand and say English properly. I was apparently upset, but the music was loud, the waitress pretended to be uncommunicable, and I was on a tight schedule. So I left the bar with that 20% tip. We talked about this situation in the tattoo shop later, and all the staff there were shocked and shook their heads saying this is too much. They even offered to fight for me and told me to write reviews for this. So here I am. If local people, your neighbors, think this is not cool, then apparently what you did - Ms waitress- put shame on your people. I believe there are plenty of people who would love to donate 80 pesos to you if you are in some kind of emergency and need that money so badly. But maybe you will never see this comment and were just happy with robbing another group of visitors who would have come back for lunch the next day. I hope the manager, if not a conspirator, can investigate this situation since I found myself being not the only one leaving a review on tip robbery. It’s not just about money, but respect and honesty. Otherwise, my fellow visitors, please just avoid this place since you will never run out of authentic, tasty...

My experience was extremely disappointing, especially due to the fact that others seemed to enjoy theirs…

First of all, the minute we stepped in to get a table and eat, my friends (4) and I were greated by a waiter who seemed okay at first sight.

He proceeded to tell us that they had no availability when we could clearly see a vacant table right in front of us. After pointing it out to the waiter, he said it was reserved and after 2 minutes came back and sat us at that exact table, meaning the table was not really reserved…

This is only the beginning to a terrible experience… The service we received was bellow average; long wait times (we had to get our waiter’s attention or else he would not come to us, even after 20min), an AC vent dripping on us during the whole meal and a waiter with a negative attitude.

I must admit that the food was good, not groundbreaking but I would eat there again.

What we thought was a bad experience was merely the tip of the reason why I’m writing this review…

Upon receiving the bill, we were set on not giving any tip but decided to still give 150 pesos, which was around 8%. As we handed the pesos to the waiter, he looked down at us and had the audacity to take his calculator out and tell us to give him at least 15%.

After a brief moment of confusion, I spoke with him about the reasons why we were set on the tip and that regardless of the situation, tipping is OPTIONAL.

He then started to get agitated and told us that he had gotten us a reserved table and we owed it to him (which was not the case).

I firmly told him that the tip was 150 (at that point I should’ve not given anything at all) and that we were leaving. He then aggressively took the bills and furiously swung his arm.

As we were walking away, he was bad eyeing us which kind of scared us to be honnest.

This is beyond acceptable and such a person should NEVER be allowed to work in customer service.

Fortunately for him, I do not know his name but I hope the restaurant will look into the issue and make sure things...

Imagine an adult Cuban Chuck-E-Cheese, but worse. I haven’t been this inspired to write a bad review in a while, but considering how immensely disappointing this experience was, I think it deserves a spin on the dance floor of knowledge.

How can you possibly do this many things so badly at one restaurant? The food: bland beyond recognition. It’s not a good sign when the appetizer dipping sauce is the most flavorful dish. The empanadas were forgetful at best and at worst, a dry-and-barren afterthought with what I assume might be leftover breakfast pastry dough. The mojito may very well have been half water. I’m not kidding. In a city where you expect fairly strong drinks, this ain’t it kids. This is a bar for AA rehabilitation and prohibition cessation deniers. Is it really that hard to muddle some mint? Is it? And even beyond all that, I would have ventured to say that the band is actually talented (which they were). But. And there’s a big but here... but, the band was all wearing matching t-shirts with the bars logo on them.

I’m pretty sure someone is being held hostage in another country and there’s a life debt to be paid here. It just doesn’t make sense.

If you gave me a list of traditional Cuban ingredients and recipes I think honestly I could translate that list into Sanskrit, give that list to a blind man, have that blind man memorize the list and perform an ayahuasca ceremony/ cooking basics class for a 3 year old child with a fairly obvious lack of literacy and general fine motor skills for kitchen preparation. And have that child produce a dish that better resembles flavorful authentic cuisine than this restaurant.

This place is better experienced outside than in. Heed the warning of those who are neigh but forced to ‘exit through...