La Marea Restaurant by Viceroy — Restaurant in Playa del Carmen

This 5-star review is for a truly 5-star restaurant and incredible dining experience. We were seeking to have 2 first-class dinners while in the Riviera Maya (the other experience was at Benazuza). We chose La Marea after researching it on Tripadvisor, Google and elsewhere, looking at photos and reading credible reviews. La Marea did not fail to deliver on a perfect dining experience. The restaurant is located inside the Viceroy Riviera Maya hotel. It was really hard to find, but that made the experience all that more enjoyable. The Viceroy is the definition of a hidden gem. We were received in a palapa in the reception area of this beautiful property. It was night and the the hotel employee accompanied us through lighted pathways through the hotel’s grounds that are covered in lush foliage. The restaurant is located near the water’s edge and sits above the hotel’s lovely pool and overlooking the bar. The open air restaurant is very, very romantic and well-accoutered with comfortable seating, fine flatware and unique pottery. The menu and wine menu are impressively large, with many Mexican influences. There were so many choices on the regular menu that we could hardly decide what we wanted; they also have a tasting menu, so to have the most diverse dining experience, we chose to have that. I would like to say what great service we received from our waiter Sergio and all the other wait staff and hotel employees (they really make you feel like a VIP), and I would also like to praise Chef Carlos Zamora’s creative dishes: they all show the incredible quality of Mexican cuisine in the hands of an artist. Just for fun, we had a coatimundi come into the restaurant from the surrounding trees while we were dining, which was just so amusing to see (I don’t think it was his first time). If you want to celebrate a special occasion, or just want to celebrate life, please make a reservation...

Found this place walking down the beach one night. We asked if the restaurant was open to public, as some resorts are guest only, and they were more than happy to accommodate us. The ambiance was dark and romantic with a lovely view of the pool area and beach.

The food was spectacular. The menu was carefully curated and every detail is accounted for. This is also true in regards to the waitstaff. Extremely attentive, and elegant. I ordered the pork and my boyfriend ordered the rib eye. The pork was amazing and was to be eaten as tacos with handmade corn tortillas. The ribeye was perfectly cooked and great quality. It also came accompanied with handmade flour tortillas.

In addition to our main course, we were brought in house made blue corn and huitlacoche bread, which was unique and delicious.

For dessert we got the abuelita chocolate pastel, which we thought was the perfect end of the meal. But we were brought bite sized sampler of traditional Mexican candies as well as a dessert tequila drink.

Overall five star experience. Would definitely recommend and return time...

Excellent service and food presentation. I had the lamb, my wife the ribeye. One little point about the restaurant, the lighting is low so the necessary picking through a ribeye was not possible. I would highly recommend all other entrees. Scallops were a bit "al dente.". We love good bread and it came with a delicious tapenade. Dessert was a good Italian sorbet with a cookie topped flan and a French meraigne. My wife's white wine and my cab were tasty.

Update: back a second night several nights later. Better than the first night. Such cordial staff. They made us so comfortable. The food...