La Perla Pixan Cuisine & La Carboneria — Restaurant in Playa del Carmen

I don't understand the positive reviews for this place. We had a very negative experience on Christmas Eve 2023. We were looking for a reasonably priced meal with nice atmosphere for ourselves and our two adult children (family reunion as we live in different cities). I scouted locations the day before. The greeter at La Perla Pixan made a big deal that we could get a 3-course meal for 500 pesos per person, but we had to pay in advance. I went back the next day with my husband, and we were both told by the same greeter/waiter of the 500 pesos per person pricing when we paid. That night, after dinner, we were presented with a bill for more than 3x that amount. We were then told that the 500 pesos per person was just to reserve the table and didn't count toward the price of the meal. The prices they charged were outrageous, what you expect in a top end restaurant, but the meal & entertainment were just mediocre. After much argument, the staff agreed apply the 2,000 pesos we had paid in advance toward the food bill and said they would compliment our drinks. But when the "adjusted" bill arrived, it still included included our drinks. The waiter/greeter we had initially dealt with was not working, there was no owner or senior manager on site or available to speak with, and our waiter made a big fuss that that if we didn't pay the full bill, it would come out of HIS pocket.

My husband speaks fluent Spanish (he practices law in Spanish!) and he came away with the same understanding as I did of the set price 3-course meal. The restaurant was simply dishonest. The whole experience turned our special night out into a "ripped off in Playa del Carmen" story. I would recommend avoiding this place.

RESPONSE TO THE OWNER BELOW: Who pays 2,000 pesos just to reserve a table for 4?!!! Even the most high end of restaurants on 5th Ave asked only for a deposit that was to be applied to their Christmas Eve meal. And yes, I thought 500 pesos per person (that's $35 Cdn) was a decent price, which is why we chose to eat there. And we did not expect our drinks to be free. The waiter offered to take our drinks off the bill, he said, to make up for the misunderstanding. But then later said only the welcome drink was free, which was already listed as free on your menu. You also said you'd provide us with a free dessert, but then gave us a small dish to share that was also different from the dessert being offered on the set menu. Yes, we were having a good time before the bill arrived. We were happy to be with our family. It didn't have anything to do with the so-so food or the entertainment. The set-price issue may have been a mistake, but it was YOUR mistake. You did not offer any discount and stuck us with a full bill we did not expect...

My husband and I visited last year Summer in August and I totally forgot to add the reviews here. On the first day we arrived we looked through the google top reviews and saw this one that has lots of good reviews and we thought why not? When we arrived at the restaurant the waiter Roberto asked me first thing if we wanted in English or Spanish menu. I told him that either way is fine in Spanish and he was surprised that I can speak in Spanish because he saw that I was signing to my Deaf husband. Roberto was such SWEET and he asked what we would like to order and we told him that we would like to use his expert recommendations as we wanted to taste the real Mexicans Authentic food style and that we do not want to taste in Americanized/Mexican Oh my goodness when he brought plates he took time to explain to us what each of them are. When we taste them-HEAVENLY they were soooo GOOD!!!!!

To the ladies: if you want to drink something special-highly recommend you ask for XILA-Liquor of Agave 7 Notas. You will not want to mias this! You must try it that it’s special distillery by first woman who created it. FYI- it’s mixed of pineapple, Chile ancho, hibiscus flower, clove, cinnamon, black pepper, etc.

We came back the next day for breakfast as they offered too and he was also our waiter. Their breakfast was CHAMP!!!

Then we came back again last dinner before we flew back to the states. When we got there we asked for Roberto and he wasn’t there as we were sad :(

We received different waiter and he was nice with us during dinner but at the end of dinner we put a good amount of tip for his service. He wasn’t happy and he asked us if his service wasn’t sufficient or did he lacked something. We got the bad impression that he wasn’t happy with the tip we gave him. Instead of arguing or make him more upset we just put more tip. That night when we left, we didn’t feel good at the end. At least for next time we will not ask for him.

I highly recommend to find Roberto (picture is below and the one with peace handed) if you want a great humble heart waiter guy.

I hope he still there when we come...

Before starting I have to say that my partner and I try to travel on a budget and try to find hidden gems.

Our Mexican friend said they wanted to try this place. It is on a side street at playa del carmen off the famous 5th avenue. It is probably a better restaurant that you can eat at instead of that Main Street.

We really liked the vibe of this place. They had seating outside and inside. There is free music in the evening, we were finishing our dinner when the band was setting up and decided not to stay.

We drank pulque which apparently is a drink of the gods! Only the rich people in the past were able to drink this and only limited places sell them. I thought that it was a great drink, and my god I didn't know it was alcohol. It has a sweet syrupy taste that should probably shared. We shared the 1 litre drink.

This place is more expensive than our taste. We have only been eating great tacos since our stay and was shocked at the prices.

We ordered the ceviche and shrimp soup.

The ceviche came and was shocked at how small it was. I thought that it was good however could have ate more. Then my partners dish came. Surprised, it didn't look like soup at all. It was 4 huge shrimp on a plate. We immediately called the waiter and made him aware of the mistake. He said that my partner ordered that dish. I'm pretty sure he didn't as he pointed at the menu and speaks Spanish! The waiter said that he can't take it back as it was already cooked and insisted my partner ordered it. I know my partner wouldn't order an expensive dish as we were trying to stick to a budget. This only happened to him and I think the waiter was trying to get him to pay for a more expensive dish as he was a tourist and they added a tip.

We gracefully accepted the dish and it wasn't anything special. The taste might have been affected by the experience with the waiter.

Luckily our friends covered us as we didn't have enough money.

Overall, bad experience with the waiter, good vibes, ok food which is better...