La Vagabunda — Restaurant in Playa del Carmen

I am updating my review because honestly I don’t like passive aggressive bullying by management.

I visited this venue at the recommendation of a family friend, and I was sorely disappointed. And, I prolly won’t listen to the recommendations of that family friend again. Lobster tacos aren’t on the menu but I appreciated how accommodating the servers were to offer this when I inquired. Regardless, the lobster taco was expensive, dry and pretty tasteless. I asked for salsa verde to give some life but it didn’t work. The garlic shrimp was a little better.

The service left much to be desired. The venue wasn’t packed but the servers were running non-stop and it was hard to get the attention of the wait staff.

However, the live music was a nice touch although the signer didn’t know many lyrics. I presume this is the entertainment that people are referring to that’s so amazing. Or the pictures of the venues around that give this place such an ambiance.

The venue seems pretty nice and allows you to people watch as it’s at the corner. I wouldn’t return because I did not enjoy my meal and I don’t again appreciate management getting in their feelings. Yet, don’t allow me to deter you from spending your hard earned money.

I have read reviews (after visiting) to make sure I wasn’t off or being bias but nope, based on what I had - the food wasn’t amazing and neither was service. My review doesn’t mean I don’t enjoy life, I haven’t enjoyed Mexico or don’t support Mexico, or want a business to fail, or I don’t know “real food,” (literally these are exact statements from management when they saw my review and emailed me 🤣😂😂 - check my stats, I’ve been up and down Quintana Roo from local to exclusive). This review is honest and it’s my opinion on my experience. Other reviews said breakfast was good. Maybe if I had that, my review would be different. But I didn’t. I did however evaluate the accommodation of staff for the lobster tacos, the decent attempt at the garlic shrimp, the airiness of the venue and the live music which brought my edited review up from a 1 to a 2 star. Because the place wasn’t horrible. Have a few drinks and I’m sure it will add flavor to the...

The food here was pretty blah. I was anticipating so much more. I’ve had significantly better Mexican food in California and other places. We ordered a flight of margaritas “skinny” style which had photos of a margarita with ice and a large glass and instead we got tiny martini glasses with very sugary, margaritas, and no ice. We ordered a bottle of water to share at the table and it came pre-opened with the seal broken so I requested another because some of these restaurants on the street are known for refilling their water bottles, and it’s not worth taking a chance of drinking tapwater here. I got the chicken quesadillas and the sour cream and guacamole were both premade out of a bag and not made in the house and you can really tell the taste difference. The quesadilla was OK but nothing to write home about. My son got the nachos and my wife got to Tacos. Overall, it felt like this was not any type of authentic Mexican food, but extremely Americanized and made out of premade ingredients. The staff was extremely accommodating and did fix the water bottle and margaritas. Once we questioned about it. They were pleasant and nice, and there’s live music and had good people watching. But I would not return to this restaurant because you’re there to eat, and the food is just not...

We had the luck to stumble across this lovely place on our first night in Playa del Carmen. This was the only place that we found that served actual, real Mexican food that tastes as it should, compared to any other restaurant we dined in nearby that served food that is more to the taste of tourists from the US. The food was delicious, the staff was extremely kind and we loved the live music as well. We went back there on our last night of our stay and we were not disappointed. This was the first place where I ordered coconut fried shrimps and they actually tasted like coconuts, which is I think due to the fact that they seemed to use freshly shredded coconut rather than one that has been pre-shredded and packed. The chilli poppers are a must-try, I could have eaten 10 of them and I had one of the best nachos of my life. Even though our food arrived a bit late on our second visit there (the place was full), they compensated us with free mini fish tacos (mouthwateringly delicious, almost changed my mind about my order) and a shot of some sort of tequila based coctail with coffee. It was really delicious and our waiter, Jesus, was so kind and helpful. Thank you guys for an amazing dining experience, it was a great way to finish our...