El Haguay Marea Bar — Restaurant in Progreso

If you're reading this review and not in "Satellite" mode on Google Maps, stop and switch over... you need to see how beautiful the water of the Gulf of Mexico here is.

If you're visiting Progresso and want to have a relaxing beach experience, please spend $12USD / 140 Pesos to have a cabana on the ocean and have drinks and lunch here. Compared to the public beach, this is so relaxing. The staff here is very good, but like others said, it may take a few moments to get your drinks or food, but just relax and enjoy the surf and the breeze in your hair. The shrimp ceviche was delicious.

If you want a cabana near the ocean, you need to reserve early. Try their WhatsApp number, not via Facebook because they are not checking that. But if you don't get one on the water, the 2nd row back is equally as great. The club is right next to the Progresso sign, so make sure you walk just around the corner to get a photo. Speaking of photos, there are a lot of spots they've created to get a great shot for social media or to share with your jealous friend back home, so take advantage of it.

There are no included water sports, and they only have 1 kayak and 1 paddleboard, so if that's what you're looking for, this is not the place.

The biggest disappointment is that if you're thinking of walking miles along beautiful, clean sandy beaches like in Miami or St Petersburg, you may be a bit shocked. On the 2 days we came here, there was quite a bit of trash from the Gulf that had washed up along the shoreline and in most cases, it had not been cleaned up in some time. It feels really tragic that there is not a city service to make sure to keep these beaches clean as this is the key tourist attraction.

But given that, if you're based out of Merida, this is the place to go to relax in a cabana at the beach just 45 minutes...

Beautiful restaurant and bar with gorgeous plant life grown in almost a maze to create walls outside. I have to return for dinner here! Many of the restaurants we passed on the malecon had huge fly problems on their food. As I walked by seeing this, it made me nervous for what to expect. We did not experience that here. Wonderful customer service. We ordered cold food since we were on the beach: Shrimp cocktail and ceviche. We were given silverware, plates, napkins, salt and limes to accompany our meal. The service was everything you want in a beach club. Our server was wonderful! Day pass was $200 pesos/person on a Saturday. We each (2) had a cocktail and many waters and ice, the food/drink bill was $850 pesos (without tip). On the less positive side: The cushion covers on the beds aren't very clean - need a refresh. The cabana beds are either too low or too high and even though we were first to arrive and first on the list of reservations, we weren't given a choice of which cabana (might've been the language barrier - I'm refreshing my high school Spanish). We got the end cabana which is not the best spot for relaxation since it's right in front of the big Progreso letters and there were children playing on them the entire time we were there (my comparison is to Chicxulub which is much more peaceful, no sellers walking by, hardly a child in site). Also, some of the beach vendors will wake you to see if you want to buy their wares, not to mention the ones who yell out loudly what they're selling. Overall, it was a good time at the beach, but because of all the screaming (from vendors and children) and disruption (from vendors) we only...

Everything was great, until the manager or whoever he claimed to be, tried to screw us over. 700 pesos to get in (7 people) and an average bill was over a 1000 each. Beware! He comes and claims the transaction didn't get through (it did, we verified), demanding paying twice. We saw the transaction said paid. Then he gets agitated, banning us customers from ever returning, refusing to give his name, acting all inmature and, honestly, ruining all the experience. Talk about horrible customer service... The rest of the personnel are the nicest, caring and attentive people. Food is average. And they still owe US 110 pesos for a mistaken transaction, not the other way around. I expect the restaurant to reimburse my friend, because I am not leaving this issue unresolved.

P.S. and I am usually known for a GOOD reviews.

P.P.S not to mention we didn't get 3 separate beach beds that we paid for, only because we were a group, so they gave us 1. And we were ok about this in the beginning. You should have been more appreciative of the customers that brings you money and 20% tip that is not even mandatory in Mexico.

P.p.p.s 2 of us were fluent in Spanish and your awesome staff have great English. It's not about a language barrier, it's about disrespectful behavior of the manager.

And you don't put 3 couples on 1 bed, yet make them pay...