Cantina Habanero — Restaurant in Puerto Morelos

Two stars only because the server was really friendly and she took great care of us. Otherwise, 1 star.

We ate at the place on recommendation and if you are American/Canadian and don’t like “real” Mexican food, you will probably enjoy it. If you order a hamburger, maybe it will be good. But they are cooking Mexican food for non-Mexican customers. And it is extremely expensive for what you get.

The guacamole was weirdly flavored with a TON of black pepper, but no lime or other flavor. Just avocado and black pepper.

Tacos al pastor were the most bland I’ve ever had. I think the pineapple maybe even came from a can. It was just flavorless. My husband’s burrito was similar - just no flavor whatsoever.

So, if you like Mexican food that tastes like it was made in Canada, maybe you will like this place. If you like authentic Mexican food at all, you will be very disappointed.

And a side note, the atmosphere is geared towards making you feel like you in a road side diner in the US complete with country music, so that’s probably a plus for some people but it was a huge miss for us since we come to Mexico to...

We stopped by Habanero after diving with AQUANAUTS nearby and at the recommendation of Noah, our dive guide. We were staying at an all - inclusive resort, so the only thing we brought was a credit card and ID. We were hungry and decided to eat outside of the resort at the last minute, so didn't bring cash. Here's what we learned:

1. their margaritas are amazing
2. their burgers are truly massive, albeit well done
3. the fish sandwich is very good
4. they only accept cash
5. even after explaining that we did not bring cash but was starving and would come back to pay, he still allowed us to order another round of drinks

Kindness pays, especially in today's society. I hope he gets paid in kind and you all should go visit him. I only wish that he continues to trust others (there will be a few dishonest ones mixed in there as expected) and that we show our appreciation of that trust with a good recommendation...

Pro: The 2 stars are because the 2 staff were polite and responsive. And the beer was cold. There were tables on the sidewalk. Con: I had hoped the food here would be good, as I very much enjoy eating at a local, street side cafe. It was about 1pm and I ordered the chicken tacos - hard to mess that up, right? Well, they succeeded! The 3 tacos that arrived were a pile of lettuce out of a bag, with cheese out of a bag on top. When I dug down to find the chicken, it was small pieces of clearly NOT FRESH chicken. Nothing there was recently on a grill. They looked like leftover pieces that had been put in the fryer to warm up [and maybe kill any bugs growing]. Sorry, I cannot recommend this place. Except for only a beer. I will not go back to try something else, because that would be a...