Cantina Latina - Costa Maya — Restaurant in Quintana Roo

This restaurant falsly advertises on its menu that TIPS are not included in the price, but they are. You will see it on the final bill under "Servicio Incluido" (service included). There is nothing wrong with a business including TIPS (servicio incluido) or Tax (IVA), but there is something wrong when a business is not transparent about its practices at the onset of the transaction, and when the wait staff lie to customers about the charge in attempts to gain additional tips.

When I asked our waiter about the "servicio incluido" fee, he said, "It's something they just put on the bill. You can put tips down here (pointing to the tip line)." When I asked a second time he said they were for tips. When he was caught in his lie, he got angry and said he would just ring me up for the total price. I gave him my card. When he came back, I asked him for the line item receipt as well. He told me to follow him to the bar/cashier area where he caluclated the price of each item ordered (in a condescending voice) and showed where the total charged matched the receipt (it was accurate), but then pointed to the bottom of the menu where it said tips were not included, and repeated his same phrase of (much louder and in front of customers and staff), "If you don't want to tip me, it's fine!" He then walked off at an angry pace.

I did tip him $9.24 via the built in tip (servicio incluido), which was more than what he derserved for lying to me; trying to pressure me to tip extra by telling me to ignore the servicio incluido fee, pointing out where the tip line was, pointing to the menu where it said tips weren't included, then trying to publically SHAME me for questioning the business ethics and his own unethical and unprofessional behavior regarding the line items on my receipt.

It is unethical for a business to: 1) intentionally mislead customers by not informing them that tips are included in the menu price, 2) spell out at the bottom of a menu that tips are not included, but yet list them as a charge on your bill, and 3) retain servers that lie and disrespect customers. This business LACKS TRANSPARENCY. I spent 10 years in the hospitality industry and fully support tipping extra when customers deem appropriate, and I would have tipped a bit more had I not had this experience.

I graduated from culinary school, so I hope this knowledge may add some fraction of added cedibility to my review of the tacos we ordered. The tacos (pollo, carne asada) were 2 out of 5. The pastor tacos were the best (3 out of 5). I rated these tacos as average (or slightly below) because the meat was not freshly cooked. It did not have any fresh sear marks, but moreso gave the impression that it was cooked in a crock pot and kept there to stay warm and ready for quick service. The meat was moist, tender, and lacked flavor. The pollo and pastor tacos were $19 for 3. This price includes tax and tip (despite what this restaurant says on its menus). The carne asada tacos were 3 for $22. The mango margaritas were underwhelming. Save your money and get yourself a better one on the cruise ship.

The scenery was beautiful. It is a manufactured type of beautiful,...

We come off the cruise ship to find some drinks and food. It's a group of 10 of us (African American) were at the table. We only had 6 seats which was fine because 4 went swimming at the swim up pool. All of us got drinks...which the waiter (Javier) said we had to get from bar ourselves because he didn't make money by bringing us our drinks. I sent my daughter and a few others to get them for us. We instantly saw the same waiter seat and bring drinks to a table of 4 white people...hmmm I'm thinking...ok I won't read into that but it did make us feel off. Anyway...We got our drinks from the bar and sat down to look at the menu. 1 person from our group decided he didn't want to eat. The waiter (Javier) snatches his menu out of his hand. Again made us feel uneasy but maybe we are reading too deep into it. I said I'm going to start off with fries and decide if I wanted a burrito or a quesadilla. We all started off with appetizers. The waiter (Javier) takes our order and is pissed we are starting off with fries! It's an appetizer?!? So why are you upset. He proceeded to tell/yell to me that we were wasting his time and that we needed to leave so he can have "real" paying customers. I ignored him at the point and didn't give him a reaction. I really think he was expecting us to just leave or give a reaction...I gave him neither. Javier bought the fries out, was still very cold to us, but super nice to all the lighter skinned and white people around us that were just sitting at the tables and weren't even ordering!!! We paid with cash and left. Never again!

I do not recommend this place to anyone. Not wheelchair accessible, NOT family friendly and definitely not a safe space for any people of color. Horrible experience to have for me and my daughter's birthday. I hope this...

I’m from the San Antonio, Texas area — a place with no shortage of great Mexican and Tex-Mex food — and this was, without question, the most bland Mexican food I’ve ever had. I ordered the beef burrito, which came out huge in size and portion… but completely lacking flavor. No seasoning, no richness, no depth — just a big, flavorless wrap. I ended up tossing half of it.

To make things worse, we weren’t even offered any salsa or hot sauce. I only noticed other tables had some as I was leaving, so maybe it’s offered selectively? If so, that’s disappointing.

My girlfriend said her beef street tacos were okay, but even she agreed it wasn’t worth the price. For what we paid, I honestly could’ve had more flavorful food back on the Royal Caribbean ship — and that’s saying something.

If you’re coming off the cruise ship and craving good Mexican food, skip Cantina Latina. It’s overpriced, flavorless, and doesn’t represent what Mexican cuisine can be. One star, and that’s being generous for...