Kitchen Table Tulum — Restaurant in Quintana Roo

Wow wow wow. Simple spot with an artisanal menu of high-quality, beautifully plated foods. The quality and plating was what you’d expect in a high end spot, but this place has a balance of quality and comfort with familiar flavors presented in an exciting way. It’s a must-try!

The ceviche!! A big portion of white fish with the most tiny diced sour apples gave the soft ceviche a the perfect crisp and a touch of almost-sweetness. The Leche de Tigre is imported from Peru. Their homemade tostadas for the ceviche were clearly homemade and fresh, light, flavorful and so nice.

The Peruvian spiced ribs over a plantain purée was fantastic and fun! Four ribs, spiced and charred. A bit tougher than I’d like but once I dug my teeth in I couldn’t stop eating them. It came with a spicy grilled habinero I’d rub it on, then the plaintain purée balanced it out. It was such a fun and great dish. Not huge but the plaintains were filling. Also came with a small serving of fresh green chard, (similar to spinach) which was fresh with a salty finish. The whole dish was an experience.

The braised beef with dollops of carrot purée was 🤌. When it came out it looked like steamy chocolate because of the glaze. You shred it with your fork and place it in soft tacos. It had great spices and a tiny hint of heat. It was very high quality, braised for 12 hours, fell apart. The sweet carrot purée was addicting! I could eat that purée every night for dessert.

Our server was a delightful woman who recommended our dishes. We don’t eat bread but she also recommended their 18month sourdough and it looked fantastic!

Drinks: I had a homemade alcohol-free ginger drink I’m dying for the recipe for! It was lively as you’d expect from ginger, balanced with a special sugar that had a unique texture I loved and… I don’t know what else but it was lovely and balanced. Not too sweet, not too light, not too strong, not too lemony. I was delighted with it.

My hubs had two drinks, both fantastic. One Playboy something-or-other drink with an hint of cilantro and one Vegan Pico Sour with a chickpea froth.

They finished our meal with a complementary tiny cup of cacao and vodka that was again so balanced I could drink it every night.

This restaurant has a special touch for playing with BALANCE in their foods. Quality ingredients, a little experimentation, but done with truly elegant taste. I’d highly recommend. (It was recommended to us by a friend of ours.)

The atmosphere was nice. Similar to most spots downtown. With an open kitchen of five guys hard at work.

I’m definitely going back there!...

I made a reservation for 3 for Christmas Eve after hearing and reading such great things about the food and vibes at Kitchen Table. All of the guides on the best places to eat in Tulum mentioned the exceptional experience at Kitchen Table but sadly, that did not include my experience. My party came about 30 minutes early for our reservation thinking getting to the location and finding parking would be difficult. However, they were able to accommodate us even though we were early. Upon sitting we waited only a few minutes till our server came and offered the menu. We waited about 10 minutes for our server to take our orders only after I stared down our waiter, Luis, who seated and took the order of the party next to us who came after my party did. After ordering our drinks, appetizers and main dish, it took another 10-15 minutes for 2/3 drinks to arrive. Meanwhile, the party next to us received drinks, appetizers, and a dish while we had no appetizers and 1 of our drinks never arrived. Come to find out that Luis did not take the order because he “did not hear it” nor could they make it. Another party next to us, double the size of our party also then received their appetizers and drinks. Our server, Luis, seemed very distracted always looking at other parties while serving the one in front of him. After seeing the second party receiving better service than us, we then took our leave and let the hostess know how poor the service was. She was very kind and apologetic about the situation and service and offered to make our experience better, which could only have been solved with good service. There was nothing really she could do. The experience was ruined and the server, Luis, did not apologize nor seem to care about the situation. The ambiance was very nice and the menu looked very delicious. The open view of the kitchen and literally hearing the chef speak with the staff was a nice touch. However, our experience was overall worthless. We were really looking forward to spending Christmas Eve at Kitchen Table and wanted to be empathetic since it was Christmas Eve however, we did not want to stay. I was able to receive a refund for the deposit we had to make, so I appreciate the hostess for doing that. If I ever come back to Tulum, I might try again...

I celebrated my 30th birthday here and was just overwhelmed with how amazing of an experience Kitchen Table provided! Kitchen Table is in the open-air jungle and the vibe is just immaculate.

Our server, Antonio, was so friendly and welcoming. He made us feel like we were a part of the Kitchen Table family right from the start. He explained all of the menu items, gave great recommendations, and also gave us a quick tour of the kitchen so that we had an idea of what was going on.

We ordered so much food and drink, but here are some of the highlights:

Fresh fish tostada: Delicious, fresh, I can't even put it into words!

Plantain gnocchi: So lightly sweet, and creamy!

Jungle bread: I wish I could just eat loaves of this bread. I don't understand how bread can taste so good??? And the smoke butter that comes with it..omg just fantastic.

Fresh lobster: This was a true standout. We got to pick out our own lobsters and even name them! They were prepared with a smoked butter, salt and pepper. Wow. They were cooked to perfection and was some of the best lobster I've had!

Our favorite drinks were: Welcome to the Jungle, Tangerina, and Diablito

My boyfriend emailed back and forth with the restaurant to request something special for my birthday like sparklers. At first, the restaurant said that they didn't do sparklers, which made sense — it wasn't really the vibe of the restaurant. But, everyone in the kitchen surprised me with a sparkler and sang happy birthday to me and just made me feel so special. I truly appreciate Antonio and the rest of the wonderful staff. Everyone went above and beyond to provide a memorable and delicious experience and I'll never forget it! I cannot wait for my next Tulum trip so I can come back...