Restaurante Xaak — Restaurant in Quintana Roo

I’m genuinely disappointed to be writing this, as my husband and I had looked forward to this meal more than any other on our Xcaret Arte trip. Unfortunately, Xaak didn’t come close to meeting our expectations—especially given the price point and glowing reviews.

We dine at restaurants like this often and had two exceptional tasting menus earlier in the week, at Encanta and Chino Poblano. Both offered beautiful presentation, inventive courses, and unforgettable flavors. Coming off those experiences, Xaak felt flat, disjointed, and frankly forgettable. I’m not sure if the presence of guest chefs that night played a role, but the drop in quality was noticeable. Our dishes even looked completely different from review photos—like we were getting a lower-tier version of what Xaak is supposed to be.

From the start, the dishes lacked visual appeal or any real creativity. After a few courses, I stopped taking photos—something I typically love to do when a dish feels thoughtful or exciting. Several courses just weren’t enjoyable. I didn’t finish more than one. When our server asked about one dish neither of us finished, I gave some light feedback—that the pork belly was extremely chewy and difficult to eat. Unfortunately, the comment seemed to make them uncomfortable, and the conversation ended there. It became clear that further honest feedback wouldn’t be welcomed, so I didn’t offer any.

Another point that shouldn’t have mattered—but ultimately did: we were celebrating our first wedding anniversary and had noted it in the reservation. Every other restaurant on property acknowledged and celebrated us—often with a sweet gesture at the end of the meal. Xaak didn’t mention it once, nor ask about the occasion. I wasn’t expecting anything over the top, but after being thoughtfully acknowledged elsewhere—even before the actual day—this felt like a noticeable miss.

The whole experience was lackluster, and nothing stood out as exceptional. It was the only dining experience at Arte we didn’t enjoy. Had Xaak been part of the all-inclusive offering, our expectations would have been different—but for a paid, premium experience, it simply didn’t deliver.

Ultimately, if you’re considering splurging here, I’d recommend saving your money. Encanta offers a far superior experience and it’s already included...

WORST EXPERIENCE EVER. We prepaid for our dinner at this restaurant expecting a high-end culinary experience. Instead, it was by far the worst part of our entire stay at Xcaret Arte — and the only one that made us physically ill.

The restaurant was nearly empty when we arrived, which should have been a red flag. The food was terrible, nothing like what we expected. It was undercooked, bitter, and some looked like they took it out of a freezer and heated it up in a microwave. We spoke to the manager, who seemed shady and uninterested. He told us to sign the bill anyway, claiming it was part of the process to get our money back — we now realize that was just a tactic to cover themselves. We never received the refund, and worse, no one ever followed up, even though they said they would.

We reached out to guest services in Hotel Xcaret Arte and they said there was no record that we had gotten sick, however we let them know that my wife was ill the day after we dined there which was also our checkout date and we sent an email to guest services that night, so we clearly have records that they refused to accept. It’s clear now they never had any intention of refunding us or taking any accountability for what happened.

What makes this more disappointing is that we enjoyed other restaurants at the resort — those experiences were great. But Xaak? It stood out in the worst way. And the fact that Xcaret would let this slide and not support guests who suffered an illness after eating there is a complete shame.

We’ll never return to this establishment and don’t recommend it to anyone who expects quality food, transparency, or basic customer care. If something goes wrong, they’ll smile, nod, and disappear. Sadly, in Mexico legal action is costly so they don’t care if you get...

Our upcharge to eat here was USD350, which is substantial given we already had included meals at very nice restaurants included in our package. We figured would take advantage of this opportunity for a really high-end experience. First off, the atmosphere, service, and food was excellent. The 7 course tasting meal was delicious and included 5 wine pairings.

However, I was very turned off when we were sat at our table and they immediately tried to upset us to "better wines and tequila" for $50 USD. I honestly thought for $350 USD we would already have that. After the meal, I asked for coffee with Khalua and was informed that would be $8. Very tacky considering we were staying at a high-end all-inclusive! Lastly, the waiter brought me a bill " to sign, with room number" even though I had to prepay the $350 with our reservation a week earlier. This was a thinly disguised ploy to ask for a tip (tip field was very prominent), even though it's were also included. I don’t mind paying for great service, but, this was unnecessary and ruined an otherwise great meal.

BTW, the best meal we had was at Tah-Xido Fusion and it didn’t...