El viejo del mar — Restaurant in San Miguel de Cozumel

We were looking for fish and it was a pleasant surprise. We had 1 main dish each, 1 beer on a jar and they serve us for free while waiting for our food some totopos with a special secret sauce which was delicious! One dish was Tilapia and the other one shrimp both marinated with garlic mojo and garlic sauces, with sides of salad and rice. We had so much food and so tasty! But the best was the genuine conversation we had with one of the waiters, Luis Chavez, who told us that he used the recipes of his grandmother for the sauces. I personally love listening to peoples stories and he had plenty to tell from his culture and past roots (mayan). We had the food on the tables they have on the street sidewalk, and we were treated with a lot of love from everyone in the restaurant. Really close to the sea and in a quite street. Totally...

An awful overall experience.

The location was bad, both toilets were broken and with no lights, and service was veeeeery slow (we had to wait almost 1 hour - and the restaurant was basically empty of customers). The food was mediocre at best and in very small amounts. Also, for some reason lemonade-based drinks were all veeery salty. Prices were ok at best, for what we've received for them.

That being said, at least the staff was kind enough to explain they had some kind of accident in the kitchen that slowed our orders (whether this is true or not I can't actually say) and applied a little discount for the inconvenience.

They looked like nice enough guys, but objectively speaking this is by far the worst place we ate in Cozumel. Absolutely not...

I usually don’t leave reviews but this place was exceptional. Great service and even better food. Everything we ordered (Ceviche, fish, chicken and fish tacos) was fresh and made to order. The woman running the restaurant was very nice and she was more than willing to accommodate us. She chatted with us about the food and how they prepared it, you could tell that she was proud of the quality of the food (which she had every right to be because WOW) She even recommended other restaurants owned by locals that have nice food as well. The prices are outstanding- I would have paid twice for the quality of the food. Hands down this is my favorite place in Cozumel. If you’re looking for fresh seafood or Mexican food with great service...