TOMATO italian bistro — Restaurant in Yucatán

Yet another gringo tourist restaurant, nothing authentic. After reading some reviews, and visiting some legit Italian unfamous spots around Yucatan, the disappointment here was just as high as our expectations.

FOOD: The complimentary bread is a supermarket baguette, and the oil that came with it was definitely not EVOO, but hey, it was free, so the detail deserves a star. The eggplant entree came right out of a frozen box onto a ready-made sauce. The pasta was overcooked (far from 'al dente') and the "parmesan" cheese was the same kind as the green Kraft bottle you would find at a $1 pizza joint. I just threw an extra star there because altogether it was not bad.

SERVICE was attentive, but they said they do not prepare lemonades, so I had to order water and lemons separately, and squeeze them myself.

ATMOSPHERE: the only thing that looks Italian is a flag painted on the wall. Other than that, it's just a surrounding bug net, but not even enclosed.

Btw, the opening hours are wrong (also on the menu and sign), and it is not...

We have enjoyed several meals at Tomato Italian Bistro and every single dish has been amazing. In our small town of Chelem I would say this is one of the most consistently good.

The wait staff is very polite and friendly, they speak Spanish and English, and are very accommodating.

The drinks are excellent as well and they have a great variety to choose from.

My favorites dishes are the Gerardo’s Mangia Chicken and the Shrimp Alfredo but my recent favorite was the Chicken Piccata. Capers and lemon sauce over the most tender chicken breast I’ve ever had!

Be sure to make reservations if coming with a...

An absolute hidden gem. I did not expect good Italian food in the Yucatan but I was wrong. It wasn’t just good it was amazing. The Freshly made baked bread, the fried raviolis, and the cheesy garlic bread to start were incredible. I am very particular about a marinara sauce and this is amazing! So much flavor My group ordered the Tuscan chicken, the Penne bake, the Gorgonzola, chicken, and the shrimp amore. I do wish they took credit cards but the prices were reasonable so cash was not a problem. Just make sure you wear some bug spray. We did get hammered a bit with the mosquitoes...