Let me get straight to the point – is authentic Mayan food on your bucket list? Go to Habanero’s on Calle 20B located in the Xcumpich neighborhood! There are two locations in Merida but this is the location we continue to go back for both dinner & breakfast. They are at HabanerosYucatan on F/B!
Not having any idea of what ‘Yucatan’ or ‘Mayan’ food taste – we were both amazingly happy with our experience.
Back to Habanero’s! The brilliant gold of the exterior had caught our eye while on our initial walk about thru the neighborhood when we first arrived in Merida. We were fresh into Merida & we were hungry for some REAL Mexican food. Having said that, we are from Texas where TexMex is everywhere & we did enjoy most of it but you know ‘when in Rome’ so we were on the hunt for some real Mexican food. We were not disappointed!
Habanero’s Yucatan Cuisine!
From the moment we walked into Habanero’s the customer service was A+++. Both The Big Guy & I were super impressed from the minute we stepped from sidewalk to entry of this wonderful restaurant.
The employees were happy & customer service was off the charts. Our waiter, Arturo, was awesome & very hands on eager to answer our questions & explaining the various dishes. You know The Big Guy had 101 questions regarding the food & Yucatan in general & Arturo was a gem. Belen, the Manager, came over to introduce herself & shared the history of the family run restaurant of eleven years & how they hope everyone has that ‘dining experience‘ with them. They succeeded!
A Meal to Remember!
I think you could call it a sampling but the dishes were full sized & we were stuffed by time we finished up. It began with Tortilla Soup followed with stuffed Avocado shells of Guacamole & fresh made chips. We were asked if we wanted our salsa to be not so hot, hot or really hot. We decided on not so hot & Arturo was off again.
In a short while he brought back fresh salsa & tortillas that was made to order by the ladies who sat just outside the front entrance! In between courses, Arturo gave us some history on the Mayan of the Yucatan. He was definitely a wealth of knowledge & eager to share with us Mayan history as well as pointing us in the direction where to get the best currency exchange!
Just when we thought we would pop, here came the grand finale of the meal! I don’t know if you can tell from the photo but there is a fire inside the metal box keeping the goodies warm!
The service was excellent & the food [whether you want to call it authentic Yucatan or Mayan] was amazing! The price for this dinner including our drinks & tip was $760 pesos or $37 USD. We would not eat here every night as it definitely does not go with our ‘budget’ BUT it is a definite we will do again – maybe in a couple weeks?
Travels With The Big Guy give Habanero’s a definite 5*! Enjoy.