Mayakoba Restaurants: Our Dinner Experiences

Here’s a recap of the four amazing dinner experiences we had at Mayakoba restaurants across three of the resort properties. Also read about our stay at the Andaz Mayakoba here and the Rainforest Experience spa day here!

The Mayakoba Restaurants

One of the best parts of the Mayakoba experience is getting to dine at any of the restaurants across the four properties inside the gates. There are over 25 dining experiences spread across the resorts. Read about them here! Not only can you take an easy golf cart from one property to the next, but you can charge all the meals to your home resort room. 

We did make reservations for all four of our dinners, as was recommended. We tried to push one of our reservations back by an hour and they were not able to do so because it was completely booked, so I think the reservations are necessary. I also believe that you are able to make reservations at your own resort (60 days out) and the others (30 days out) and (2 weeks) for the Rosewood, so they give priority to the home resort guests. We didn’t have any trouble getting the top spots! 

What I loved about our dinners is that they were all very different and felt very much like a dining experience. If there is one thing I live for when I travel it’s a food experience! We were also very impressed with the food! All four of our dinners were excellent. 

I took so many videos, but I didn’t get enough still photos of each of the restaurants, or even everything we ate. Check out my Instagram stories and reels for the video versions. But here are the highlights from our Mayakoba restaurants!

Sotavento @ Andaz

Our first day had perfect weather, and it was the ideal night to eat at Sotavento, which is right on the beach. They even had a shelf to place your shoes so you could get the true “toes in the sand” experience. 

String lights created a lovely ambiance, and we lucked out with an oceanfront booth lined with pillows! 

I was over-the-moon with this restaurant. It was a dream come true to be sitting outside, feeling a warm breeze, and enjoying fresh seafood off an outdoor grill! 

We enjoyed drinks during the sunset:

I had grilled jumbo shrimp with veggies, and Thomas got a whole fish. You can’t get much more fresh than that!

Saffron @ Banyan Tree

When I was researching the best restaurants on some travel boards, Saffron kept coming up over and over. With a focus on Thai cuisine, most of the dining is set up on docks overlooking the canals. There was even a tiny island! We got lucky again with perfect weather. I feel bad for the people who had reservations the days after us when it was raining. I’m not quite sure what they do because I didn’t see a large indoor space. 

We were greeted by a ritual of hand cleansing followed by a flower for my hair. 

I LOVED the Mezcal Negroni I had this night – the drink special of the evening. 

We decided to order the appetizer sampler to share to be able to taste as many dishes as possible (that is always my goal in a restaurant and why I’m a fan of sharing / ordering a bunch of starts vs just getting one entree and calling it a night!) The sampler included chicken satay, noodle wrapped crispy prawn (my favorite!!), grilled salmon salad and spring rolls with a spicy peanut sauce. Everything was delish!

For an entree, I had the fried grouper in a sweet and sour sauce. This was actually a split portion and more than enough! We were so full. It was wonderful! 

Casa Amate @ Andaz

Casa Amate is an award-winning restaurant at the Andaz and was very, very cool. The restaurant is designed to feel like you are going to someone’s home with rooms that feel like living rooms, dining rooms, and a library. There was also a guitarist moving throughout, and he played an acoustic version of “Can’t Stop the Feeling” which was so funny because Birch and I just watched the Trolls movie and I’d been telling him I would bring home “sunshine in my pocket.” 

My sister told us to get there early and check out the bar, and that ended up being my favorite part!

Thomas ordered the Tinto Romero, and I had the Sotobello. I loved how creative all the drinks across Mayakoba were. Gimme all the Mezcal and Tequila! 

This was one of the most delicious drinks I have ever had! Thomas agreed. 

For dinner we were served a tempura fish amuse bouche plus tableside bread. 

We ordered a tamale to start – a corn tamale with beef, peppers, carrots, capers, Kalamata olives, raisins marinated in rum, wrapped in banana leaves and tomato sauce.

I ordered the Caribbean Soup for dinner which was a coconut soup with shrimp, fish, and scallops. Much to my pleasant surprise, I was brought a bowl of COCONUT FOAM (!!) that they then poured hot broth onto. It was so cool and tasted incredible! (I love all food + drinks with foams!) 

Thomas ordered Red snapper with a marinade of dried chili peppers with coriander rice and espelón beans. I think he ordered fish every night! He loved it. 

We were often too full for dessert, but we had to get one this night when we saw the table next to us enjoying it. A homemade cookie topped with coffee ice cream, caramel, and a chocolate sauce that they poured on top at the table. 

La Laguna @ Fairmont

For our final night we dined at La Laguna at the Fairmont. We got there early to walk around and get a drink before our reservation at 6:30. 

Mezcalrita!

Unfortunately due to the rain and wind we weren’t able to eat out on the lagoon docks. I’m sure this would have been as magical as Saffron on a cloudless night. 

Look at this infinity pool next door!!

Aside from wearing the same dress again (it was too chilly for my short dresses!), the first person to tell me what’s odd about this picture wins!!

Here’s another hint 🙂 I promise I hadn’t had any Mezcal when I got dressed!

The inside of the restaurant was very very nice too, and the menu was all about traditional Mexican cuisine. It was a great spot to end our trip on. 

We sampled some of the mole sauces on the menu along with blue corn tortillas as a complimentary start. 

We had to get the tableside guacamole!! (I loved that I could request no onions too : ) )

So delicious!! 

We had a taco theme at our table. I ordered a trio of tacos – snapper, beef, and pork. 

And Thomas had the special tempura shrimp. We traded a pork for a shrimp so I could have one too. 

As I mentioned above, we had four very different and very delicious Mayakoba restaurant experiences that had us wishing we had more nights to try them all!

Restaurants we wished we had tried:

• Zapote Bar at the Rosewood
• Cielo Rooftop Bar at the Fairmont
• The Korean BBQ grill at the Fairmont
• Casa Del Lago at the Rosewood (for breakfast)
• Cello at Banyan Tree for rustic Italian
• Beach Food Fest at the Rosewood
• La Ceiba at the Rosewood (family style)

Hopefully there is a next time!