El Envero - Playa del Carmen

The perfect mix of traditional Italian eating Mexican taste. as tasty bites, our fried grillers offered us a real tasty bite for my man, who grew up to eat these things. we ordered a table full of food and enjoyed. every court. the garnelenpastea is delicious and the tiramisu was heavenly, one of the best I ever had! the owners michela and abraham are beautiful people. it was a joy to talk to them. the location is brilliant, very close to the beach, but a few streets from the loud bar / restaurants in the opposite. we come back often!

El envero has closed this summer, but has recently been under new ownership. we tried last night and were very satisfied. we had a great home that made pasta. the small wine shop next to the el envero has a great international selection of wines. too good to go with our food. the bartender is also very skillful and a few martinis helped to begin the night.

Restaurants off of 5th Avenue have a hard time succeeding, but this place has survived and thrived because of consistently good food, friendly service and value. Located on 1st. Avenue (1 block towards the beach from 5th Ave. , midway between calle 26 calle 28,...Envero is next door to Off The Vine, a little wine shop that carries some of the best wines to be had in Mexico. Though Envero is small, it uses the covered patio area in front of Off the Vine to double its footprint. At night, live acoustic music can be enjoyed with a nice glass of wine and some good food. The night crowd here is a bit older than the one of 5th Avenue, but the audience is more likely to sing along with the performer. In addition to the hardship of being off of 5th Avenue, Envero has had to suffer through the dirt and dust kicked up by the construction of a huge Hyatt resort on the corner of 26th. At night, the workers leave, the noise ceases and the dust settles. Once completed, the Hyatt (scheduled to open summer 2015 will provide more pedestrian traffic and less dust for Envero. There is also one undeveloped lot across the street that was recently sold to a developer who plans a 42 unit condo complex. Once completed, expect Envero's prices and table waiting times to go up. My wife and I stopped in for an early lunch because we wasted too much time trying to decide where to go for breakfast. The waiter, a friendly fellow with very good English, greeted us and our dog. Though breakfast was over, he made some fresh squeezed orange juice for me. He explained the menu and took our order. I ordered a chicken sandwich. It came with lettuce, tomato, melted cheese and mayo (I had them hold the mayo on mine . French fries accompanied my sandwich. This is the only place in Playa where I got shoe string fries. Generally, Mexico does papas fritas that are thick cut and slightly undercooked by American standards with little to no crunch. These were thin, golden brown and had a nice crunch to them. The sandwich was served on a large torta bread and pressed and toasted like a panini. It arrived hot. The chicken was pounded thin so that it covered the large bread and gave you a juicy, tender piece in every bite. The cheese was hot and gooey. My wife ordered the magic mushroom pizza. There was nothing magic about these mushrooms of course, but they made for a delicious pizza. The crust was medium thickness and slightly crunchy on the bottom, the cheese was hot and golden brown and a thin helping of tomato sauce played a nice supporting role. The button mushrooms were plentiful and drizzled with some olive oil. It was one of the better pizzas in a town overrun by pizzas. For breakfast and lunch, Envero is casual and easy. At night, the menu goes upscale with an ambitious tapas menu of fresh fish and meats. It also gets its wines from Off The Vine (which also has an excellent Tequila selection . This place is worth the trek off of 5th Avenue.

You won't be disappointed with the tapas and they've a great selection of wines. Great service also and the nightly specials are a steal.

We celebrated new year with friends in this wonderful restaurant/wine bar. our host, ricardo, anna and the other staff were very attentive. an empty glass was filled within minutes! the evening included wine/champagne, dinner and live music. we drank merlot, taxi and syrah from Casa...Madero (Mexicon) and all were very delicious. the evening meal was three courses a Mexican tamale, romeritos (a Mexican green traditional for christmas) in a mol sauce and tasty shredded boar. we really enjoyed them all and were happy to actually have traditional Mexican cuisine instead of the same tourist choice as anywhere else. we are here many times and always enjoy. highly recommended if you want to stand off from the hectic scene and the tourist restaurants on the fifth ave.