Family-friendly restaurants in Cancún, Mexico

Moon Palace is one of the most popular all inclusive resort hotels in Cancún. This is one of those places that you can check into at the beginning of your vacation and never leave the premises until it’s time to check out. There’s everything here to make your holiday totally flawless. Hotel’s restaurants are supposed to be open to everyone, not just those staying in Moon Palace, but it makes sense to contact them before heading down there.

Food, of course, plays an important part in the overall destination experience, and Moon Palace certainly delivers in this respect. Well, in fact, you shouldn’t choose but plan a sit-down at each of them. If you’re holidaying with children, Boulangerie, with its delicious snacks and pastries of all shapes and types, will definitely be a frequently visited spot, and when it’s time for a fully-fledged meal, don’t look further than the Circus. This establishment focuses on the younger audience in the first place and offers everything you expect from a kid’s menu, plus a list of dishes that have long been at the top of international culinary masterpieces.

La Vicenta Restaurante de carnes en Cancún is one of the city’s steakhouses that, thanks to fierce competition, approaches perfection in pretty much everything. Add corporate standards to the mix – La Vicenta is a small chain of 6 establishments – and you get consistency throughout, from produce procurement through kitchen and floor/service routines to, of course, food on your plate.

Cancún’s La Vicenta waits for you at Avenue Bonampak MZ 2-Lt 5. The unique twist here is the division of the main hall into two parts, one for those who like watching sports while chasing perfectly grilled ribs with fine Mexican beer, another – for families looking for an evening to remember. Children get a special treatment: in addition to the kid’s menu filled with all-time favorites, La Vicenta invites your little ones to the play area that’s not only filled with all sorts of toys but is actually manned by a childcarer, something you don’t see often anywhere in the world. So, if you, as a parent, desperately need a break and a steak, this is where you head to in Cancún.

Located in the Marina Puerto Cancún mall at Boulevard Kukulcan 1, Puerto Juarez, Zona Hotelera, CAO Modern Mexican Kitchen is another chain restaurant in Cancún seeking to satisfy its patrons’ cravings for all the staples of Mexican cuisine, and then suggest dishes that you may have not even thought of. Guacamole, for example, comes in several varieties here, as do empanadas and tacos, while traditional soups and fine grilled cuts follow each other to create a comprehensive gastronomical experience. Nothing too hot or spicy, though, unless you ask for it; as mentioned above, this is a thoroughly planned and fostered resort area.

Children at CAO Modern Mexican Kitchen can have more fun than their parents: the establishment invested into CAONDYLAND, a special club for kids aged 2 through 11 years. Subject to reservations, the restaurant is ready to give children food there free of charge, plus, they offer babysitter services. Combined with the fact that the restaurant occupies a space in the mall, you can have a wonderful afternoon of fine dining and reinvigorating shopping here.

La Casa de Los Abuelos translates to “House of the Grandparents”; this sort of naming seeks to convey the vibe of the establishments (it’s a chain, four restaurants in Mexico) and the approach to cooking practiced there. Traditional, home-style, hearty, delicious – all these labels apply to La Casa de Los Abuelos naturally. The menu offers numerous meat dishes, egg-based staples of Mexican cuisine, and an exciting assortment of desserts and sweet pastries.

All of the restaurants of this chain are family-friendly, but the one with the fully-fledged play area waits for you at Avenue Bonampak Mz. 1-Lote 4, Sm. 4A, in Cancún’s Zona Hotelera. The section of the menu compiled for kids features hot dogs, mac’n’cheese, fish sticks, pancakes etc., so you’ll definitely find something your little one will fail to refuse with that well-trained frown. For a reasonable fee, if a child is below 5 years of age, you can even hire a babysitter here and make that evening truly flawless.

Seafood time, is it not? This is a question you have to ask yourself at least once when in Mexico’s (arguably) most popular resort. A true gourmet will never miss a chance to savor dishes revolving around catch of the day when somewhere in the vicinity of the source thereof. In Cancún, one of the best seafood restaurants is Erizo, where you’ll be offered clam chowder, assorted shrimp dishes, plain fish with a side, and some salads with seafood you’ll take note of and start cooking at home after the trip.

For children, Erizo Cancún has Kids Club, a space that’s not only filled with toys, but actually seeks to foster creativity in children through playing. Seriously, when was the last time you’ve seen this sort of attitude towards an in-restaurant playground? Food-wise, your kids can choose from the dedicated section of the menu (fries, nuggets, pasta, all that) and/or try to graduate to the healthier options from the part compiled for their parents not fearing to encounter a bone in the fish.

There really is no shortage of seafood restaurants in Cancún, but far from all of them welcome families sincerely and make special arrangements so that little guests don’t feel bored even for a minute. Flamingos Seafood Kitchen, one of the oldest establishments of the city, truly is family-friendly: there’s a good play area for children here to keep your little ones entertained between trips to the table for the next bite, and the food is, as one of the reviewers put it, as delicious as to make even a picky little eater devour everything on the plate.

The place is in the northern part of town (address: Carr. Puerto Juarez Carretera a Punta Sam Km. 3.5, Juárez), so it makes sense to plan a stop there if you’re going out to bathe on the Playa del Niño, or do some snorkeling with Arrecife El Meco, or see the Jolly Roger Pirate Show. After all, even a 5-star all-inclusive resort grows boring after a week, give or take, so getting out for new thrills is always a good idea.

What? A pizza eatery? In a guide to restaurants of a resort destination in Mexico? Yes! No list of family-friendly establishments can be complete without a pizza place, you have to agree! Ask your children to name three favorite dishes; if they haven’t been living deep in the forest since turning 3, pizza will be in that rating.

For this list, we’ve picked Boston's Pizza Cancún, a local branch of an international chain boasting over 50 years of experience and presence in Canada, the US, and Mexico. The reason behind this choice is quite obvious: this pizzeria has a good play area for children. Older children – male adults – have a space designed specifically for them here, too: part of the floor is a sports bar, with everything that entails. Thus, Boston's Pizza Cancún offers a chance to unwind for the entire family, with fathers watching games and drinking beer, mothers enjoying delis and desserts, and the most important people in the world solving puzzles, drawing/enjoying animals and monsters, and thoroughly enjoying themselves.

Yes, when you say that Cancún isn’t exactly a resort for family vacations, you are not entirely wrong. There are casinos here, nightclubs, and all sorts of other venues for adults, by adults. But there’s also the factor of the sea, which is good for children, and fresh fruits and vegetables filled with vitamins. And what responsible parents wouldn’t want to spend a vacation in a place and in a way that boost the immunity of their children? So, come to Cancún, bring your little ones, and have a great time!

If you need more info about Cancún, check out this article:

– What to do and where to eat in Cancun, Mexico