by Monica Hartlief
What to do on a rainy afternoon in Playa del Carmen? I can’t think of anything better than going out for a nice long lunch at a restaurant on the beach. So we picked Wicky’s, restaurant and beach club, located right next to the light house, or El Faro, on 10th street and the beach in “down town” Playa del Carmen. Wicky’s opened its doors a month ago, on September 18th, and we’d only been there for dinner once so it was high time we tried out their lunch menu.
Wicky's view from the seaside terrace
Wicky’s has an air-conditioned indoors dining area and a beautiful open air seaside deck. It doesn’t matter where you sit, the view is spectacular, even on a windy, and rainy afternoon. The restaurant is large, quite elegant, has comfortable chairs and tables, and thankfully no loud music (yet?). As soon as you come in the door, or walk up from the beach, you will be welcomed by the uniformed staff. There is a lot of staff, they all speak English (even if you try your hardest to speak Spanish with them) and they are very helpful, friendly, and knowledgeable about the food and drinks that they serve.
lunch with a view at Wicky's Playa del Carmen
The restaurant’s specialties are dry aged & USDA prime steaks and fresh seafood and there are also some great wines and cocktails on the menu. Since it was only 2 pm and I still had some work to do later I had a mineral water and my date had a limonada. The lunch menu is not very big but there is enough choice for most people, but very little for vegetarians. The lunch menu has some classic starters like calamari and chicken wings, a choice of 3 salads, a few sandwiches, the Crab Cake sandwich sounds really good, and burgers, that are spectacular, or so I’ve been told. I wanted to get some greens in me so I ordered the Chicken Ceasar Salad. My lunch date wanted to order something of the dinner menu which was not a problem at all. I really like it when they try to accommodate your requests at a restaurant. We ended up ordering a Smoked Chicken Ceasar salad, the steak tartar, and best of all the parmesan truffle fries! I will go back to Wicky’s time and time again as long as they keep those fries on the menu. They are French fries, thin and crunchy, with a hint of truffle, parmesan and garlic. Mmm, very good. The Steak Tartar is also a winner, I’m not a big meat eater but this dish I like, although I still think it looks like pet food. The smoked chicken ceasar salad was great, lots of fresh romaine lettuce, big croutons, plenty of fresh parmesan, and smoked chicken of course. It had a little too much dressing for my taste so the next time I will order that on the side.
smoked chicken ceasar salad
truffle parmesan fries and steak tartar
Since we had been to the restaurant before we knew we had to leave some room for dessert, crème brûlée. I’ve never had a better crème brûlée anywhere, and believe me, I’ve done quite a bit of market research on this subject. Today the crème brûlée looked wonderful again, with a golden and crispy top but unfortunately, the consistency of the actual “crème” wasn’t quite right, it was too liquid, it dripped of your spoon, but the taste was great and I’ll definitely go be back to try it again. After coffee and a “hot cocoa” for my date we paid the bill, actually, he paid not me, and left by way of the beach. I did peek at the bill, 570 pesos total, which is pretty reasonable considering the location, ambiance, quality of the food, and the service which, by the way, is excellent.
crème brûlée
My conclusion is that Wicky’s is a great addition to the Playa del Carmen restaurants and beach clubs. It is higher end than most of the restaurants on the beach, but well worth it. I’ll definitely go back, especially once they debut the dueling piano’s in December of this year.
You can find Wicky’s restaurant & beach club online for more information:
