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Restaurants

El Pirata.

Mexican, seafood · Zazil-Ha · $ · Staple · verified

Calle 40 no. 5, Zazil-Ha, 77720 Playa del Carmen, Q.R., Mexico

walk-in

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Fried fish Kenji rec

Jeff's note

El Pirata

They fry fish and build seafood tostadas on Calle 40 in Zazil-Ha, ten in the morning to eight at night. They close on Wednesdays.

Why go

Let's Playa's readers put it third for seafood in their Playenses Choice poll, at this door on Calle 40.1 The two things that write-up names are the filete de pescado and the tostadas de mariscos.1 The hours are the thing to plan around: ten in the morning until eight at night, and dark on Wednesdays.1

Order this / avoid

  • Order: the fish fillet, and tostadas de mariscos beside it. The poll write-up names both.1
  • Avoid: Wednesday, and any plan that starts after eight.1

Good to know

  • Hours: Thursday to Tuesday, 10:00am to 8:00pm.1
  • Standing: third for seafood in Let's Playa's Playenses Choice readers' poll. The page names no edition year.1

Jeff's take (his words)

  • Note: "Fried fish Kenji rec"

Verdict

could-visit — Jeff's note is the only thing anybody has said about the frying, and half of it is an attribution we could not confirm: no published López-Alt recommendation of this counter was found, so the note stands as his record and nothing more. Let's Playa's readers put it third for seafood at the saved address, which is independent corroboration that the town knows the place and says nothing about the fish. Two soft signals and no critic put it here.

Order

  • Filete de pescado
  • Tostadas de mariscos

At a glance

  • Booking: walk-in
  • Timing: lunch, daytime, closes early, closed wed
  • Best for: lunch, cheap eats, solo, quick
  • Verified 2026-08-28

Where

city map →

Calle 40 no. 5, Zazil-Ha, 77720 Playa del Carmen, Q.R., Mexico

Where to go next

More Latin American

Expendio de Maíz Sin Nombre★just added

Destination · Mexican, heirloom corn · Roma Norte · $$

walk-in

Four shared tables sit on the Roma Norte sidewalk under no sign, and there is no menu: Jesús Salas Tornés asks whether you eat everything and the kitchen sends plates until you tap out.

CetliBib?

Solid · Mexican, moles · Villas Tulum · $$

book ahead

Claudia Pérez Rivas grinds her spices and herbs on stone metates and builds the moles from there. The istak is a fish fillet poached in seawater under a white almond mole.

HartwoodMichelin?

Solid · Mexican, wood fire · Tulum Beach · $$$

booking essential

Everything cooks over open fire in a wood-burning oven and grill the kitchen built by hand, and solar panels run the lights.

Key: what the badges mean

★ Michelin star · Bib Bib Gourmand · Green ★ Michelin Green Star · Michelin in the Michelin guide, no distinction · J Jeff's own note · Jeff ★★★★☆ 2019 his own rating out of five, and the year he gave it · new the venue itself opened recently · just added recently added to Jeff's list, whatever its age · 2◆ independent chef/industry recommendations · ! hygiene caution in force · ? no current public hygiene record, not a caution · keep walking Jeff has been and would walk past it · the line under a name says when to go: Destination (plan around it) / Solid (the dependable send) / Listed (on the radar). Under it, where the entry states one: how the room takes bookings, and the date I last checked the entry.

Record

page id
el-pirata
city
Mexico
group
Restaurants
category
Restaurant
cuisine
Mexican, seafood
area
Zazil-Ha
price
$
editorial class
Staple
verdict
Could visit
how I know
verified
confidence
medium
status
Open
address
Calle 40 no. 5, Zazil-Ha, 77720 Playa del Carmen, Q.R., Mexico
coordinates
20.636827, -87.065712
last verified
2026-08-28