Last night we had dinner at the restaurant of the Gran Hotel, situated in Plaza Hidalgo. I had often been to Plaza Hidalgo when I was in Merida, eighteen years ago, and remembered that at the time there were restaurants located there. I figured, chances are they'd still be there. Indeed, there are two restaurants at the park, the one from the Hotel Caribe and the one from the hotel Merida. They both are quite expensive, IMHO, with dishes hitting and going over MN$100 - but we weren't sure we could do better elsewhere and it was nice to eat at the park (really, a small plaza surrounded on two sides by the hotels and on the other by a church). We decided on the restaurant of the Gran Hotel because in addition to Yucatecan food, they offered pizzas and pastas.

We ordered a pizza margarita for the kids, a ham & pineapple one for me (MN$9) and panuchos for Mike. For the uninitiated, panuchos are small fried tortillas filled with black beans and covered with shredded chicken, lettuce and perhaps tomato and avocado. I remembered liking them more than I have in this trip. Mike thought that they were good, but not special.

I enjoyed my pizza and the kids seemed to like theirs. The crust was very thin, but the cheese was flavorful and the toppings tasted fresh. Beware that one small pizza is really enough for two - we wasted a lot of food.

Drinks were expensive - MN$20-40 for soft drinks, juices and shakes. I had a glass of OJ which was good and Mika liked her watermelon shake. Camila found the lemonade too sour, even after adding quite a bit of sugar, but I enjoyed it.

Dinner came to about MN$400 after tip, which I felt was too expensive for the experience, but c'est la vie. Service was quite good, though I'm not sure why the waiter regaled us with stories of his own family.

Beware that because you are eating outside, street vendors come from time to time to offer you fans, kids' toys and other things. But I guess that's part of the fun.

Gran Hotel - Restaurante
Calle 60 No. 496 x 59 & 61 @ Parque Hidalgo (aka Cepeda Peraza)
Mérida
Mexico