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Recommended Reviews - La Choza
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Great food in Cozumel! We arrived on cruise ship and the restaurant is about 10 minute walk. We had the chicken fajitas and they were very good. Complimentary chips and spicy sauce was nice treat. Service was friendly with English speaking waiter and menus. They accept Mexican pesos or USA $ and have posted exchange rate. Atmosphere is very casual and nice flow of air on a warm day. Definitely worth the walk for quality food in a comfortable environment. Will repeat.
The food was great. The environment was lovely and the service was wonderful. They were able to accommodate my daughter's tomato allergy too. They have free wifi. I noticed a pretty even mix of locals and tourists. I typically like to avoid touristy places and this place was great. Walking distance from the port and it was an easy walk with a wheelchair.
I had lunch at La Choza a couple of weeks ago while visiting Cozumel. It's located about 2 blocks from the downtown square. Inside it is an open air restaurant with many fans providing air circulation. I ordered the shrimp fajitas with corn tortillas and was told that neither the corn and flour tortillas are homemade which I thought was unusual being Mexico. First to arrive was a complimentary basket of chips with queso. The chips were thick and the queso spicy. Next, a bowl of chicken noodle soup was delivered with a reddish broth. Finally the sizzling platter of shrimp appeared with a side plate of guac and pico de gallo. The platter had a lot of onions and the shrimp were shelled and with no tail. This meal was good tasting. The soup was chicken flavored broth and noodles but I don't remember any meat. The fajitas were good too with the onions not providing as much flavor as I would have liked. I did feel the meal was a good value price wise and the table service was good. By the way they charge for each glass of ice tea.
Ignore the nay-sayers!!! I do not give 5 stars lightly. This was perfect. Warning: margaritas are strong! In a very good way. Flavor flavor flavor! NOT your American watered down Tex-Mex. The dip w/ the chips is spicy. It isn't cheese, but it's good. Yummy! Aztec soup had flavors/spices I've never had before. Delicious!! Quesadillas were so flavorful!! Surprise ending: my picky husband LOVED the dessert avocado pie! Sweet & delicious. (Chocolate pie is also to die for) Staff/environment are great - attentive but not at all annoying. There are indeed many locals here on a Thursday afternoon. I could sit here all day. Ps: ceiling fans for the win!
Chips and some mayo based dip brought out. Total NO on the dip. Asked for pico and excellent. . Fresh. Chicken fajitas were flavourful , a LOT with cheese melted on top. Would order again. Chicken skewers nice flavour and my wife would order again. The guacamole was spot on flavour. No one ingredient over powering the other. The habanero salsa to die for! Spicy and flavour galore. Service was ok. Nothing extravagant. We were left alone after getting the food. No checkups. Bus boy was better than then server and he got a nice tip. The ambiance was very nice. Lots of fans and open from the back for airflow. 4/5 stars.
The food and everything was just great. It had a lot of locals eating here as well. They have tacos off the menu which was what we were looking for.
This place is wonderful! We were treated so kindly from everyone who were so grateful that we found them. To say it's off the beaten path is an understatement. These poor guys are being kneecapped by street closures. We were searching for this place for a long time, even with working gps, we had a hell of a time getting there. Even had to move traffic cones to access a "closed" street. There were no other diners when we arrived on a Thursday evening. Such a shame, because everyone should be there. They've got ample space, kind and attentive servers, strong and tasty drinks, and -best of all- delicious food! We enjoyed complimentary soup with all our meals. Simple, but robust broth, primed our bellies for the feast that quickly followed. Two of us Enjoyed chicken mole, one chose a breast and the other leg and thigh. Both were tenderly cooked, with abuela's mole recipe a delicious, rich, complex sauce smothering the plate. A tomatoey pork dish was similarly tasty, and the bowl of sopa azteca hit the spot. Two desserts were more than enough for 4 to share, especially after such big dinner portions. Avocado pie: what?!? Yes please! Cinnamon laced graham cracker crust under a frozen, super creamy avocado-y filling. Who knew that was a thing! Glad we tried it, and the chocolate pie was equally excellent. Best of all, shortly after we sat down, having endured an unplanned scavenger hunt trying to find the place, the power went out all over the island. Undaunted, they hustled over, first with cell phone flashlights and later taper candles in wine bottles. Such a lovely, sweet Mexican experience. They even brought us free beautiful mugs full of hot Mexican coffee. Please eat here. They really could use the business and I (selfishly) really want them to stay open for us to return next year.
My husband and I both loved this restaurant! Our main waiter's name was Domingo and he was exceptional. He had a great sense of humor and patiently explained some of the menu options for us. He even brought the red snapper fish so we could see if before we decided to pick that from the menu. The food was really yummy. The grilled fish tasted smoky and fresh. The fish came with a soup (Sopa de acelgas) and that was absolutely delicious. My husband was able to get a second bowl of that soup. I see other reviews where people say that the food did not taste as good or authentic. In my experience, the guac tasted A LOT better than in the States and the fish was very fresh. The place was clean and it had really nice decorations. There was a wall with water running down. There were decorations with lights, which gave the place an elegant look. The restrooms were very clean and well-stocked with soap and toilet paper. I highly recommend this place. I hope to go back so that we can try more options from the menu.
We came after a whole day driving around town...first time in Mexico we got the free salsa and chips we take for granted in America, ha!ha!. the staff were kind enough to bring to trays of chips after our hungry family wiped out the first basket. We ordered their popular drinks...I got the mango margarita on the rocks, hubby got a michelada and kids got coke because apparently its different there. We ordered combo shrimp and lobster fajitas and steak and chicken combo fajitas. their flan for dessert was so good, we ordered another to share. good recommendation from the locals.
4 years ago
7 years ago
Enjoyed the shrimp kabobs, shrimp ceviche and fried fish all delicious and all got the job done! Definitely worth a visit. read more
5 years ago
I'm a little confused by all of the 5 star ratings. Maybe we came on an off night, but I really did not think the food here was that great. We ordered fish soup, ceviche, mole chicken, and black chicken. The fish soup was probably my favorite part of the meal, but even then it was just okay. I like the soup from La Tortuga much more. The ceviche we had didn't seem fresh and had been way overcooked in the lime juice. We came here kind of late, around 8:30pm or so, so maybe the ceviche had been sitting too long, but the fish might as well have been boiled. This was my least favorite ceviche of the 6+ ones we tried during our stay. I ordered the mole chicken and they only had the chicken leg left, which was fine. The meat was well cooked and still tender and juicy, but my mole sauce was so so salty, it made the dish almost inedible. This was one of our first meals out in Cozumel and I was so disappointed! I've had better mole in the States. My boyfriend ordered black chicken and I honestly don't remember much about it other than it was also too salty. Sad to give them a 2 star review because the staff was extremely kind and attentive, but the food was really disappointing. Perhaps I'll try this place again the next time we visit because maybe we just came on an off night. read more
8 years ago
This is my favorite place to go to when in Cozumel. I have been here twice and have not been disappointed. Mostly a local crowd, not a ton of tourists find this gem. Tip: only have one margarita, they are VERY strong. read more
5 years ago
4 years ago
6 years ago
Amazing Our waiter Christian suggested the fresh garlic red snapper. Along with chicken noodle soup,beef nachos ending with avocado pie. read more
Disappointed in the management... came here because of the high reviews and the so claimed "discount card" we received for buying an excursion on the island... BUT management refused to honor it. After arriving at the restaurant, we were seated and received free chips and our drink orders were taken. The chips were quite good actually. For the main entree I ordered a beef fajita... it was pretty decent as well. The service was pretty good, as is many locations in Mexico, because everyone's searching for a tip. The restaurant isn't a bad place to go (in terms of just having a place to sit and eat) but it's certainly a tourist trap. 95% of the people in the restaurant are westerners and they certainly charge western prices. After the conversion to USD, I paid $36 for lunch. I don't pay that much for lunch in the United States!? Rip off. What irked me the most was management would not honor our discount card, which was just for a free drink... needless to say after that encounter they were extremely rude to us. Cash hungry restaurant. Go somewhere else for an authentic Mexican cuisine!!! read more
Gringo Mexican food. Yum! No joke, everyone eating here was white. Not to be racist or anything, everyone there look like they were from the States. Us too! Servers were very nice. They even offered bug spray because I kept getting bit by mosquitos. We ordered the chicken fajitas and the grilled skirt steak. Both came with soup in the beginning with some tasty chips and sauce! The cream sauce was so good! And not too spicy, probably for gringos, lol. The skirt steak was deliciously charred. Perfect with the guac, beans and tortillas. They gave us both corn and flour. My hubby's chicken fajitas were pretty good too. Nice size restaurant with lots of seating, no AC though. read more
3 years ago
I was afraid La Choza might be too touristy since it is one of the restaurants in the "Cozumel Blue Book" which gives you tips and some discounts. No worries -there were locals eating here and the food is DELICIOUS! The service was the best we had in Cozumel and the waiter was very friendly and had a great sense of humor. He actually referenced the "soup nazi" in the Seinfeld episode (since only one of us didn't want the appetizer lime soup ha). My husband had their special mixed soup that they only serve on Sundays and he loved it. We had the mahi mahi ceviche to start which was very good and the guac. My friends had the kabobs and the steak. I have to say I think I ordered the best dish - the Yucatan black spiced chicken which was a stand out! They also had spanish guitar players and singers that will serenade you. They will play extra songs for you and it is nice to tip them. The courtyard in the back makes it all very romantic :). PS Try the frozen avocado pie. I doubt you can get that in the US! read more
I found out a few weeks ago that I would be visiting Cozumel, and my first reaction was "to Yelp!" La Choza, with its whopping seven reviews and 4.5-star average, was the most reviewed place on the island at the time. I made it a point to eat lunch here during my brief stay no matter what. I just had to see what this famous restaurant on the island was about, even if it's just a bunch of tourists who make up the majority of the business's customers. I told my tour van driver to drop us off at La Choza, and I took it to be a good sign that he apparently knew off the top of his head where the business was located. The restaurant was simply a yellow building with a very small sign that's easy to miss. They really should have made the sign bigger so that it's more obvious what this place is, but at least I found it. After my family of four was seated at a table, the waiter brought us two bowls of tortilla chips and a separate bowl of a delicious chunky sour cheese dip. It sounds weird, I know. This introduction with chips and dip as an appetizer also seemed familiar to Mexican-American restaurants, but I never questioned the authenticity of this place. Our waiter, Cristian, spoke English with a nearly perfect American accent. There was very little trace of a Mexican accent to his voice. I have never in my life met somebody from Mexico who spoke English so well. He must have lived in the United States for a while. The guy had a neat sense of humor and jokingly teased us that we couldn't change our table after our seating very close to the outside suddenly became wet from an unexpected downpour of rain. We ended up moving all our stuff to a different table, of course. They have English menus available, but the prices are all listed in pesos. Do not be alarmed if you see prices that are about ten times higher than what they should really be! They accept both Mexican pesos and U.S. dollars as a form of payment. The exchange rate is about eleven pesos to a dollar. If you're paying with dollars, just move the decimal place to the left by one digit to get an approximation of how much you'll pay. Our bill totaled to exactly 662 pesos, and the receipt even converted it to $57.57 for us. They did not screw us over on the conversion rate one bit! Anyway, back to the food. We got chicken noodle soup included in the meal as an appetizer, and we also got guacamole for 72 pesos. That's kind of expensive, but we couldn't leave Mexico without trying their guacamole, and it's seriously some of the best guacamole I've ever had. For my meal, I ordered a mixed fajita with chicken and pork for 180 pesos. They cooked these two meats and put them on a plate with sliced onions. There were some tortilla wraps in a basket to the side, but I did the terrible thing of eating them separately because I didn't want to be bothered with getting food all over my hands. I came in here famished, and I ate enough food here to still be kind of full by dinnertime. The restaurant itself is named La Choza, which means "the hut." It's somewhat appropriate as the back of the restaurant actually gives the appearance of a nice tropical abode. The rest of the restaurant seems to follow the theme of having skeletons everywhere though, with one table even being occupied by (fake) skeletons. It's not even that close to Día de Muertos yet, but perhaps this restaurant's owner just has a morbid sense of humor. Either that, or they want to entertain the gringos who visit here. read more
5 years ago
3 years ago
3 years ago
7 years ago
Very nice and clean location.. it's away from the tourist area and the prices are very reasonable for what you get.. mango margarita is a favorite of mine and you can't go wrong with a brochetas and your meal includes a cream of vegetable soup. read more
8 years ago
8 years ago
Shrimp ceviche and shrimp tropical were excellent. Margs are strong but not the BEST I've ever had...sour mix? Guacamole is solid but IMO needs salt, lime, cilantro. Aztec soup is nice. Service is good. Overall a worthwhile stop on the island. read more
7 years ago
Good stuff. Easy to get to walking or if you rent a scooter. Lots of locals eating here as well as a scattering of tourists. They seemed happy to serve both. Ordered a few shrimp dishes and all were very tasty. The salsa is a very interesting sauce that's creamy and yellow, with what I suspect is mustard. Very nice atmosphere. They have an active Facebook page and often post daily specials (in Spanish). Check it out if you plan on going. read more
9 years ago
Orange margaritas are the best I have ever had!! Friday is chilies relleno day ( not on the menu but a must have while in coz) I also had the rice soup as a starter very good. Only been here for lunch it may be a bit crowded with some noise but while in coz make sure it's a date for your Friday lunch! You won't be sorry read more
I really wished we had been able to find a local spot when we were docked at Cozumel but the entire downtown seems to have been built up for the cruise ship crowds. So we ended up in this restaurant recommended via Trip Advisor. It was pretty good food but more westernized than authentic Mexican. At least in comparison to other Mexican food I've had. read more
11 years ago
7 years ago
11 years ago
While somewhat off the main road (2 blocks?), this place is worth checking out. Great service, great food, and at a reasonable price. Wife had the garlic shrimp and I had the flank steak. For app's? Fish ceviche of course. Lots of fish, tomatoes and not filled with onions as some places often do. "Indoor seating" in an open air restaurant. Plenty of fans so we were comfortable on a humid night. read more
3 years ago
8 years ago
3 years ago
3 years ago
It's the worst place for food honestly. It's very Americanized in taste and there are mosquitoes and lizards just hanging around. We got all veggie food and everything tasted mild or lacked flavor. Also it's waaaaaay over priced compared to other amazing restaurants in the area that are also authentic. read more
4 years ago
8 years ago
7 years ago
More info about La Choza
10a Avenida Sur 216
Col. Centro
77600 Cozumel, Quintana Roo
Mexico
Directions
98 787 20958
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