We found out that Playa Del Carmen actually has a large Italian population, which meant we had to try some Italian food. We pretty much had our fill of Mexican at this point so it was perfect timing. With a little google searching, I found Ristorante Romagna Mia, with some strong reviews. It’s on a road (we’re not sure if it has a name) parallel and in between 1st avenue and the beach, just a little north of 28th street.
We started with a Spinach and Apple Salad, relieved to see some vegetables at this point. The spinach in Playa has been a little different, a little rougher and thicker, which is fine with me, but Lon’s not a fan. The flavors in this salad were interesting, the apples are coated in lightly caramelized sugar topped with a heavy hand of shredded romano cheese. It has the simple appeal that salty and sweet always does, but the sugar hardens quickly and starts to become a nuisance between your teeth. The crushed nuts are almost a powder and add very little to this salad.
The Frito Misto was the best dish. The calamari, shrimp, and zucchini, are very thinly coated, fried to perfection, hot and crisp. The sauce was one of the best red sauces I’ve ever had. There is something about it that reminded me of sa cha sauce, roasted and spicy.
We were enticed by their selection of fresh pastas and the waiter recommended their Tagliorini with Lobster, Shrimp, and Clams. Unfortunately, the shrimp were disastrously dry, the skimpy piece of lobster borderline, and the clams just ok. The pasta itself was fantastic, herby with that bouncy texture, but the sauce ended up being too briny.
Lasagna happened to be their daily special. They serve a generous piece that looks more like two portions. It is by far the most creamy lasagna either of us have ever had which starts out being so enjoyable, but ends up being too heavy by the end. The pasta itself, is again wonderful.
The meal had some high points, some middle points, and low points, but the price (moderate for the area) matches that.
posted by jessica at 02:48 PM
Filed under Italian, Restaurants, Travel.
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The pasta & calamari look heavenly!
I would have never thought to look for italian food there! Everything looks delicious.
how interesting that there were italian restaurants there! i would’ve never even thought there to be 🙂
I wonder if it’s chaya, which is cooked basically like spinach. A lot of people in Texas use spinach and chaya interchangeably, even on menus.
http://www.chayacorp.com/id2.html
So what you’re saying is it was a middle point. 🙂
EMC, it’s possible this one was. It’s harder to tell since it was shredded. But we had Creamy Spinach at John Gray’s Place, where I could see the whole pieces and it was spinach there but still rougher.
Lucky you! I love fritto misto! And dessert?
Jamie, we went for ice cream for dessert. We were too full at the moment and needed to walk it off a bit.
Estamos en la 5 avenida entre 20 y 22!!!!!!!un salutone a tutti i clienti del mitico ristorante romagna mia ciao