Santa Maria Loncheria - COZUMEL

I guess I would call myself a regular. I fell in love with their fried rice, I consider it the BEST fried rice I have ever had. (Mind you this includes rice from China, HK, Taiwan, mom 's kitchenand Chinatowns in SF, Chicago, NYC, Toronto.... Atmosphere--Open air (ok, under a tent seating and a few tables inside , but it 's all pretty much open air at the Mercado. I love this kind of place. Public washroom for $5 P across the courtyard, but there is a hand sink in the corner of the restaurant. Food--The Indonesian and Filipino menus painted on the wall are just foreign to me so I have stretched my wings and now order what I want from Jorge (the handsome man in the kitchen . Tell him the flavors you want, the protein you want, and he will whip it up. Or you can peruse the dishes on the tables of the cruise ship crew regulars and order that way. I order the Fried Rice Mixto w/ pork,chicken, and shrimp. The fish you can choose from whats in that day. The chicken curry was ordered when I was enticed by the aromas drawing me in from the road. Try the Avocado Shake Laced with Chocolate but WARNING, it 's large and filling, so share it with someone as avocado crazed as you are. I 've been told by 2 different parties that the Shimp Sambal is to die for....so I guess I will die for them on my next trip. Price--a little higher that what I consider typical for Coz. but the portions are large and the quality and flavor of the food definitely justifies it. Rice for 3, a large fish for 3 and 2 large waters and tip was about $400P.

Excellent and tasty food. My husband had the fried fish and I had the fried rice with chicken. When it arrived we couldn't believe the portions, there was enough for four people! The staff were very friendly with limited English. The food was prepared and cooked for us. As I couldn't eat mine, we were able to take it away and there was more than enough for us both that evening. Total cost including a large bottle of water 310 MXN Best meal we had in Cozumel

They don't use authentic Filipino ingredients (they use some substitutes) but the food is still acceptable.I guess it's as close as you can get when you're in foreign land. I'm only giving it 3 stars because they're expensive. I'm not sure if the pricing is normal for Cozumel standards. We got the adobong baboy/pork adobo for $14 for about 1 lb. of meat. And 1 tortang talong/eggplant omelet for $5. A platter of rice is $2. The other upside is that our food was made fresh, cooked to order.

Had known about this place from cruise ship crew. Asked the taxi driver to go to Mercado, this cost $8 each way from punta langosta pier. My girlfriend, who is vietnamese, wanted fresh fish with head and tails. This place did not disappoint and let us pick the fish and how to have it cooked. We tried both grilled and then fried which both fish very tasty.

I spied this place on my trip in Nov of 08 but didn 't get to try it out until now. I liked it so much I went twice. I tried another loncheria in the market that had the same kind of cuisine, but it was a disappointment, so I had to correct my experience by going back to Santa Maria. This place does not have a sign. Look for the loncheria that borders the street on the southwest corner of the market. Their menu is written on office style whiteboards. The Indonesian Fried Rice is delicious with very delicate flavor. The texture of the rice is perfect! I order it mixta with shrimp, pork, and eggs. We also had the Bawang Goreng Ati (garlic chicken livers a little over cooked, but the flavor was so yummy. The Cumi Empanizado (breaded squid is a generous portion--they all are, and tasty. I might have mixed the name here, some Spanish and some Indonesian. The meal is a more expensive than other loncherias, about $16 US for 2 dishes and a soda, but as I said before, the portions are generous. There is a young man (the son? who speaks English, otherwise, the man and woman who run the place don 't. Their open hours are Mon-Sat 8-4