Encanto at Xcaret: Reviewing the Italian Restaurant

The first time I noticed Encanto on the Hotel Xcaret restaurant list, I had a small internal eyeroll. An Italian restaurant on the Riviera Maya, inside an all-inclusive resort, almost certainly meant chain-style chicken parm and forgettable pasta. I went anyway because we had a kid who wanted pizza and I needed thirty quiet minutes. We ate, I ordered the wood-fired margherita, and I revised my opinion before I'd finished the first slice.

Encanto is the kind of resort restaurant that doesn't show up in the marketing because the property has a famous Mexican fine-dining room (HA') doing all the heavy lifting on the press tour. Quietly, it's one of the best meals you can have on the property — and it's the one I've eaten at the most across my stays. Here's the honest review.

Where it sits and the vibe

Encanto is at Hotel Xcaret México, in a separate building from the main lobby, with an open kitchen anchored by a wood-fired pizza oven you can see from most of the dining room. The room is dark wood and warm light, with patio seating overlooking a small pool. It's neither stiff-formal nor casual; you can show up in a sundress and sandals and feel right.

It's included in the All-Fun Inclusive band. Reservations recommended for prime time (7 to 9 PM); walk-ins are usually fine before 6:30 or after 9.

The crowd skews a little younger and a little more couple-heavy than Cocina de Mexicana. You'll see fewer kids — except mine, who insisted — and more candlelit tables.

The menu, briefly

Encanto runs a fairly traditional Italian menu with a Yucatán-coast accent. The structure:

• Antipasti. Small plates, charcuterie, the burrata service, a few crudo dishes.
• Pizze. Wood-fired Neapolitan-leaning pizzas, half a dozen options.
• Pasta. All made fresh on property — they roll the dough that morning. About eight options.
• Secondi. Three or four mains — usually a fish, a steak, an osso buco.
• Dolci. A short, well-edited dessert list.

The portions are restaurant-sized rather than buffet-sized. Don't go in trying to do the full Italian-American three-course death march or you'll surrender by dessert.

What I'd actually order

After multiple visits, this is the table I'd build for a four-top.

The tableside burrata

This is Encanto's signature opener and it's the dish I always order first. They wheel out a small cart with a whole burrata, slice it open at the table, and finish it in front of you with olive oil, flaky salt, basil, a few thin slices of grilled bread, and — the key move — a small drizzle of local Yucatán honey infused with chile habanero. The honey is the move. It's the dish that makes you stop and pay attention. The burrata is genuinely fresh; the bread comes out warm from the wood oven.

Order one burrata per two people. It's enough.

The pizza margherita

The proof of any wood-oven Italian kitchen. The margherita at Encanto has a real Neapolitan-style crust — slight char, soft middle, leoparded edges. The mozzarella is fior di latte made on the Yucatán coast (they don't fly in real bufala, but the local fior di latte is excellent). The sauce is bright, simple, San Marzano-ish. It's the dish I order every visit.

Other pizza notes:

• Pizza diavola. Spicy salami pizza. The salami is nduja-ish, spreadable. Generous heat.
• Quattro formaggi. The kind of indulgence pizza you order as a fourth wheel for the table to share. Heavy, rich, a single slice is enough.
• Pizza bianca with prosciutto and arugula. Added after the bake. The arugula is from a small farm near Tulum. Reliably good.

I would not order the seafood pizza. Seafood pizza is a contradiction in terms and Encanto can't fix it.

The pasta

The made-on-property pasta is the second thing Encanto does well. Two dishes I'd send anyone to:

• Cacio e pepe. The hardest pasta dish to do well, the one most resort kitchens butcher. Encanto's version uses a local pecorino blend (they don't ship in Pecorino Romano either, but the blend works), the texture is glossy without being gluey, the pepper is freshly cracked at the table. This is the dish I'd order if I had to defend Encanto in court.
• Tagliatelle al ragú. Slow-cooked beef and pork ragù, the pasta is hand-cut, the parmesan is shaved at the table. Comforting in a deep way.

The seafood pastas (linguine vongole, spaghetti ai frutti di mare) are fine but not a step up from what you'd get at a coastal Italian spot in Tulum. Skip them in favor of the pizza or the cacio e pepe.

The mains

The mains are the weakest section of the menu, and I've stopped ordering them. The osso buco is fine. The fish is fine. None of them justify the plate space when the pasta and pizza are doing what they're doing.

The exception: if there's a special — they sometimes do a whole branzino baked in salt — order it. Otherwise, two pizzas and two pastas across a four-top is the right order pattern.

The desserts

• Tiramisu. The version here uses Mexican coffee and a touch of mezcal in the soaking liquor. The mezcal sounds gimmicky and turns out to be the right move. I've never not ordered it.
• Affogato. Vanilla gelato with a shot of espresso. Simple, perfect when you need to be done in five minutes.
• The panna cotta is fine. Skip the chocolate cake.

With kids

Encanto handles kids well, with caveats. The pizza menu is the obvious win — give a six-year-old a margherita and you've bought yourself an hour of peace. The kitchen will make a plain butter-and-cheese pasta off-menu without making you feel weird about asking. The burrata is a hit even with picky kids; the honey is sweet enough to ease them in.

The room is dimmer than Embajadores and the pace is slower, so I wouldn't bring kids who can't sit through a 90-minute dinner. We've done it with our five-year-old by ordering immediately and keeping a tablet in the bag for emergencies.

The drinks

The wine list is short and decent — mostly Italian, a few Mexican Valle de Guadalupe selections, a couple of decent Argentine Malbecs. The included-in-package wines (a Sangiovese and a Pinot Grigio, last I checked) are perfectly drinkable.

The bar makes a good Negroni and a passable Aperol spritz. The cocktail program isn't trying to be HA' or Cocina de Mexicana's mezcal flight — it's the simple Italian aperitif lineup, and that's the right call.

Encanto's secret is that the kitchen has a clear self-image: a wood-oven Italian restaurant on a Mexican coast that uses local ingredients where it can and doesn't pretend to be anywhere else. The pizza is real pizza. The pasta is real pasta. The burrata is local but excellent. That self-awareness is what makes the meal work.

How it fits in a stay

If you're planning a five-night stay, here's the rotation I'd build:

• Night 1: Embajadores buffet — easy reset after travel. (Embajadores review)
• Night 2: Encanto — the comfortable Italian dinner that doesn't require energy.
• Night 3: Cocina de Mexicana — your serious Mexican night. (Full review)
• Night 4: HA' — the splurge. (HA' tasting menu review)
• Night 5: Chiringuito at the beach club for an early casual dinner. (Chiringuito review)

For a fuller view of the property's restaurant lineup and how to slot it with park nights, the Hotel Xcaret all-inclusive guide is the master plan I keep updating. Or browse the broader Xcaret destination page for trip context.

What Encanto gets wrong

To be fair:

• The bread basket. Standard supermarket-feeling rolls. Skip it and wait for the burrata's grilled bread.
• The Caesar salad. Don't order a Caesar at an Italian restaurant on the Riviera Maya. I shouldn't have to explain this.
• The "creative" pizza specials. Stick to the classics. The Yucatán-fusion pizza specials are well-intentioned and not great.
• Service can be slow on packed nights. Plan for two hours easily. If you're in a hurry, eat earlier.

What I'd do differently

A short list:

• Order family-style. Two pizzas and two pastas across the table beats four entrées.
• Always order the burrata. Always.
• Sit on the patio if it's available. Cooler, quieter, and the wood-oven smell drifts out perfectly.
• Eat earlier than you think. 6:30 reservations beat 8:30 reservations — the kitchen is fresher and the room isn't packed.
• Try the tiramisu even if you "don't like tiramisu." The mezcal version converted me.

Encanto is the restaurant on the Hotel Xcaret property I'd most easily recommend to a friend who said "I just want a nice dinner that's not going to take three hours and isn't going to be weird." It's not the property's most ambitious restaurant. It's the best-executed one. If you only had two dinner reservations to use during your stay, I'd still send you to HA' for one and Cocina de Mexicana for the other — but Encanto is the third reservation I'd add the second I had a fifth night on the trip.