Riviera Maya Family Restaurants

In the evenings, a Peruvian band plays just outside the restaurant, so arrive early to get a front table. Later on, a house band brings the music inside. Kids are encouraged to dance along. A mix of Maya and more modern Mexican flavors, the open-air restaurant also serves up fun. Kids like watching the waiters balance open bottles of beer on their heads before delivering them tableside. The restaurant is known for its flambe cooking and for its grilled seafood and steaks. From the children's menu, kids can order fish sticks, chicken fingers and quesadillas.

Well-known local chef and restauranteur John Gray calls this restaurant a "modern Mexican bistro," even though the food isn't traditional Mexican, but more what Gray calls "comfort food with a Mexican twist." At the restaurant -- located in a cobbled cul de sac, Calle Corazon, off Fifth Avenue, between 12th and 14th Streets -- highlights include macaroni and cheese with grilled shrimp and truffle oil and thin-crust goat cheese pizza, as well as the roasted duck breast with chipotle chile, tequila and honey.

Come for the pizza at this moderately priced restaurant when the kids (and you) are tired of Mexican fare. Karen's also serves tacos and seafood.

The name of this charming, 30-seat beachfront restaurant translates to "John Gray's mother-in-law." That's appropriate because noted local chef John Gray opened this restaurant in February 2008 so that his mother-in-law, Mary Navarro, would have a place to cook and share her carne en su jugo (beef in its own juices), pork ribs, tortilla soup and other great dishes. Locals and ex-pats also come for the shrimp tacos, the really big hamburgers and the bountiful Sunday barbecue from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m.

Yaxche features Maya-inspired cuisine. Dine inside or in a palm tree-shaded garden. Halach Huinic is a chicken breast, cooked with four types of peppers, and Noh Ek is a dish of grilled shrimp with tomatoes, onions and green peppers, all wrapped in a banana leaf. The food is good, the restaurant is casual, and kids can always get rice, beans and a simplified version of an entree.