PLAYA DEL CARMEN - I’m back in Playa Del Carmen dodging another cold Canadian winter, loving every minute of it (great way to recover from knee surgery!). Like any travel writer, I’ve been hitting the streets seeing what’s changed here, gathering feedback on the new places. One restaurant kept coming up as a suggestion from friends so I decided to check it out. La Sirena is a new seafood restaurant (replacing the old Negrosal) that’s quickly making a name for itself. I wanted to see what all the buzz was about so I sat down with its manager to get a better understanding of how La Sirena came about (see video below).

La Sirena is located on 16th Street, between 5th and 1st Avenue. The first thing I noticed was the baby blue walls, it’s decor gave me the impression that I was in Cap Cod, USA. The baby blue walls, white baskets, red pillars and colorful lights made for an interesting mix. The second thing I noticed was the Cuban music which gave it a friendly feel, something you kept tapping your feet too. Like most teenagers growing up I got the impression that La Sirena was still trying to figure itself out.

Steph then introduced me to the manager of La Sirena. Vincent was a cool guy, very easy to chat with and as you’ll learn more about him and the restaurant in my on the spot interview, he’s very open to suggestions and excited about his new restaurant.

But first we had to try the food! Vincent suggested that we try their freshly caught “chocolata” clams. Any dish that includes a word simular to chocolate is worth trying :) Francois, Desiree, Steph, Carina and I ordered several appetizers which was is always fun because it gives us all a chance to try a variety of dishes. As we were ordering Vincent came up to me and strongly suggested that I try their freshly caught fish of the day. He was so adamant that I try it he disappeared into the kitchen and brought the fish out on a silver platter to show me just how great it looked. I could see his eyes light up with pride as he described how it was only caught a few hours ago. I’m even guessing he caught it himself!....that’s how hardcore he came across as being. I said “let’s do it.”

As the group chatted I politely excused myself and started my routine of snapping some quick photos with my Iphone. I discovered stairs leading to what appeared to be a small club located down a level. Turns out that after a good meal, guests at La Sirena are encouraged to head down to their mini lounge room where you can sit back and have a few drinks. Most supper clubs clear away tables to make room for some dancing....La Sirena came equipped with its own little club!

Our dishes were now being served by La Sirenas very friendly staff which by the way the girls kept whispering about. They all seemed to have a crush on our waiter and Vincent. The clams were placed in front of me, it was time to try something new. I took one of the clams and added some lime to it. I was shocked to see that it was so fresh that it was still moving! ...yes, this little guy was served so fresh it was still alive. I looked at Vincent and he said “some of them gave us a hard time”. Ladies and gentleman this is when I knew that La Sirena was for real. Unfortunately these clams were so fresh it scared Carina and she couldn’t bring herself to try one.

Throughout the evening I tasted several dishes such as their thinly sliced raw tuna. I was a little disappointed with this dish simply because they “drowned” it in soy sauce. This happened with another dish too. My feedback to Vincent and his team included these points;

What I liked.....

**The seafood is fresh. I asked for Oysters and they said they couldn’t get any today so it wasn’t an option. I like hearing this. Seafood needs to be fresh or we risk a painful experience.

**The service was great. A good team will ensure your drinks are filled and know when you want something.

**The casual atmosphere. I felt like I could dress up or show up in shorts. Leah was also permitted to sit beside us which was cool. Dog lovers take note, so long as you sit outside they’ll cool with it.

**I thought the prices were fair given how fresh the seafood was.

What needs to be improved...

**Your fresh seafood tastes great but some of your dishes had too much soy sauce or other sauces. By the time you have that last bite of fish it ends up tasting like sauce. Maybe put these sauces on the side or reduce the amount you initially put?

**I know the restaurant is new and you need time to make changes. I just found that Cuban music in a seafood restaurant which is very colorful kind of gave me mixed messages. But now that I know one of the owners is Colombian and you’re from Spain, it made a little more sense why La Sirena seemed to be a little of everything but I don’t think most people will know this when they walk in. Maybe if you dimmed the lights a little the colors wouldn’t stand out as much + played music from Spain or any calm, authentic seafood town related music?

**Your chocolate mousse wasn’t good. It didn’t taste like chocolate.

It was time for dessert which three options were given. We chose two of them, a corn bread cake served with a vanilla sauce and a chocolate mousse cake. Truthfully I wasn’t blown away by the La Sirenas desserts. Francois and I each had a bite of the chocolate mousse cake and looked at each other. It was that confused what just happened look. Clearly it didn’t taste like chocolate, we weren’t sure what it tasted like.

So overall I really enjoyed my experience at La Sirena. I think for a restaurant that opened 40+ days ago the team at La Sirena has done a great job. The service was excellent, the decor was interesting and most importantly the seafood was so fresh it was still moving! At the end of the day it’s all about quality food at a fair price and La Sirena accomplished this mission. Congrats Vincent! i’ll definitely be coming back.