August 13, 2026 · Menu Guide · MERO 18
You sit down under the palms, open the menu, and there it is: oysters by the piece, three styles of aguachile, tostadas, tiraditos, sushi rolls, even a full breakfast list. It's easy to spend ten minutes deciding. So here's the short, honest answer to what to order at MERO 18 on a first visit — course by course, with the actual prices on our menu and a separate route for anyone who finds us in the morning.
How the MERO 18 menu is built
The menu has two souls sharing one table. There's the cold bar: oysters shucked in front of you, ceviches made with the catch of the day, aguachiles and tiraditos. And there's the Caribbean–Japanese kitchen: five signature sushi rolls with Japanese technique and a Caribbean soul. Around them sit a handful of starters, two desserts, Mexican wine and a short cocktail list. If you'd rather read the whole thing first, here's the full menu with prices.
Some context before you order: we're on Avenida Carlos Nader, in downtown Cancún, inside Mezcal Boutique Hotel — and open to everyone, hotel guest or not. The place is, quite literally, a jungle hidden in the historic heart of Cancún: palm trees, canvas sails and a cenote-style pool. When midday heat gets serious, there's a glass-walled indoor dining room with air conditioning wrapped by the same garden; the patio is for sunset.
Start here: oysters, shucked to order
If you order one thing before anything else, make it cold oysters. They go by the piece at $50 MXN and are opened right in front of you, so you can build your own round of three, six or twelve. Seven dressings are on offer — natural, ponzu, shaved, green aguachile, salsa diabla, cocktail sauce or black — and the smart move is three the same, three different, so you can taste the difference. Prefer something warm and buttery? The baked Rockefeller oysters are $80 MXN apiece.
Not an oyster person? The guacamole served in a molcajete ($150) has never let anyone down, and the tuna tartare ($180) is the more elegant opener. If you're in a celebratory mood, Shot Shot Shot ($170) is a fresh oyster shot with citrus and chile served in a glass skull — the photo takes itself.
The one not to skip: black aguachile
If we had to bet on a single dish for your first visit, we'd bet on the black aguachile. Order it as shrimp aguachile ($200) or conch aguachile ($220), then choose your style: spicy green, Sinaloa-style or black. The black is a dark broth of charred chiles — toasted, deep, unlike anything else on the menu. On TripAdvisor, Luis T. wrote that "the black aguachile is a delicacy." We'd rather you decide for yourself.
One practical note: aguachile doesn't wait. It's dressed seconds before it reaches the table and it's meant to be eaten immediately, so order it once everyone is seated. If you want the backstory and the reason it bites the way it does, we wrote about black aguachile in full.
The bridge: tostadas, ceviches and tiraditos
This is where a meal turns into a shared table. Tostadas are the most direct way to taste the product: shrimp $170, tuna or salmon $190, conch $200. Order two different ones and cut them in half.
Ceviches are the cold bar's main event: catch of the day $180, shrimp $200 or conch $220, in three styles — chile ash, traditional or mango curry. And if thin slices are your thing, the tuna tiradito ($235) and salmon tiradito ($290) come with either leche de tigre or ponzu; the ponzu version is the most Japanese thing we make.
The plot twist: Caribbean–Japanese rolls
Plenty of guests arrive for the raw seafood and leave talking about the sushi. There are five rolls, with no ambition to build an endless list: Two Tunas ($170) — avocado, chives and jalapeño, the house favorite; Sweet plantain & cheese ($165) with shrimp, eel sauce and toasted sesame; Shrimp Tempura ($170) with masago, cheese and avocado; Salmon ($200) with spicy crab and fried leek; and the Breaded roll ($200), with shrimp, two cheeses, crab and tamarind sauce for anyone who wants crunch and a little sweetness.
Traveling with a split group — oyster purists on one side, sushi people on the other? That exact standoff is the subject of our seafood and sushi guide to Cancún.
How to finish
Our dessert section fits in two lines, and we like it that way. The crème brûlée ($165) — caramel crust, candied citrus — is what we bring out for birthdays. The fried plantain ($165), with jam, condensed milk and ice cream, is the tropical ending that shares best.
What to drink with all of it
The wine list is short and proudly Mexican. With ceviches and aguachiles, a white from Valle de Guadalupe or Parras keeps up with the lime instead of fighting it: Casa Madero Chardonnay 2023 ($245) or Concreto Chardonnay 2023 ($265). Rosés run around $240. If the breaded roll has you wanting red, there's Tinto XA ($150) and Casa Madero 3V ($300).
Want something over ice instead? Beer is $60 (Corona or Modelo) and $70 for Heineken, Mezcal 400 Conejos is $180, and the signature cocktail list covers margaritas, mules, spritzes, mojitos and carajillos. More in our guide to pairing mezcal and Mexican wine with seafood.
What to order at MERO 18 for breakfast
A lot of people don't realize we serve breakfast every day from 7:00 am to 12:30 pm, out by the pool with morning light coming through the palms. The Mexican route starts with chilaquiles — with egg $195, with chicken $210, with shrimp $230 — or huevos motuleños ($205). The international route runs through shakshuka ($215), MERO 18 Benedict ($220) or the salmon bagel ($280). The sweet route: classic pancakes ($150) or French toast ($195).
To drink: freshly squeezed orange juice $110, cappuccino $85, and ten cold-pressed juices between $110 and $125. It's all on the breakfast menu.
Four ways to build a first visit
- Two people, no overthinking: six mixed cold oysters, a shrimp aguachile in black, a Two Tunas roll, crème brûlée.
- A table of four: guacamole and tuna tartare to open; tuna and shrimp tostadas; a catch-of-the-day ceviche in mango curry; two rolls in the middle.
- A light midday stop: tuna tiradito in ponzu and a few oysters with a glass of Mexican white — best in the air-conditioned dining room.
- A slow breakfast: a cold-pressed juice, shrimp chilaquiles and a cappuccino next to the water.
Know what you're ordering? Book a table in under a minute — fill in the form, WhatsApp opens with your request ready to send, and we confirm right away.
Come decide with the menu in hand
You'll find us on Avenida Carlos Nader, in downtown Cancún, inside Mezcal Boutique Hotel and open to absolutely everyone. We serve every day from 7:00 am to 11:00 pm without closing between services: breakfast, cold bar at midday, dinner in the garden. On TripAdvisor we hold 5.0 stars, a Travelers' Choice award and the #20 spot out of 1,380 restaurants in Cancún; on Google, 4.9. If you'd rather read other diners first, we gathered what they say in MERO 18 reviews — and if you're here for the mollusks, there's our guide to oysters in Cancún.