Restaurant Pelicanos II

Restaurant Pelicanos II occupies a palapa-roofed spot on the Champoton waterfront, serving a mainly local clientele generous coastal plates at prices among the lowest of any seafood restaurant covered in this guide. It sits alongside Champoton's other malecon restaurants but keeps a lower profile and a more local, less visitor-oriented character, reflected in both its pricing and its unpretentious palapa construction.

Caldo de mariscos, a hearty mixed seafood soup, is the dish most associated with the restaurant and a substantial meal in its own right, arriving with tortillas and the habanero salsa that accompanies most plates in Campeche state. Camarones a la diabla, shrimp in a fiery tomato-chilli sauce, and filete al mojo de ajo, fish fillet in garlic butter, cover the more classic end of the menu, while coctel campechano offers a mixed seafood cocktail for a lighter order. Portions across the board are generous relative to the price, which is much of the restaurant's local appeal.

The dining room is a simple open-sided palapa structure typical of small Gulf coast towns, with plastic furniture and no attempt at design beyond functionality. Noise level rises at Sunday lunch specifically, when Champoton families take over the malecon and the restaurant fills alongside its neighbours, but the rest of the week it runs at a calm, unhurried pace.

Pricing is the restaurant's clearest selling point: mains generally MXN 100 to MXN 200, and a full meal with a drink typically MXN 180 to MXN 320 per person, noticeably below even the other Champoton waterfront restaurants. There is no reservation system; walk-in seating is standard throughout the week, with Sunday lunch the one time a short wait might occur.