Rino’s Pizza Time Ristorante & Panninoteca

Calamari

Once again downtown Cancun has a new culinary attraction for the locals.The owners, Andrea Rino and the chef of Limoncello, in the Hotel Zone, have brought us a little  taste of Italy to the corner of Coba and Bonampak. Last week hubby, myself and a friend of ours decided to check it out. We arrived early by Cancun standards so the place was empty but that was okay since the three of us were in high spirits so we made our own buzz.We chose a table, with an old school Mom and Pop style Italian checkered tablecloth,  upstairs and on the terrace overlooking Bonampak Avenue. Erika and I ordered a jarra of wine (reasonably priced) and hubby a chelada and we settled in to explore their extensive menu.

Rino's Pizza Time Ristorante & Panninoteca

We chose the calamari to start with and an Italian sausage with mushrooms and mozzarella cheese pizza to share. The calamari arrived and we hungrily ”dug” in to try it. Erika really liked it but I; however, had a few reservations. I found it somewhat soggy lacking more crunch but to be honest I have yet to find a really good calamari dish in Cancun. Next the pizza was up and I was pleasantly surprised to note that the mozzarella cheese wasn’t your typical shredded pseudo mozza that is quite common here but real buffalo mozzarella thickly sliced ,placed on top of the sauce and under the zesty Italian sausage. I eagerly served myself a slice and sank my teeth into it hoping for an explosion of flavour that would  rock my taste buds. I was not disappointed in the flavour department but (yes sadly there is a but) the really thin crust was undercooked and doughy in parts of the pizza. We polished it off anyway as the actual flavour of the pizza was great. We mentioned it to our waiter and he was happy to receive our feedback since the restaurant had only been open for about a week and understandably so they were still ironing out a few kinks.

Menu

We discussed the other dishes on the menu and picked out a few  that we would like to try on our next visit to Rino’s. We paid the bill and had a quick chat with Andrea, a very friendly gentleman, and headed home. Overall Rino’s Pizza Time Ristorante & Panninoteca has the potential to be a great new spot for locals and tourists alike. They have two spacious outdoor areas and plenty of room indoors all  pleasantly decorated with a friendly staff and an interesting menu. I am looking forward to going back soon!

Italian Sausage Pizza

**** Update–We have been back to Rino’s a couple of times since my first review and we have been very impressed with the food. We now ask that they make sure that the bottom of our pizza is crispy. Their house Mozzarella is divine!! I also recommend the hot appetizer dish of clams and mussels (I only order the clams as I am not a huge fan of mussels)…the clams were amazing and the broth was so tasty that we didn’t leave a drop.