Auma – Hilton Cancun’s Must Try Steak House

You guessed it! Auma requires reservations. This one fills up fast, so get on it as soon as you can if this one makes your list! 

Dinner and Entertainment…

We made another late-night reservation for Auma, The Hilton Cancun’s premier steak house. We had heard some of our fellow travelers raving about it in the first couple of days of our stay and were looking forward to it. The restaurant entrance is hidden in the lobby corner and easy to miss if you are not looking for it. Glass doors slide open automatically to reveal an unassuming logo and a short hallway entrance with a massive wall of wine just behind the host/hostess table. 

The night was too beautiful to sit inside, and our hostess sat us at a small table with an ocean view. As an added bonus, there was live music happening at the auditorium that evening, so we had entertainment along with our dinner. It was mostly ’90s covers, and the female vocalist would have made Mariah Carey proud with how well and confidently she was hitting her high notes. Between ballads and bops, our two (yes two!) waiters came and introduced themselves to us as “Batman and Robin.” They were having fun and wanted to make sure we were having fun as well, so when “Robin” asked what we would like to drink, we asked him to bring us his favorite drink in the house as we looked over the menu. 

He brought back the strongest margarita that we had during the entire stay of our trip. The strength of the tequila did not take away from the fresh lime zip that every good margarita should have. 

The Food

For our starter we ordered the Carpaccio de Betabel Asado, or the Charred Beet Carpaccio. After our dinner at La Luce, I was curious as to how a vegetarian carpaccio would compare to the traditional dish. It was composed of coal-roasted beets, ash goat cheese, Yucatan orange, arugula, and sea salt. While I enjoyed the flavors, most of the beets were missing the thinly sliced composition that I had been hoping for. I ended up having to finish this one on my own, as my cousin, who had joined me for dinner, did not care for the beets. 

Our Batman and Robin also brought us a bread plate with a spicy chimichurri sauce and hummus. I was surprised with the hummus being at a steakhouse as that is not something that I had seen before, but not only that, the hummus had ditched the traditional olive oil that composes it and replaced it with sesame oil. The fragrant oil completely changed the flavor profile from any hummus I had before. 

Because of this, when it came to ordering entrees, I ordered the hummus and falafel plate just to have more. We also ordered the Over Embers NY Strip Steak to share, medium, of course. We asked Robin which side was the favorite and went with his suggestion of the loaded baked potato. When the entrees came, we could see that we had overestimated ourselves. The serving sizes were massive. The steak had a good char crust and was cooked to perfection. The falafel has a good flavor but felt dry even with the hummus and included tzatziki sauce. 

Make sure to save room…

Auma was the only place where we did not get dessert to review during our stay; we were just that full. This is a full regret on my part. The next morning another guest at the hotel pulled out her phone to show me just what I missed. A glass filled with rum and set alight and poured over sea-salt Carmel cheesecake washing over it in blue fire. Absolutely mesmerizing. Make sure you don’t make the mistake we made, and definitely save room for the dessert. 

A Note on Big Guy Seating

Seating at Auma was composed of wooden chairs with either no arms or wide arms, making it though not always super comfortable, definitely Big Guy Compatible.