So I looked at the Chowhound thread and noted the names of the restaurants mentioned in it...
Garden of Eatin'
Hemingway's
Oasis
Babes
John Gray's
Wicky's
etc.
Is this Playa del Carmen, or Butterfield Road?
Well, maybe that's what Playa has become, or maybe you can still find an entirely different Playa del Carmen just a block or two over, as
I did some years back. (Sorry the photos are missing, I'll have to put those back one of these days.