WOW! This place is incredible.
My fiancé and I had been looking around Yelp and Trip Advisor for a good, fancy shmancy, dinner to have on our last night in Merida. This place was ALL over Trip Advisor, thousands of reviews, and the food looked phenomenal! So we decided upon it. Although, looking at it on yelp I became a little worried because there weren't many reviews and when there were-they were all mixed. But, in Yelps defense, I feel like this platform isn't used nearly as much as Trip Advisor when traveling abroad. Or maybe its just in Mexico? Anyway, here I am to help out the Mexico Yelp scene!
I 100% recommend going here if you're looking for a nice dinner. We sat outside because the weather was beautiful and the outside square was gorgeous. We were greeted by our friendly server Amile (I hope that's how you smell his name). He greeted us promptly, let us choose where we wanted to sit, and got our drink order right away. He was a WONDERFUL server! Very quick, and attentive, and patient.
I'll dive right into the food. It was orgasmic. Not even joking. For an app we had chorizo and cheese. The presentation was great. It came in a cute small cast iron skillet. The cheese was sooo, I don't even know the word. Gooey? Stringy? You know when you pull out a piece of pizza from the pie and half of the cheese doesn't want to let go and the other half is hanging on for the ride? Yes, like that! The chorizo was perfect. Not spicy, but gave the dish some really good flavor. This dish fed 4 of us, each having two bites. Very filling even though it was small. I definitely recommend it!
For my meal I got the Wild Pig Leg. It was between that and the Octopus because those two were raved about most on Trip Advisor. I decided the pig leg because when was I going to get the chance to have Yucatán Pig again? And boy was I happy I made that decision. The leg was HUGE! I mean, my picture does not do that thing justice. The seasoning/marinade/sauce on it was incredible! It was a tomato based sauce. But it had the consistency of BBQ sauce, where it stays on the pork and doesn't drip all over the plate. The leg must have been slow roasted because it fell off the bone and flaked with a fork. Oh my gosh. And then it came with two pieces of char grilled cactus which let off this INCREDIBLE smokey flavor which complimented the pig leg so well. If you are a foodie you MUST give this dish a try! Amazing!
Now. If you're still reading and I have your attention I'm going to direct you on a dish NOT to get. That would be the 'Xcatic' gratin chili filled with crab, covered in tomato sauce. The presentation of this reminded me of enchiladas. So, very poor. Also the taste. You could really taste the crab. Which is something I love about a dish, usually, but this was all you could taste. Which threw my fiancé off quite a bit as it was too strong for him. It tasted more like an Italian dish than anything else. Crab and tomato sauce. He was VERY disappointed in his meal. I was too. And I gave him some of my pig to cheer him up.
My soon to be father in law got the steak. I think it was a ribeye? Although I'm not sure. Regardless, he said it was the BEST steak he ever had in his life. Which is saying a lot because nothing impresses him. And my soon to be mother in law got the lobster which was delicious, but it tasted like, lobster. I'm not the biggest lobster fan because there is not much meat and it always tastes the same. But she thoroughly enjoyed it!
The atmosphere was great, the music outside was a nice house music. Ill admit I could see it being slightly loud, but my fiancée and I being younger (we are both 30) LOVED it. His parents(late 50's) said it was too loud, which is a common complaint I was seeing on Trip Advisor. So if you're trying to have a nice quiet dinner with some deep conversation I would maybe consider sitting inside?
All in all I don't see how this place gets any kind of bad reviews. My recommendations: Chorizo and cheese app. WILD PIG LEG. Steak is good, lobster is good, and while I didn't get it, try the grilled octopus! Everyone raves about it. I would stick to these your first time, and then after that you can venture out. I feel the dishes this place has to offer are very hit or miss so be careful. And, if all else fails, look on Trip Advisor until we get more Yelpers to review the food! read more