I felt a bit conflicted on how to rate my experience at Ka'teen. I came here on a date night with…read moremy husband and had a mixed experience. We had the earliest reservation available at 5:30 PM. When we arrived, we had to join a line outside in the rain as the restaurant was a few minutes late to opening. While it wasn't a huge deal, it's not something I've experienced before. Shortly after, we were let into the outdoor restaurant through a beautiful thatch tunnel.
The aesthetic is stunning. There is a lot of lush greenery and beautiful woven lantern lights, complemented by chill, ambient house music playing throughout. Unfortunately, we were seated very close to a speaker, so the volume was way too loud and made it a bit hard to hear--less than ideal for a date night, though I understand and appreciate the vision. The restaurant also burns incense that fills the air, which I believe was Palo Santo. I personally love that scent, so it was enjoyable for me, but it's something to be mindful of if you are sensitive to smoke or fragrances. Since this restaurant is attached to a hotel, the crowd vibe is a bit odd. Some people, like my husband and me, were dressed nicely for a date night or birthday celebration, while others were literally wearing sweats, flip-flops, and baseball caps. I know the restaurant is catering to hotel guests, but I do wish there was at least a minimal dress code to align with the gorgeous aesthetic and the steep cost of the meal.
All of the staff we interacted with were incredibly kind! Our server was wonderful. He was genuinely so nice, and we really appreciated this part of our visit a lot. We ordered quite a bit of food, so we got to taste a lot of the menu. My husband had a Mezcalita de Yucatán to start, and for food, we ordered the blood orange aguachile, the potato taquitos, the cochinita pibil, the oxtail frites, the corn esquite, and the frijoles de la olla. As the sun goes down, the restaurant uses ambient lighting. While I usually like this, one major flaw is that there is so little light that we couldn't see what we were eating by the time our main courses came. Part of the experience of dining is the visual, and we genuinely were unable to see our plates.
I don't personally drink mezcal, but my husband enjoyed his cocktail and said it was light and refreshing. The blue prawn and blood orange aguachile featured a delicious, vibrantly tart crimson sauce with a great chili kick, but the prawns themselves were disappointingly mushy and stringy rather than snap-tender. Unfortunately, the dish was held back further by being served with only two very dry, sub-par tostadas. The potato taquitos were exactly as expected; you can't really mess up a dish that is fried and filled with potatoes.
The flavor profile of the oxtail sauce was fantastic and the small amount of meat available was incredibly tasty, but the dish suffered from structural flaws. The oxtail itself was disappointingly skimpy on meat. This was okay since my husband and I shared both of the mains, but for the price point, the portion of meat should be more generous. Also, because the Yucatán frites were served directly in the heavy sauce, they quickly became soggy, developing a starchy and slightly slimy texture rather than a crisp bite. The cochinita pibil was yummy, and the pork pulled apart beautifully alongside the excellent fresh tortillas. As for the sides, the frijoles were solid but unremarkable, and while the esquites tasted good, they were a tad too soupy in consistency.
While the kitchen clearly understands flavor profiles, the technical execution across all dishes was flawed. Worse still, unfortunately, we ended up with food poisoning after eating here. I cannot say for certain which dish caused it since we ordered an array of things on the menu, but it was a huge bummer, and I would definitely be hesitant to recommend Ka'teen consequently.