Before I begin, I need to say that the service here was 5 stars. Welcoming, kind, generous and patient are all words I would use to describe the staff at Mexita. This is where my praise ends...
I had debated whether or not I should have Italian while in Oaxaca. What, I flew all the way here to have pizza that I could have at home? But it seems like Italian restaurants are an important part of the culture here, and I am here to experience their culture, so I figured I would give it a try. Especially with all the rave reviews for this place.
I ordered the house wine to accompany my meal, I believe it was supposed to be a Tempranillo, one of my favorites. The main flavors I picked out were fruitiness, but not like dark, rich fruits, more like lighter, sweeter fruits as well as earth. Don't get me wrong, I love an earthy wine, but when the only other flavor is sweet fruit, it tastes like you dropped a peach on the ground and kept eating it. That being said, the wine was only 80 pesos, which is reasonable for a bad wine in the US, but something tells me, not in Mexico...
I asked for insalata caprese as an appetizer and this was another disappointment. This time I believe it was 160 pesos, so it should be top notch, or at least a solid offering, but it was not. I guess I'm not sure how hard it is to get fresh mozzarella in Oaxaca, but I can't imagine you could get it at the supermarket. That being said, it's pretty easy to make and considering there are already hundreds of artisans around making fresh cheese every day, it shouldn't be hard to have someone make it for you. This particular batch was overdone. Much too rubbery and strongly flavored. It would be great melted on a pizza, but on an insalata caprese, you want tenderness and delicate flavors. The basil was good, but there was not enough of it. The tomatoes were the biggest disappointment for me. Don't get me wrong, I've had worse on insalata caprese, but I've also had much better. In a region that has been growing tomatoes for well over 2,000 years, I expected much better. The tomato is the star of this dish. If the star doesn't shine, this dish doesn't shine. Also, they are incredibly easy to grow, and would also be easy to grow year round here, so what's your excuse? Ok. I thought maybe all of that could be saved by some good cracked pepper and balsamic vinegar. Bring back up the spice lacking by the basil and the sweet acidity lacking in the tomatoes. What I was brought was a pepper shaker(ugh, in the land of fresh ground mole which takes hours to make you don't understand the importance of fresh ground pepper?) and something that seemed to be red wine vinegar mixed with water and grape juice... It did not save the salad. Don't get me wrong, I ate it, but I would have only paid 2/3 that amount even in the US.
OK, let's talk about the main attraction. The pizza. I was perplexed by the pizza in so many ways. First, they go through all this trouble to build a beautiful wood fired oven and hand stretch the dough, and even make a pretty decent crust(still not worth the price, but decent) and then they throw a bunch of shoddy ingredients on there. The sauce was not terrible, but not great either. It didn't live up to the hype or the price. The cheese was ok. It did not detract nor add to the value of the dish. What did detract in a major way was the shrimp. They didn't cook the shrimp on the pizza, nor did they sauté or grill them, so there was no flavor depth to them at all. What they did was to take tiny salad shrimp, vein and all, and I can only imagine they taste the way they did because they cooked them in luke warm water all day, then they threw them on the pizza after it came out so they all fell off when I picked it up(which I was kind of glad about). The final ingredient on the pizza was arugula. Not baby arugula, mind you, but very large arugula, with the big stem still in place and placed in the pizza AFTER it was cut so that you constantly have to shift it around on the pizza so half doesn't fall off when you pick up a slice.
Altogether my feeling is, this place, and I'd imagine Italian food in Oaxaca in general, must be incredibly overrated and overpriced compared to the amazing local food you can get for 30 pesos on the street. If you are a local, I'm sorry that this is the best you have. If you are a tourist, don't waste your time, have another taco, tlayuda, enchilada, tamale, garnacha, etc... read more
