Hannah M.

I'm in Guadalajara for a few weeks and I like to do a tasting menu every now and then. After doing some research and asking the community it came down to this or Xocol, but Alcalde's reservations worked out better with my schedule. It was...not good. It's possible it may have been an off day, but I was really disappointed. My gripes: 1. There was no menu. Yes, I understand tasting menus can change day by day. But seriously no printed menu that I can reference there or afterwards? Even the menu online is outdated (almost a year ago). No cocktail menu (I was told by my server "I am the menu") 2. The upcharge for caviar was egregious. It's like $700 MXN extra and my server pushed it on me like a drug dealer. Like "the dish is not meant to be eaten without it" type of shit 3. Wine pairings were irregular and sparse (eg one wine across multiple courses) and not particularly congruent 4. Service was great in the beginning when they were selling me things and then immediately dropped off. All of this would be somewhat excusable if the food had been mind-blowing. Not a single dish was. They ranged from mediocre to good (oh, and the dish that "absolutely needed caviar")? No, it did not. Photos attached, can't tell you what anything is. And I paid handily for this FYI

Erika D.

Phenomenal food and cocktails. Excellent service. Beautiful location. Been wanting to check this place out for a while since seeing it on Latin America 50 Best Restaurants. It didn't disappoint. Looking forward to visiting again on my next trip to Guadalajara.

Melissa P.

I was very excited to try Alcalde after reading about the head chef's background including training in Spain and at Copenhagen's Noma restaurant. We were seated at the bar, which gave us a view of the kitchen. We watched the kitchen staff work seamlessly to prepare each dish. Our waiter guided us through the menu, explaining the origins of each unique dish. We sampled a variety of foods, including pickled hibiscus flowers, insects, aged duck in mole and guava sauce, and a popular Jalisco dessert called buñuelos. We ordered the wine pairing and were excited to get some white Mexican wines from Ensenada, along with a couple of mescal shots. A succession of incredible desserts brought the meal to a satisfying end. Celebrating my birthday at Alcalde was a memorable experience. The dining was exquisite, and the ambiance was beautiful, truly a unique and delicious experience.

Cindy M.

Fabulous Meal! We ordered 3 appetizers to share. Braised Veal and Octopus with Mole for entrees. Rice pudding for dessert. Aside from that: the house bread is delicious and served with a cultured cream instead of butter or olive oil. I was raving about the tang in the sour cream and assumed they made it in house because it tasted very special. We asked the waiter and he said it was made from a farm near Ajijic. I couldn't understand him and he said, well, do you know where Chapala is? OK, yes, I do! I live there! Did I leave with the name of sour cream maker? Sadly, no. I'd laugh if they said Sello Rojo! White mole tartlet for an amuse-bouche, made my palate zing. Lastly, a very wonderful palate cleanser before dessert, it had cucumber and some frozen bits of the sea and seaweed in it and maybe something else? Perfect few bites to take away the mole and braised veal before diving into the most memorable bowl of rice pudding the world has ever seen! Service was incredible. We arrived (very) early; we were planning to walk around a bit but my shoe broke and we were seated and had a cocktail. This kitchen works on an early (4:30?) and 7PM seating schedule, so we didn't expect to get anything before the dinner bell rang. The servers all have a great rhythm of working together, checking on guests and (without asking) they explained every dish in detail. We ordered à la carte, but other diners were gorging on the 10 course tasting menu and the servers never missed a beat. I read a few reviews where people said the service checks were an annoyance and I didn't find that to be the case at all. I think they are very good at reading guests and knowing when to fire the next dish and allowing us time to talk and moan and make other inappropriate noises for a fine dining establishment. Wine: They have an extensive wine menu and it features global winners. We noticed (but couldn't afford) the Domaine Carneros Brut Rosé bubbly that we served at our wedding dinner. Also Shafer's Red Shoulder Ranch was represented...we named our dog Tucker after a dog we met at that winery 23 years ago! A little serendipity interwoven with the choice of this restaurant. The wine list was pricey. I would be happy if they offered a few less expensive but highly rated wines in their selection. The cocktails were also expensive. Small glasses and one of the fancy giant square ice cubes. I understand pricing a specialty cocktail made with specialty liquors at a more expensive price point, but I can (and do) make a Negroni at home with the same alcohol that they use in the restaurant. Value: I didn't mind the pricing on the food. When you get a chance to eat locally available ingredients prepared by a master globally-experienced chef* like this, it's worth the price! If you are visiting GDL from a foreign country, you'd find this place a great value compared to pricing in your country. Ambiance: It's a nice small restaurant with comfortable chairs and tables. You can see what's going on in the kitchen when you walk by (or if you are seated for a special Chef's Table Meal). The restroom is upstairs from the main dining level (which is one flight up) and they had nice soap and lotion and cloth towels for hand drying. *If you haven't read about Chef Ruano, you might want to go to their website and read his bio. Impressive. I was fan-girling a bit.

Jennica C.

Such an amazing dinner. Every course was prepared so elegantly and the presentation everything. I highly recommend this place to anyone visiting Guadalajara. The staff and service was impeccable. The ambiance was nice and welcoming.

Xiao Z.

What an amazing treat to have dined here, one of the top 50 restaurants in the Latin America region. The food and the ambiance was perfect, and the staff are fully bilingual. Our waiter, Sam, was incredibly well-versed in the wine pairing and curated the entire meal, while allowing us to order an a-la-carte supplement as well. My absolute favorite part of this dining experience was how on-point the pairing was, I'd say that about 50% of the pairing were excellent, 5-10% were extraordinary. We also got the opportunity to sample some rare tequila that matched well with the dishes. My least favorite dish was probably the last meat/warm dish (sausage-based), but that is due to my salt-averse taste buds. Overall, let loose your belt and your wallet (depends on how many mixed drinks you get) and have a fantastic time!

Brandon Y.

This place is phenomenal! A very well balanced menu with such amazing dishes. My favorites were the macadamia nut tart, the tyaluda and the ikura dish with caviar/uni. Caviar on flan was also such an incredible combination. The ambiance is elevated homey bistro vibes. Sam my server had great recommendations for cocktails. Honestly a top restaurant in all of Latin America.

Anthony B.

Absolutely fabulous, 12/10. Everything was so chic and pretty and amazing and creative. Great food and great space.

Vicky P.

If you sit at the bar overlooking the kitchen they require you do the ten course tasting menu. But it's definitely worth it. I did the tasting menu. Each dish had a very unique and local inspired flavors. Dishes vary in size from one bite to full plates. I went at 7pm on a Wednesday and didn't need a reservation.

Cristina S.

We made the reservation a few months in advance and we were so excited to try Alcalde. This experience did not disappoint. We did the 10 course plus the wine pairing. Some reviews state the pour was small but it was quite nice and just enough. We enjoyed every dish and our server Samuel was incredible. He really took us on a culinary journey and every bite was delicious. I highly recommend.

Jasmine S.

Severely disappointed in the 10 course tasting menu. There were 3 'fresh' courses, 4 meat and 3 dessert courses. Of the 4 meat courses - 1 was fish crudo, 1 was ants, 1 was pork, worms and crickets and 1 was little bits of tongue. I don't eat pork so the team removed the pork just leaving the worms and crickets. I like eating bugs, no problem there, but to remove and not replace with a more substantive meat I find lazy and discourteous to the large population of people who don't eat pork for religious reasons. Negligent truly. The final dessert course was 1 piece of gelatin with smoked agave. To be included in the tasting menu... again I think it's lazy. You have 10 moments to tell a story and for your final taste you decide to deliver 1 soft bite of sugar? Just call it 9 courses and give the marshmallow complimentary. Many of the courses were 1-4 bites which I actually enjoy because it allows you to truly taste without it getting too full but at some point it's like ok what am I paying for. Especially since there weren't any robust meat dishes (given I don't eat pork and they just removed it) I thought some dishes were exploratory and unique, I thought some dishes were boring and lacking flavor and some dishes had poor presentation. I would not recommend the tasting menu and am frankly confused how Alcalde got such recognition over its neighboring fine dining competitors.

The food here is an experience of culture & ingredients that stimulate your taste buds like never before. The flavors take you on a journey that's rarely seen in high end restaurants. Service was great, with attention to every single detail, love how they explain the food courses & how to eat them. They kept bringing new silverware & clean the table after each course. Ambience was fancy with instrumental background music. Everyone was dressed up fancy, but I went in my workout clothes without any issues. Also they were fully booked for dinner, so I ended up going early at 3:30pm and got seated right away.

Janet N.

Alcalde,is a Must if your in town. Thank You to The Chef and his crew! Very eclectic cuisine :) We enjoyed every flavor and texture. To start we ordered Aguachile verde de camaron, & "No tetela" de hongos, For entree we had Pulpo acompañado de berenjena japonesa, Pieza de lechón al horno con mole barranqueño, Pescado alcaparrado con alcachofas y crema untuosa de papa. We had no room for desert we even forgot we had ordered it, But it was soooo delicious we finished both. For desert we ordered Arroz con leche servido con helado de canela,& Tarta de queso Stilton, helado de triple vainilla y trufa rayada. Must try both!!! Thank you to our waitress she was knowledgeable and attentive. Thank you to the other gentleman whom was also helpful making sure we had full glasses of water throughout our dinner.