This was a bucket list destination for me for a while because of it consistently being listed as…read moreone of the top restaurants in the world. I thought that the service was absolutely impeccable... I've never seen such meticulous, detail-oriented service at a restaurant in my life. Each plate and cocktail was a real piece of art as well, not just because it looked good but because of how creative they were with ingredients, technique and preparation.
Despite these qualities that are certainly characteristic of a two Michelin star place like this, I left fairly disappointed because the food itself didn't taste that great. Usually places like this you're going to have dishes you don't like, some that are okay, and some you'll remember for a lifetime. But none of the plates here were memorable and a lot of them actually were incredibly salty. Plus the cost of the meal was around $800 after initial deposit + bill, and it's not a great feeling walking out after paying that much and feeling like it wasn't worth it.
If I were to pick a couple of dishes I enjoyed the most it would be the pickled clams with caviar, leek and potato, and the pibil pork tamal with young corn cream. The cream on the tamal tasted like crema but was made out of something ("young corn"?) that crema is not usually made out of, which was impressive. The pickled clams were very unique, quite an enjoyable way to have clams.
The most beautifully presented dish of the night was the lettuces from Tepotzotlán which was consumed by carefully dipping each piece of leaf in a sauce with a bunch of things I've never heard of ("sikil pak, Cuadro cheese and celeriac bushi"?). Despite the presentation and creativity, the taste was mostly just nutty and salty and it got pretty redundant eating it. We noticed a table next to us that just decided to not finish it.
I was leaning towards more of a three star rating here just because of the unimpressive flavors paired with the steep price resulting in a poor value meal. But the quality and professionalism of the service and overall operation was truly impressive and earns them an extra star. The interior of the restaurant/ambience wasn't particularly impressive either, but every detail of the restaurant from the service to the table cloths to the bathrooms was carefully considered. Overall though if you're looking to be blown away by the taste of the food and just have a really solid, Mexico City-style meal, I wouldn't recommend this place for that. I am not sure who I would recommend this place to honestly.