Adam D.
Yelp
This has to be the nicest restaurant in Juarez. That may seem odd to read given the two stars, but I'll explain.
Nine of us went here for a birthday celebration and I was blown away by the ambience. Very elegant. The birthday boy hyped this place up a lot so between that and my initial impression of the place, I was very surprised to learn it only had 2 stars on Yelp, albeit based only on 5 reviews. But even before getting served, I could start to see why.
The group left me in charge of the wine selection. I opted for a 2015 Cabernet Franc to try to please everyone, which worked out so well, we ordered another bottle within 10-15 minutes. And this is where things started to go downhill. Rather than letting me taste the second bottle, the waiter topped off my glass, which still had some wine in it from the previous bottle. I took a sip after the top-off and nearly spit the wine back in the glass. I was certain either the second bottle was corked or that they mistakenly served us a different wine. I subsequently compared the bottles only to notice the second bottle was a 2016 whereas the first bottle was a 2015, as advertised in the menu. Of the 6 of us drinking wine, only one person liked the 2016, so we kept it, at which time I began to seriously question his palate. Fortunately, they had two bottles of the 2015 left so we ordered and finished both. Unfortunately, they ruined some of my first glass by committing the ultimate wine sin of mixing two different bottles in the same glass without letting me taste the second bottle, which was only made worse by the fact that they weren't even the same year. In a fancy place like this, that sort of thing shouldn't happen.
For dinner, I ordered the 950 gram bone-in ribeye, which came out 50% cooked the way I wanted (medium rare) and 50% destroyed. It's almost as if they cooked two different steaks at two different temperatures, sliced each and put some of each on the same plate. Another example of what shouldn't happen in a place like this. The upshot is the steak did have great flavor.
The same goes for the apps. We ordered a bunch and they were all delicious: the bone marrow, ahi tuna, chicharron de pulpo, and cauliflower.
As for the main courses, two people at the table, including the birthday boy, never got served because they forgot to put in their orders. Fortunately, we had more than enough food anyway. Unfortunately, this was the third instance of something happening that you'd never expect to happen in a place like this.
For all the sanfus - between the wine mixup, the partially overcooked steak and 2 out of 9 people not getting served - I'm stuck on 2 stars. That said, I would gladly give this place a second chance, perhaps because the waiter offered us a tour of the kitchen, which the chef guided. A nice finishing touch to an otherwise mediocre experience.
