Restaurante El Mesón Criollo

Stepping into Criollo, we have been immediately struck by the atmosphere of its interiors. With high hopes, we settled in for what was promised to be a 6-course fine dining experience. However, the evening turned out to be a mixed bag of emotions. The initial courses set a decent tone. The appetizers, while not groundbreaking, were palatable and hinted at the potential of the meal. But as the courses rolled out, the promise began to wane. The main highlight, or rather lowlight, was the breaded fish with panko crust dish. The fish was juicy but lacked the finesse and flavor one would associate with a restaurant in the fine dining category. The beverage choices further underscored the evening's inconsistencies. Being served the same Mezcal twice was perplexing. While the staff did attempt to rectify the oversight by offering a replacement, it was, disappointingly, another Mezcal. A broader selection would have greatly enhanced the dining experience. It wasn't just our table that seemed to share these sentiments. A quick glance around revealed other diners in a similar state of subdued disappointment. In summary, Criollo has the ambiance to be a top-tier restaurant but falls short in delivering a consistent and memorable culinary journey. One can only hope they take feedback to heart and elevate their offerings to match their setting.

If you 're interested in more unusual or experimental dishes and don 't mind the price, then this place is perfect for you and will be worth it. If you want dish after dish that 's been perfected over many years, or if you need more bang for your buck, go elsewhere. The reviews are comparatively mixed for a place like this, and we were certainly glad we went in the end, but I can understand that it 's probably not for everybody. The menu rotates three times a week ! . Our dessert course wasn 't just an excellent chocolate mousse; it needed a twist in the form of some mango. Personally I didn 't find that twist terribly successful, but there are always hits and misses. On the other end, a couple of the dishes were among the best I had in Oaxaca, like the Japanese-inspired soup course. The rest were at least very good. For context, we also ate at Casa Oaxaca, Los Danzantes, and Cathedral. My personal ranking was Los Danzantes Criollo Casa Oaxaca Catedral. Detailed dish reviews are at the end. The location is slightly further from the Zocalo than the other fine dining in the city, in a slightly worse part of town. The building is lovely, centered around a courtyard patio. The patio has somewhat more intimate lighting, and I liked it a lot. The decor and ambiance was very nice, though it 's perhaps on the lower end of fine dining at this price point. It started raining as we ate, but they have a tarp system and it didn 't bother us at all. Actually it was quite peaceful to hear the sound of water. We were very happy with service overall. Friendly, accommodating, quick, clear--generally excellent. It was unfortunately somewhat marred by an error on the bill of around 700 pesos. I caught it and it was corrected immediately though. You 're intended to order the tasting menu, which we did. We did not go for the wine pairing option and instead tried several cocktails. We liked them all, some quite a lot. Dishes: 1. Pipian verde and chile en nogada. The pipian verde was on a tlayuda-like base and was excellent--one of the best dishes we had in Oaxaca. The chile en nogada was a bit disappointing. I would have preferred it hot with the sauce poured over at the table. It was still very good , I 'd just expect more at this price point. 2. Japanese-inspired Oaxacan soup. This was also excellent--the best soup we had in Oaxaca. Very unusual mix of flavors including dashi, lemon, bacon-like pork, beans, nopal and more. By far the most successful experiment for us, and a dish that helped make the whole dining experience worthwhile. 3. Creamy bean and chorizo tamal. Fine. The creamy sauce was too much--something between mayo and guacamole. Maybe it needed more varied texture. 4. Rib eye in mole. Excellent. The meat was great, the sauce was wonderful--I believe a bean and herb mix. I say mole, though the consistency was a little thinner than usual. 5. Oaxacana stew with cauliflower. Wonderful. Another mole sauce over meat, this time with a roasted cauliflower ball and topped with a peach tapenade. Complex flavors combined in several beautiful bites. 6. Chocolate mousse, with mango chunks, vanilla ice cream, and a chocolate wafer. All very good, though I found the mango distracting and discordant with the other flavors. Still a fine ending.

I almost cancelled after reading the reviews and am glad I did not. This is the second time I have eaten there are both times were excellent. Yes, some of the dishes were kind of weird but everything was delicious. My favorite was a cold mango soup with tiny cubes of fruit and squash along with flecks of chocolate. I highly recommend.

Very disappointed! We had the tasting menu, dishes ok, one was delicious, the soup. The young waiter was rushing, bringing the plates too soon, we had to tell him yo flow down; the pairing…didn’t like it. The place was beautiful but lacked “essence”. We had been to Casa Oaxaca the night before, the food, wine pairing, service, were excellent. I’m glad we went but will never go back to Criollo.

Took a taxi here for lunch on a Tuesday in early July 2023. We made a reservation an hour beforehand on their website. It was a prefixed menu and we had no idea what we were going to be served next. It was recommended to us by my fiance's brother-in-law. They have both Spanish and English speaking servers to introduce each of the six courses. Their dishes were very beautiful and some were very tasty. Some could have used a little more acid. All in all it was a wonderful meal. They had a beautiful garden with a bird cage and a free roaming rooster and rabbit. The chamomile infused water was a nice touch. They were very careful about food allergies and even came out to reclaim a dish when they realized the sauce had mole in it (I hadn't started on the dish yet). They substituted each dish based on our individual dietary restrictions. They even checked in to ask if we needed a break before the next course when they noticed we were getting too full. We spent three hours and MX$3,190 there for two people and we each ordered a beverage. Great meal, great ambiance, and definitely worth the visit if you're in Oaxaca.