Bar Mexico — Restaurant in Melbourne

5/5 for Bar Mexico 🇲🇽

We came here early afternoon for some drinks over some nice food and it definetly hit the spot!

We arrived at 15:30, just the two of us for an early afternoon of drinks and good food. Bar Mexico did not dissapoint! Located north on high street, perfect location if you live near the 51 tram line or in surrounding streets. A large floorspace with a high ceiling mezzanine inside that looks great for functions/birthdays/work get-togethers'. This floor space was accompanied by a smokers/vape friendly area just out the front with outdoor heaters and a rain cover.

The overall environment gave a street/industrial setting, with a large amount of patron seating and floor space. The lighting was lovely, and the music was great. We sat away from the speakers right near the front facades windows, with a nice view of street and foot traffic, but away from the noise. It wasn't busy at all at this time, but we definetly could see this place being packed during later hours.

For the two of us, we were well fed between the 2 entrees and 1 main shared 'taco feast' platter.

For the entrees we had the elotes and flautas, the elotes was definetly a favourite and will be going back for that alone. The flautas provided a taste of what was to come. For our main, we decided on the 'Taco Feast' to share; chicken adobo and shredded beef, accompanied by corn, pico de gallo and sauces/small bowl of jalapenos. This was well presented as a deconstructed platter.

Alongside the food; the barstaff, drinks and variety were great. Well made and promptly received.

For those with dietary requirements/lifestyles such as GF/FODMAP/vegan there aren't options. But for those of you that are pescatarian or vegetarian you'll have a small handful of options being a fish centered dish, or a meat replacement of marinated black beans. For us, we don't have to work around any restrictions, so the meat was a very delicious option!

All in all, it made for a lovely afternoon out. Will definetly be...

This was the worst Mexican Food I have had in Melbourne and that is a big call as there is very little good Mexican Food in Melbourne. Once we sat down we realised it wasn't going to be great but we pushed ahead because we were hungry. We ordered nachos because we thought it was hard to go wrong. How wrong we were. The cheese was obviously shredded cheese from a bag. How did we know you ask? Because the cheese was not melted at all. The nachos consisted of the shredded cheese, corn chips, flavourless black beans that appeared to be straight out of a can and a grey highly processed guacamole. There was some fresh salsa which was ok. We also ordered the birria quesadilla, described as "our Mexican pizza to share". The only resemblance to a pizza is that it is round and flat. When we got it, it was filled with a very sweet flavoured pulled beef and was accompanied by an equally sweet sauce. We found it pretty inedible. It tasted like the packet pulled meats you get from supermarkets. The dishes were not served with hot sauce; we had to go in search of bottles because the food was so flavourless. The traditional margarita was served with an overpowering smoked salt - not traditional at all. There was a chemical taste that made us assume that the lime juice wasn't fresh. It was Friday night, and the place was pretty empty - so there wasn't much atmosphere. We sat in a small room where the seating was pretty uncomfortable. My partner sat on a chair while I sat on a banquet that was much higher. We laughed that it was like sitting in the principal's office. The staff were pretty nice but they didn't have to do much as we ordered at the bar, so I didn't give a very high score for service as there wasn't really much service. I have since gone through the reviews and I am a little suspicious that there are so many people singing their praises. I have had better food at Taco...

Hopefully just teething issues as this new place settles. Some feedback that I hope is helpful:

Ordering at the bar was painful. The table settings are tricky to constantly maneuver around. It feels set for table service and semi-fine dining, but the dining approach feels like it's also trying to be a brewery/dive bar at the same time. My input would be to pick one or the other. Be fine dining and offer table service or get some QR codes and follow the more casual approach and make the place a little more open and relaxed.

Staff weren't super friendly and we just didn't feel overly welcomed. Can see everyone is still learning and being trained, which is the nature of a new business, but we had a lot of order confusions and mess-ups that weren't dealt with well. We were also approached 4 times by different staff members asking if we wanted our plates cleared despite still using them within the space of 1 minute, which wasn't great service ethic (it's annoying, if anything). Again, this could be alleviated with QR codes or a more formal table service approach. Staff are a huge aspect of what brings me back to a business.

Food tasted like south-east suburbs Mexican food. No spice. Very bland. Very much catered for a more Caucasian dining experience, which feels ill-fitting of Preston. This suburb boasts it's authenticity when it comes to ethnic dining, so this felt like experiencing the inevitable downfall of gentrification in this area.

Beer list is exceptionally underwhelming. We have so much incredible beer at our doorsteps, yet our choice was something similar to what you'd get at a footy match at the MCG. This was confusing. (Carlton Zero for the non-drinkers was also upsetting).

Overall, I'm not overly enticed to come back, but maybe in time, this could be a super cool place to frequent if these issues...