Mexicano — Restaurant in Sydney

We went for lunch a few weeks ago on a Saturday. Even though we live locally, we had never been, despite always hearing great things about the place. So we decided to just try our luck and walked in without a booking. When we arrived, Justin greeted us and took care of us the entire time – he was amazing from the start. He sat us at a very nice table, and thoroughly looked after us.

The food was absolutely delicious! We were initially worried we hadn’t ordered enough but decided to order as we went, which worked perfectly because we left feeling very satisfied. The dishes were perfectly portioned and everything we had was great: the grilled corn to start, chilaquiles with chicken added (the chicken addition was per Justin's suggestion and thank God we listened - it was just YUM!), then for mains, I had the beetroot salad, and my partner had the snapper ceviche.

Justin kept checking on us regularly, always offering more drinks and clearing our plates, even when the place got busier and he had multiple tables to look after.

The prices were fair and reasonable, and overall, it was such a nice, unplanned Saturday lunch. But being quite honest, what really made it extra special was Justin’s service – having worked in hospo for so long, I truly appreciate when someone cares about what they do and goes that extra mile. I normally don't do reviews, but I just couldn't leave it undone this time.

1000/10 – can’t...

As a big fan of Mexican food and having been to a lot of Mexican restaurants, all over the place including Texas and California, I could hardly find any Mexican traits in the food and service offered in this place. For one thing Authentic Mexican restaurants are pretty generous with their portion sizes but not here. The tacos were two mouthful of flat pieces of round corn bread topped with a little bit of this and a little bit of that but hardly any cheese or meat, the deep-fried chimichangas were chewy and were served bare on a plate.. The chips on the $15 guacamole and corn chips starter plate were stale and came only with a spoonful of what looked like Italian Salsa and a spoonful of guacamole.. The quesadillas were made in sandwich makers and had very little fillings. I ordered Jalapeños and they brought about 3.5 grams of the thinly slivered chilli... I could not believe my eyes !! The only good thing this restaurant has going for it...

I was not a fan of the service here one bit. The front of house (young guy) was dry and not welcoming at all. He initially told us we could only be seated on certain tables (that's ok) but when 2 girls arrived asking for a table he seated them where we had requested previously even though it was supposedly unavailable. To make it worse, even though the restaurant only had 4 tables taken in total out of the 15? available seatings, he refused a family of 3 of East Asian appearance and said that the restaurant was booked out.

Now, the food was ok. I liked the fish tacos but the beef on fries could've been more flavourful. The lychee cocktail was nice.

Vibe was modern Mexican coastal which was refreshing. I'd recommend this place once the front of house has a change of attitude. People should feel welcome in a restaurant or place of business, thats how you attract people...