Machete Ancestral Mexican Food — Restaurant in Vancouver

Really unique place in Vancouver focusing on pre-Hispanic Mexican food. Most of the menu items feature their homemade blue corn tortillas and there's a great selection of traditional cacao drinks (hot and iced) - stuff that I don't think you can find anywhere else in the city. So I was very curious to try, and decided to take my parents here while they were visiting because my dad requested "Mexican food". Because this is not your typical Mexican food I wasn't sure if it would be what they had in mind, but it was a hit with all of us and my dad even said it might be the best Mexican food he's ever had. I got the chihatl to drink and the itacates de flor de calabaza for my meal. My first time trying chihatl, first time trying itacates, and first time trying pumpkin blossom in any form, and everything was amazing. Even though the chihatl was served icy it was still a "warming" drink with the cinnamon spice. The frothed texture was really cool. Very unique taste. The itacates are probably best described as Mexican samosas, but the tortillas are not deep-fried which keeps them soft. The tortilla and bean filling had an earthy flavour which paired perfectly with the flor de calabaza (I had no expectation to what pumpkin blossom would taste like but it surprisingly was very similar to pumpkin flesh). The waiter brought 3 sauces to the table for us: pico de gallo, a dark and sweet salsa roja, and a spicy salsa verde. The sauces were all delicious (I could've eaten the roja with a spoon) but almost unnecessary as the food was so tasty even without that it felt a shame to do anything to cover it up. My parents had the Huarache Nopal and Machete Pollito and were, needless to say, very happy with those, but I didn't try them. I did try my dad's hot chocolate, which is great if you're not so adventurous since it basically just tasted like a really high quality but "mainstream" hot choc. Also note the drinks are served in bowls made from large dried gourd husks(?) which provides a unique drinking experience. The prices are really fair for what you're getting. The total for our party (3 entrees and 2 drinks) came to about $75 before tip. The place is small and really cozy, and while the staff wasn't the most outgoing, they were polite and seemed to really care to make sure we were enjoying everything. I would really recommend this place for a truly different Mexican...

A lot of the people like the food here, but personally I did not enjoy mine. It was like a huge Taco with many things inside. I don't know, I thought it would be great but I felt like it was way under season for my liking. Again, I'm not an expert at what it's supposed to taste like but for me personally I felt like it needed a bit more salt. Aside from that, they had really cool dishes that I don't mind going back there to try, so that's why I am giving it 2 stars.

The service itself sucked! Our server was a female and when I wanted to order additional items and ask for condiments, I had to wait for a good 5 to 8 minutes because she was busy making drinks or something behind the counter. A good advice would be to for her to look up once in awhile. But aside from her being busy, there was another dude who was waiting on the people beside us. So I thought I'd like him down and ask him to get our server for us. Sounds easy no being right next to us. But he was even harder to get. He gave off the vibe that he was super new at being a waiter and didn't know what he was doing. When I was trying to get his attention it was impossible since he never even looked up once. He focused himself thoroughly on his table and even though he was right beside us he didn't look at our table once, so unless I shouted "hey I need some help here", he was never going to be able to get my waitress for me. He did that like eight times, which fell after a long while maybe it was deliberate? But then our female waitress came back, and even she was hard to flag down! She too never looked up from serving the other table, I had to actually stand up to get her attention.

Finally when I ordered what I needed to order, she forgot to give us one thing. Our condiment. And I have to try and get her attention again. Oh brother. So the next time it took me only about 2 minutes because I was waving my hand more aggressively this time so she has no excuse not to see me. I guess it worked, but customers should not have to work this hard to order food. It's a small space to begin with, there's absolutely no excuse why she can't see somebody raising their hand to ask for something overall service sucks especially if you need something after they've taken your order. Nobody ever looks up they just look at whoever's talking to them look down or look at the kitchen...

Never leave reviews but this place deserves the 1 star. I really wanted to love this place, I saw the menu and the concept of healthy Mexican eats intrigued me as I personally eat clean and love my cultures food. First negative, was seated and left waiting for a good 10-15 minutes with no water brought to the table. Being a service industry worker this didn't bother me as I am sympathetic. Despite only 3 other small groups I wanted to give them the benefit of the doubt. Ordered food and drinks and the food beat the drinks. They were two agua frescas. I get you want to make them fresh but informing guests that they may take a while would've been good. The food was very meh. Dry meat, un-seasoned, and the elote was just plain terrible. All the food was just not great and we did not want to say anything as latino to latino we felt guilty. Chef came out and asked us what was wrong as 90% of the food was still there. My partner kindly explained to her that we weren't a fan of the food. This is where I stayed silent as I have never been insulted in a restaurant in such a way before. The chef proceeded to explain how they use clean ingredients and no oils and so forth. Then she proceeds to say that if we live in a household that eats over processed foods or not essentially how I imagine she eats, then our palettes wouldn't be used to the taste of the food she makes and that it's very good. All while looking me up and down. She continued to lecture on about the clean lifestyle as we clearly didn't fit the box she has for people who eat clean. PARDON? I would never ever tell one of my customers that. You do not know anybodies life and you are nobody to judge what people eat. I eat clean foods as much as I can, affordability dependent, and I really enjoy them. Clean and healthy doesn't equal bad taste. For the price I felt robbed. People work hard to enjoy eating out. My partner left a review which she felt inclined to respond about how we have no culture and say we shouldn't call ourselves Mexicans. I wish this place no ill will. But that to me speaks volumes about their values. That is deeply offensive and just plain cruel. The only thing I can say is their value systems definitely comes through in their food. A mis mexicanos, cuidado...