Motel Mexicola | Canggu — Restaurant in Pulau Bali

i wanted to give this place a good review but no matter how good the food tasted it would always be awarded a one star review.

my partner, my friend and myself all went on thursday night for a nice dinner. we ordered the “feed me” package as well as my friend and i ordering cocktails (i ordered one called sweet lips, my friend ordered 3, 2 being frozen margaritas, and one being a tequila drink with a lychee flavouring?) all cocktails either had ice in them or was made with ice (to give the frozen consistency) we thought the motel mexicola being a popular place for tourism as well as having high reviews, that we would be safe. however that was far from the truth.

all three of us ate the exact same for our meals starting with guacamole and chips, corn with sour cream and cheese and a pork taco with some sort of dipping sauce. then for mains we were bought chicken quesadillas, pork belly and duck so we could make our own soft tacos. at this point i could feel the bloating, it felt like a massive balloon in my stomach about to pop. for dessert we were bought traditional mexican rice pudding (this i did not try as im not a fan of rice pudding) as well as churros with caramel sauce and dark chocolate sauce. (my partner not having any dessert as he was also feeling bloated and full).

keep in mind my partner did not drink any alcohol or use any ice in his drinks, he was drinking coke zero straight out of the can (which was still sealed). when we arrived home it was about 10pm and at 10:30pm it’s started lightly for me. then at 1:30am i was in the toilet with horrendous stomach pains that turned into violent vomiting as well as diarrhoea becoming more and more watery. i was in the toilet for over an hour. as well as waking up every hour throughout the night with intense stomach pains as well as hot and cold sweats. i messaged a mobile bali belly iv drip to come to my villa at 4:00am as i could no longer take the discomfort. they ended up coming at 9am.

my friend also had her bali belly start at 2:30am and went through the same discomfort i did.

at first we pinned it down to the ice and then the next day at 2:30am my partner started experiencing the same pain and discomfort my friend and i had gone through the night/ early morning before.

i ended up spending $270 on my iv drip my friend spending $310 on her drip and my partner spending $550 on his drip.

after further research we came to the conclusion that the ice and the food was contaminated, which is why my friend and i experienced symptoms faster as contaminated ice can cause symptoms within 1-6 hours. and food contamination containing E-Coli bacteria which symptoms can present itself at the 24 hour mark.

although the food tasted amazing the whole experience completely put us off from visiting again. and for my friend and I we have been put off mexican food completely.

if you are thinking of visiting please be extra cautious so you don’t have the same...

Have a really bad experience last night here. I m from Jakarta and first time visiting mexicola in canggu since one of my friend recommended that to me. So my friends and I going there, 4 of them are drinking cocktail but I m not So I just drink water and orange juice. We came around 9pm, the waiter give us the table and there was no any info about the minimum spending or If the table was reserved at 00.00. My friends had drink around 9 glasses cocktails and since the table seems empty and they might seeing me Only drinking water So a Rude western waiter try to kick us by saying those table booked, we Said no one told us this booked, If they need Money they can just told us about the Min spending and we can pay, but this Rude waiter all of a sudden point her finger to me and Said “I KNOW YOUR FACE”, and I told her wdym, this is my first time coming here and then she Said “YOUR FACE IS FAMILIAR SO PLEASE MOVE”. How come a waiter doing this to a guest, we dont wanna move and saying we are able paying the Bill, then Why she act that Rude. They keep changing the reason, They are saying that table booked, another waiter didnt tell them about us going to that table which is infact, we are asking the waiter If that table available or not and the waiter who gaves the table as well confirmed that the new guest not book yet The Rude waiter Said that those guest is VIP, but then as we saw those new guesses are friends with the Rude waiter and they demanding for our table Thats Why the Rude waiter wanna give our table to them instead of give other table which still empty The Rude waiter Said the VIP guest have paid the booked upfront when booking, infact they just paid their Bill when the order cheaper drinks They asked us to pay and buy bottle to stay around 5M but the those new guest Only pay 2M ish Bill.

Please the Owner of Mexicola and managers educate your waiters How to serve the guests proper, they are foreigners here and this is indonesia, you cannot discriminate between local guest and foreigners which local spend more than them. Event table beside me also Only order a beers, but since they are foreigners and also friends of this Rude waiter, they dont mind on that. And someone please tell me, ARE THOSE FOREIGNERS WHO WORKS IN MEXICOLA HAS WORKING VISA OR NOT??

I post the face of the RUDE WAITER, SHE IS THE ONE IN THE MIDDLE. When she saw I wanna record How she spoke to us all of as sudden she scared and Said please dont record, you need to know that you cannot do that here guys, you are...

Considering the branding, design and (most importantly) pricing of this place I was actually left pretty disappointed. It all felt like one giant marketing ploy without any actual care.

The food was good - we had 5 different tacos and toastadas and they were all really nice and arrived quickly. However there were a few other elements that really let it down-

The portions are tiny for what you pay. We also ordered a quesadilla and got half a quesadilla.

The staff were way too overbearing and over attentive. We had 4 different people ask if we wanted to use the ashtray we had within the first 5 minutes of being sat down. Two different wait staff introduced themselves as our server which was confusing. Staff were standing around over our table/hovering around us or literally staring at our table for the entire time. Coming over to our table to literally move the little decorative vase slightly and then awkwardly hover. Emptying the ashtray after a single use. Taking plates and cups before we’d finished (three staff members tried to take my drink - while I was drinking it). And literally cleaning/wiping down our small table while we were trying to eat - on several occasions. We kind of laughed about it but tbh it put us on edge and did not make for a relaxed vibe at all! I felt like we couldn’t go 5 minutes without being interrupted or feeling uncomfortable. (I was there with my spouse - it wasn’t like we were a large, rowdy table that need a lot of attention).

The music was all over the place and pretty terrible. At points it literally felt like we were at a children’s birthday party. Music ranged from the expected more traditional Mexican music, mariachi songs and reggaeton to mumbo number five, American diner vibe music, Justin Beiber and Zorba’s Dance (the Greek dance song - in a ‘Mexican’ restaurant?) and that was literally just in the space of about 25 minutes. Additionally, staff have obviously been told to enthusiastically clap along to whatever song is playing if they have nothing else to do. Imagine 20 people clapping off beat right near you while you’re trying to have a conversation. The whole vibe feels disingenuous, cringey and awkward.

The margarita picante tasted like flavoured water. And the bar staff tried to charge me double what they’d quoted me for a drink until I...