Café des Artistes Los Cabos — Restaurant in Baja California Sur

Really top notch. Staying at the hotel, in part, so I could try this restaurant. They present both an ala carte and Prix Fixe tasting menu - I had the latter ($105) with wine pairing ($30). Theme is Mexican meets French, which they pulled off very well. For those from Houston, it’s reminiscent in quality, ambiance and service of the (unfortunately) now shuttered Phillippe and their celebrity French Cowboy chef. Dallasites could relate to a clone of The Mansion on Turtle Creek. While the cuisine is different, the quality and price points are similar to Frasca, Colorado’s #1 dining venue.

Enjoyed a Mezcal Old Fashioned at the beautiful bar, with back lit bottles in front of a golden marble wall. Was very tasty and festive, with the bartender adding a tinge of smoky sweetness and showmanship by lighting a cinnamon stick inside my inverted glass.

The tasing menu had 6 or 7 courses (you get an either/or choice for each course). We started slow with a Tomato and Burratta salad - fine, but nothing special. Things dramatically improved with their Shrimp and Pumpkin soup, ladled table side out of a half pumpkin - was killer good! The Grilled Octopus was among the most tender and flavorful I’ve ever had. Foie Gras was excellent, as it almost always is! My main ‘entree’ was in theory Beef Cheeks (a replacement for the lamb they had run out of); I got the impression it was a short rib. But regardless of what part of the steer it came from, it was DIVINE - an equal in flavor and preparation to some of my favorite mains from Michelin starred venues in Europe.

Also appreciated the restaurant’s flexibility in letting me swap dessert for a small cheese plate, which was wonderful. Enrique was a very capable, friendly and attentive server.

My only quibble with the menu might be the wine pairings, featuring the same by the glass offerings other restaurants on the property were pouring. They were fairly ordinary, though not terrible given the $30 up-charge. The exception would be the Mexican Tempranillo blend, which was fantastic.

All in all, a world-class establishment that could/should be awarded a Michelin star. Planning on a Round II dinner as my final meal of the vacation -...

Colorful, inventive, superior service—a restaurant experience not to be missed when visiting the San Jose Del Cabo area. We stayed at the JW Marriott Los Cabos Beach Resort & Spa for several days and treated ourselves to two visits to Cafe des Artistes (located on the property) for dinner. Each visit to the restaurant was a superior delight. The facility itself is cozy and stunning, decorated with class and whimsy, views out to the ocean, seating inside and outside. The staff greeted us with warm smiles at every turn, seating us at our tables and serving us with topnotch expertise and a sense of steady, slow pacing I love in a great restaurant experience. The server staff is a well-trained, professional team led by a senior expert who monitors and executes dinner like clockwork. The drink menu is a wonderful read, worth spending time lingering over choices. The dinner menu is a collection of varied and wonderfully described dishes and includes a tasting menu option with or without wine. Every dish I experienced was terrific, each a collection of artful and masterful visuals, smells, tastes, and temperatures. The Chef Thierry’s Cream of Prawn and Pumpkin Soup is an absolute MUST ORDER for every visit. The Marinated Broiled Octopus is the best octopus I’ve ever had. The Suckling Lamb was a visual and tasting delight at every bite. The cocktails were all superior—fantastic bartenders! This is top-level dining, so you’ll spend a good amount for the full dinner experience, but I found the prices to be quite reasonable when compared to other restaurants at this level elsewhere in the world. I’ve seen Cafe des Artistes listed as the top or one of the top restaurants in the San Jose del Cabo area—I’d rate it #1. My highest recommendation; one of my favorites of the world’s...

Unfortunately this place is a lower quality copy of the absolutely amazing original restaurant in Puerto Vallarta. The atmosphere is very corporate, cold almost, without much decoration, bare tables. The service is not refined or classy as in PVR. Some lounge music playing in the background as opposed to a live piano and strings. The food was just ok. The 29 year tradition langoustines soup was overly sweet, the foie gras risotto was delicious. The lamb was flavorless, the steak was very good. Overall prices are outrageous. Compared to the original restaurant this place is probably more than double and not worth it. Sorry, the best restaurant at the Pacific Coast is still Cafe des Artistes in PVR......this one is not even close.

And....we went during a hurricane. We were very dissatisfied with the food and service, left a small tip. A nice staff member walked us through the tunnels back to the hotel but was called back by one of the manger as we didn't leave sufficient tip. They made us find our way back through the tunnels as we "only" tipped 10%. Seriously....what a petty staff, how angry with unhappy customers.

So, rather than understand what may have happened, they went into aggressive mode antagonizing us even more. Bad service, even worse food and...