SAGE Baja — Restaurant in Baja California Sur

Honestly, one of the worst dining experiences I've ever had. For one, the two main guys working gave an art exhibit vibe: snobby and pretentious. The appetizer that they suggested (ie being more expensive than the one we had our eye on) was the

meatballs. 1) they were super small for roughly $25 for five SMALL pieces and 2) they were super tough from being over cooked. Flavor was okay. 4/10.

I ordered the sea bass (again the more expensive option of the ones I was picking from that they said I just had to get). It was cooked fine but nothing to write home about. 5/10. I did bite into not one but TWO pieces of charred woodchips from their salad (so weird that the salad was charred. It looked like wilted lettuce). I can still taste the charcoal and feel the bite of it. GROSS. When we brought it to their attention, they did not apologize whatsoever. Pretentious dude 1 just said "that's funny because we don't char the sea bass". Okay? What was I gonna do? Char my own wood chips and bring them to this restaurant and place them in my own food? And also, we said it was in the salad, NOT the sea bass itself. They just walked off and didn't say anything. I would have settled for a "sorry" or "let me inform the chefs" but nothing. We weren't even being rude about it so I don't think customer service would've been hard to even fake.

It took us 20 minutes to get the check. The lady comes by your table to close the check. Of course they didn't comp the meal that had not one but TWO charred pieces of wood in it. She asks about if we'd like to add a service fee (tip) and I said nope. Mind you, I never not tip. I start at 20% and go down from there if needed. She asks us about what happened and in the middle of us telling her, she's STILL charging me and interrupts to ask that I sign the tablet. After she charges me, she then wants to ask if she can get the manager. Uh, for what? You already charged me and Mr. Pretentious didn't care to begin with. Subpar food. The only plus is that the architecture has great attention to detail but that's about where the attention ends....

We dined at Sage this evening. I was a little hesitant having read reviews about great food but poor service. Thankfully, that was not our experience at all! Miguel and the entire team provided amazing service, from quickly removing unused place settings to refilling our glasses with sparkling water to checking in with us after each course was served.

The setting is beautiful with thoughtful lighting and music at a volume that permits you to have a conversation with your dining companions.

Miguel also provided fantastic advice about his favorite menu items and he did not steer us wrong. I started with one of the most unique cocktails I have ever had - the Hierba Caliente. It came garnished with a burning sage leaf and as you sipped the mezcal drink, you inhaled the smoke from the smoldering herb. It made for an impressive presentation- diners at the next table asked what my cocktail was. My dining companion had the Kairo, which was essentially a mandarin margarita. He enjoyed it.

We split the sautéed calamari to start. A unique presentation and flavor profile that was not deep fried - delicious. We then split the truffle trottole pasta (all pasta is made fresh in house) and the pan roasted totoaba. With each bite, we were was saying “mmmm” in unison. We took home some of the pasta (it was a generous portion) in order to save room for dessert.

As with so much on Sage’s menu, the dessert was unique and well thought out. Plantain cake/ bread was served with caramel sauce, ice cream with fried plantains for garnish. The warm cake with the cold ice cream and the crunch of the fried plantains added temperature and textural contrast to the dish. We ate every bite.

Dinner for two (2 cocktails, 1 beer, 1 appetizer, 2 entrees and 1 dessert) cost approximately US$200 including tip. Not an inexpensive meal but well worth it for the quality of the food , ambience and service.

I would be a regular at Sage if I lived in San...

THE best culinary experience after 8 years of visiting Cabo.

We were walking around on a Friday night looking for somewhere new and came across the entry to Sage, looked inside and loved the decor of this outdoor restaurant.

We started with the Romaine hearts, a trendy take on a Caesar - delicious! Perfectly cooked egg and brilliantly balanced dressing.

We then shared the 12oz steak with delicate scalloped potatoes. I hesitate to order steak in restaurants because I can cook great steaks on my grill at home and an often disappointed by the quality and cost of eating steak at a restaurant. This steak however was once again executed perfectly with a beautiful presentation of sliced medallions with delicious rendered edges. Potatoes and chimichurri sauce again perfectly balanced. Not something I would do at home..

Desserts were delicious too.

Most of all, the manager and all servers (thank you Abel) we encountered were professional and delivered an all round exceptional experience on our last night in Cabo... Until we...