i-Petra Restaurant — Restaurant in Baja California

Tourists beware – they may try to scam you. My group and I had a very bizarre experience here. We made a reservation for dinner on a Thursday and it was surprisingly empty, despite all of the rave reviews. One couple came the entire time we were there. It started off okay – the waitress was nice at first, but not great. After we ordered drinks and appetizers she didn’t come back to take entrée orders and we had to flag her down. She didn’t speak much English, but that was fine because we had people at the table who spoke Spanish. For both apps and mains she recited the order back to us wrong and we corrected it. But one person still received the wrong entrée and she was very reluctant to switch it for the correct one, which we knew he had ordered. She finally did but it took a long time so it was unfortunate he had to wait and eat alone. In the meantime, most of us did enjoy our food. But the ribeye, which was the priciest item on the menu, was extremely fatty. Based on most of the food, the dinner would have been fine. But when the waitress brought our table of 7 people the check, she told us the credit card machine wasn’t working. I’m sorry, what? This restaurant is in a hotel, and all of the nice places in the Valle area take credit cards. How can you let a table order a $400 meal and not tell them at the beginning that CC won’t be accepted? When we told them we didn’t want to pay with cash and could pay the hotel by CC, she suggested that we do a bank transfer to HER directly and she would pay the cash for our meal. This was truly unbelievable and felt like a scam. Thankfully some of us had cash on us and we were able to scrape together just enough for the bill, which we quickly paid and left at that point. I assume they thought they could get away with this because it was basically empty, but what awful customer service. The view is beautiful, so 1 star for that, and 1 more star for some of the food. But given the cost and experience I strongly recommend...

Stayed in Baja California for the holidays with my girl's family. Everything was already going well when we unintentionally came across this gem. We started off down the street at a Frida Kahlo themed vineyard that wasn't convenient because we had children. So although we were a group of more than 10 we drove down the street to iPetra. A hotel bar venue with outdoor seating overlooking encompassing hills adorned with massive boulders that play as the perfect backdrop for the family's social media posts.

The experience of watching the sunset in Ensenada, having a cold glass of Extra Brut Champagne in a super friendly environment (with only a $40 corkage fee), we literally had our servers tending a freshly lit fireplace that they put next to our tables. I give this venue a rating of A+ and would recommend to any families looking to relax in the wine valleys of Baja California. The cheese platters were my favorite, fresh...

La neta, el vibe de i-Petra está chingón/agusto. Es un lugar que destaca por su arquitectura natural, con espacios al aire libre que se disfrutan más con la opción de cobija si hace frío. La vista es buena, la música también —mucho throwback en inglés y español que le da un toque nostálgico y agradable—. El único punto a mejorar podría ser el servicio, ya que, a pesar de que no había tanta gente, no estaban tan al pendiente de tomar órdenes o checar si necesitábamos algo; sin embargo, siempre fueron muy amables.

En cuanto a la comida, nos llevamos varias sorpresas bien chingonas: 🔥 El risotto con camarón fue de lo mejor, cremosito, buen sabor y con un toque ligero a vino blanco que lo hace diferente. 🐷 Las empanadas de pork belly fueron otra joya, la mezcla del pork belly cocinado lentamente con el puré de manzana y el chimichurri le da un contraste de sabores brutal. Algo que difícilmente encuentras en otros lados. 🐙 La cazuela de pulpo merece mención especial. El pulpo estaba suavecito y la combinación con el chicharrón de pork belly, cebolla encurtida y cilantro fue un completo hit. 🐙 El pulpo a las brasas fue una sorpresa ya que la salsa borracha con la reducción de chile guajillo y cerveza oscura, papa asada, chorizo y salsa macha de serrano lo hice un interesante sabor y muy buena combinación. 🦪 Los ostiones macha pueden ser fácilmente de los mejores que hemos probado. La salsa macha que les ponen está otro rollo, explosión de sabor total. Si vienes, no puedes irte sin pedirlos. 🥘 También probamos el el chile relleno de mariscos, la sopa de tortilla con tuétano, pizza de hongo y trufa, y el aguachile mixto y de callo (muy buena porción), todo bien, pero definitivamente los primeros platos mencionados fueron los más memorables.

De postre pedimos la truffe de chocolate y la neta no tuvo pierde. El crumble de tocino con helado de plátano y dátil hizo que cada bocado fuera una locura.

En cuanto a tragos, dos fueron los que se llevaron las palmas: 🍷 Love Rose — una combinación perfecta de fermentado de vino tinto y blanco con infusión de jamaica, limón, naranja y mezcal. Fresco, balanceado y diferente. 🍓 Besos de Sabina — un trago dulce pero cero empalagoso, hecho con frutos rojos, jugo de arándano, limón y opción de vodka o mezcal. Otro que sí o sí hay que pedir.

En resumen, i-Petra es un lugar que vale mucho la pena por su ambiente, propuesta gastronómica y tragos creativos. El servicio puede mejorar, pero la experiencia en general es muy buena. Si vas, no te pierdas las empanadas de pork belly, la cazuela de pulpo, los ostiones macha, el risotto con camarón y, para cerrar con broche de oro, la truffe de chocolate.

💯 Calificación final: 9/10. Regresaríamos...