Black Onyx Group — Restaurant in Bernal

Overpriced Tourist Trap / Wannabe Steakhouse

You would think a place that has spent this much money on decor would make some effort to train their employees, think again. This is my first time posting a bad review on Google, that’s how bad this was.

Made a reservation a month in advance for our 10th year anniversary. I clearly communicated this to them when I made the reservation and reminded them by text on the day of. Upon arrival, the hostess takes us to the second floor to “our table”, what did she offer? A table literally just beside a DJ playing very loud music for a baby shower party of about 40 people 🙄😳😳. When I let her know we had made the reservation for our anniversary, instead of apologizing, she proceeds to say “the reservation was made for the terrace, but since it is raining tonight the terrace is closed” this is patently untrue as I never mentioned the terrace when I made the reservation… but I let it slide. She then proceeds to seat us at ”the only other table they had available” which was downstairs, at the very back, next to a bar area, a space they keep extremely disorganized (I hope the owners see this), the whole area looked like a junk yard, chairs set aside in front of the cava, a non functioning toaster oven on top of the counter, a couple outdoor heaters, propane tanks laying on the dining floor area all over the place.

The ambiance at the restaurant is that of a cheap bar, playing very loud music. Where we were, we could hear 3 different types of music playing, the DJ from the second floor, some other loud music coming from the front entrance and a speaker right above us (3 different songs at once). It was difficult to hear each other, it was even difficult to hear the staff.

Our server (I literally feel terrible for him), clearly has had very little training.

We ordered the pork belly tacos (which come with fries, not listed on the menu, not mentioned by the server). For our mains, my husband ordered a NY steak, when the server asks how we wanted the steak done, we request “medium rare” (he looked so confused), I asked him how they usually make their steaks, he replies “blue, medium, 3/4, or well done” no mention of “medium rare” 🤔 Ok, “medium” it is then!. We also ordered a side of fries to go WITH the steak. I ordered the risotto w/brisket and a side of mushrooms to share.

First the sever brings some chips and 4 salsas to start, sets them on the table and turns 180 degrees without saying a thing or explaining what anything was. Then the tacos arrive, (with fries, and ketchup on the plate beside the tacos) the tacos were actually tasty. We finish with the tacos and before the main course arrives, I had to bring to the servers’ attention that my husband’s seating had no fork.

Ok, then the main courses arrive, the steak is brought ON a SIZZLING IRON BOARD up from the second floor where kitchen is located, to the first floor at the very back were we were. They remove the steak onto a wooden cutting board, let it “rest” for 0.000001 seconds and cut into it right down the middle (it was obviously way overdone), at this point we just wanted to eat so we don’t say anything when they ask if it was ok. They then ask if we want him to put the steak back on the iron board to “continue cooking” 🥺 we politely decline.

I then notice that they didn’t bring the fries that were ordered to go WITH the steak, yet the fries that had arrived with the tacos, (which were obviously cold at this point), remained at our table. I asked our server if the fries on the table were meant for the tacos, he replied yes, so I asked where the fries that we ordered for the steak were (he had understood we ordered fries to go WITH the steak as he had read the order back to us). They scrambled to send an order of fries as quickly as they could.

Food was edible, steak was over cooked but kind of tender, NOT seared properly and the fat wasn’t rendered at all. The risotto was undercooked (not al-dente, just undercooked), mushrooms under seasoned. All an all, an Overpriced...

Nice place & Delicious food

This was our first stop for dinner in Peña de Bernal. The octopus is delicious also the Guacamole. Our waiter was outstanding, a tiny guy so friendly. We only found a couple of things tasteless:

1. Music so loud, impossible to enjoy a conversation while dining
2. One of our napkins was dirty like they don’t washed them and just fold them after service.
3. The captain was correcting the waiter because of the charge in the terminal, like teaching tricks or something weird that made me feel very uncomfortable, he didn’t stop, we continued complaining about something.

If you don’t care the precious comment it is a nice...

Esta reseña es para el Hidalgo 8 que parece ser el mismo lugar. Si después, se abre otro lugar en maps para separar Hidalgo 8 de Black onyx, moveré mi reseña.

Primero los pros: Los platillos tienen muy buena presentación y todo está muy rico y con buenas porciones, el café, la dona praline exquisita y todos los platillos muy buenos también. El lugar es bonito, amplio, bien decorado y elegante. Tienen buena música de fondo, últimamente ya hasta los lugares más elegantes tienen reggaeton... Aquí afortunadamente no, tienen música tranquila y agradable. Y por último, los precios están muy bien para la calidad de los alimentos.

Ahora los contras: LENTÍSIMO SERVICIO. Bastante lento. Éramos 9 personas y los únicos en el establecimiento. Hasta traernos el café o la fruta fue tardadisimo. Viendo el reloj, les ha tomado una hora y aun falta por traer un platillo, el mío. No pedimos entradas ni nada, solo un platillo y café, y aunque no hay NADIE más en el lugar, después de una hora aún no tengo mi platillo. ¿Solo tienen dos parrillas en la cocina? Porque están saliendo casi de dos en dos... Unos ya habían terminado de comer y a otros aun no les llegaban sus platillos. Y para acabarla.. Pedi Frijoles de la olla y me trajeron refritos jaja ya ni pedir cambio porque no quiero estar otra medía hora esperando.

Señores, ya invirtieron un buen dinero en levantar el negocio y decorarlo, no escatimen en personal.

Nosotros definitivamente no volveremos a venir, una lástima de servicio para la comida tan rica.

Update: Y para acabarla, su portal de facturación no funciona y ya se venció la fecha límite...