Ánima Beach Club — Restaurant in Jalisco

On Saturday February 26th, myself and five friends went to Anima Beach Club. We chose to return back to Anima because of our exceptional prior experiences. Our all male party represented diversity, being composed of Latino, Black, and Caucasian. We were placed in a beach front cabana as was requested in our reservation. We made ourselves comfortable in our beach wear attire as we had on previous visits at Anima. Four of us were wearing speedo swim briefs and one wearing trunks. We were then told that we could not wear speedo style attire at Anima. I asked to speak to the manager as this had never been an issue in the past. He replied that Anima is for families and children and our attire was not appropriate. I directed him to look at the numerous women present wear string thongs and minimal bikini tops. He responded that it was acceptable because they are women. I respectfully replied that all genders should be treated fairly with equality. I stated that this directive was judgemental, prejudice, disrespectful, and biased. After that statement management conceded and our service began. We enjoyed superior food and service, while making new friends seated next to us. As the sunset approaches, the dance floor becomes the focal gathering area for guests to enjoy. While dancing, numerus staff approached us demanding us to leave. We were respectful in our actions and well manored to all staff and other patrons the entire day. As before we questioned why we are being told to leave. The response again was that our attire was inappropriate, despite the fact we were surrounded by numerous women wearing extremely reveling swim wear. They informed us that our check has been retired and sternly demaned that we leave the venue immediately. We gathered our belongings, tipped our deserving servers and departed. Our new friends, a mix of local men and women, showing support, left with us as well. We are 5 gay men who were evicted from a public beach club that has no evidence of a written or stated dress code. The question is: Were we expelled due to a dress code violation or due to the fact that Anima does not want a gay presence within...

TRAVEL: To get here, I recommend taxi/bus/uber to Boca De Tomatlan and then getting a water taxi to Las Animas. The water taxi cost us approximately 500 MXN per person - there was 7 of us.

AMBIANCE: 10/10. Despite being incredibly beautiful and well-decorated, even the washrooms, the overall experience was marred by the disappointments that followed.

RESERVATION: Upon arrival, we were dropped off a few minutes away, necessitating a walk due to docking difficulties. You are then escorted through the walk by different workers introducing the beach club and sharing information about what to expect. We checked in with the host with no difficulties and were seated immediately.

SERVICE: 0/10. The service was abysmal, characterized by a cascade of communication errors, incorrect dishes, swapped servers, and sluggishness that tested our patience to the limits. Our appetizer order consisted of sweet potato fries, oysters, and guac. The oysters arrived first, scoring a mediocre 5/10. Then, out of the blue, we received a bowl of mashed potatoes... yes… the classic bowl of mashed potatoes to kick things off – THE USUAL OF COURSE. After rectifying the order and finally getting the correct sweet potato fries, we waited an additional 30 minutes before we could locate our server to inquire about the missing guacamole appetizer.

Given the snail-paced service, we decided to forgo dinner and settled for drinks and dessert for the remainder of the night. We ordered a bottle of vodka and dulce de leche, only to receive something entirely different - a chocolate cake, another error. The vodka arrived another thirty minutes later… After finishing our bottle, playing volleyball, we opted to leave early and dine elsewhere.

While paying our bill, the server takes my card and goes, "So 20 or 25% tip?" The sense of entitlement after all that had happened, literally made me laugh out loud. I told him to run my card for what we owe, and we will decide what we want to tip. This entire experience was a FEVER DREAM to...

This place was a recommendation from a friend who had a very different experience than mine. To start, we arrived to a "dress code" because it was a "family oriented environment". My friend was not allowed to use his bathing suit because its a "family oriented" so only longer shorts are allowed. However, women are allowed to wear thong bikinis without a problem. I find it very misogynistic and a double standard.

The service was good in the beginning but it quickly got overwhelming. I couldn't breathe without them asking me a question or talking to me. They became extremely annoying and even weird because they would stand there and just watch us like hawks which became extremely uncomfortable.

We were there all day and we knew we were going to be consuming a lot, but I was extremely upset at the way they charged alcohol modifications in our cocktails without telling us. In any cocktail bar, if a drink has tequila or mezcal, I modify them without a problem and if there is a difference I am told about the difference. We were charged 15 drinks as shots at the price of $295 instead of the $210 that the menu stated and when I called them out on it they acted as if they didn't know. I also advised that for how much we drank we were not nearly as tipsy or drunk as we should have been which made me think that our drinks were extremely watered down.

They did knock down $900 pesos from the bill because they knew they were in the wrong for charging us incorrectly. I'm usually a generous tipper but I'm also reasonable and didn't believe they deserved more than 15%. When I told him that I was only tipping 15%, he suggested I gave him 20%. Which at that point I was fed up and told him he was lucky I was tipping him at all.

Last but not least, I was happy with the DJ until he played Mambo #5, Sweet Caroline and La Macarena. What in the hell????? He was doing so well until he did the classic DJ buyout. Completely disappointed and do...