Bruna — Restaurant in Jalisco

My fiancée and I traveled all the way from Los Angeles to celebrate our anniversary, and our experience at Bruna was nothing short of a nightmare. Despite being loyal patrons of Vicente asador de Brasa in Midtown Plaza, we decided to give Bruna a try based on their supposedly impressive mixology and dessert menu. What a mistake that was.

To start with, the desserts we ordered was mediocre at best - it was far from the high-end experience we were expecting, and the lack of flavor was a huge letdown. Unfortunately, things only went downhill from there. Not only did they manage to misplace our order, but we were forced to wait an excruciating two and a half hours for our main course. The staff kept making empty promises, claiming that our food would be ready in 5, 10, and then 15 minutes, but it never materialized. To add insult to injury, they continued to make excuses for over an hour and a half, leaving us feeling completely stranded and ignored.

What's worse, none of the head waiters, floor managers, or restaurant representatives bothered to approach our table to deal with the situation. It was a clear sign of unprofessionalism and a complete lack of concern for the customers. Instead, they left our poor waiter to deal with the problem, who was clearly overwhelmed and helpless in the face of such chaos.

Overall, our experience at Bruna was a complete disaster. From the mediocre dessert to the misplaced order and the horrendous wait time, everything about this restaurant was a disappointment. The lack of attention from the management team and their disregard for customer satisfaction was appalling. I would not recommend this establishment to anyone, and I will certainly never be returning myself.

To make matters even worse, our waiter came over to our table at one point and offered to comp the entire meal if it wasn't delivered within the next 5 minutes. Shockingly, we were still left waiting 30 minutes later. It was a clear sign that the staff had no regard for our time or satisfaction.

When we go to a restaurant, we expect not only good food but also a pleasant experience and quality service. Unfortunately, Bruna failed to deliver on all fronts. We were left feeling completely let down by their lack of professionalism and attention to detail.

Honestly, I have no choice but to give Bruna a failing rating. It was a terrible experience that completely ruined our anniversary night. I would strongly advise against wasting your time and money at this establishment. If you're visiting from out of town, I highly recommend Vicente restaurant in Midtown instead - it's a much better option with consistently great food and service.

Here are my ratings:

Appetizers 6/10 Main course 5/10 Desserts 2/10 well put together/lack on flavor Mixology 3/10 look pretty/lack on flavor Overall...

Dined here 1/13 with another person. Arrived on time and was seated immediately. The space is beautiful. The table we were seated at had chairs in the corner of the table and found it odd sitting like that. I asked if I could move the chair to sit across from my dining companion and was told no and wasn’t willing to accommodate. The asked if I wanted an English menu and said great. My dining companion spoke Spanish. So they used the Spanish menu. Complimentary bread was brought out. But, waiter didn’t come and take drink order. The table that was seated after us already had their drink order taken.

10 mins later drink order was taken and I asked about the tomahawk steak. The waiter had to get another waiter that spoke perfect English. They said it came with a green salad and 2 sides. So, I order it medium rare. He pulled out a card to show the doneness of steak and confirmed medium rare.

The tomahawk took awhile as expected since it’s a big cut of meat bone in. I expected the salad to come out first while waiting for the steak. Since it didn’t come out I was worried the steak would get cold. So, I asked if I could be moved inside and they didn’t have tables. They turned on the heat lamp and everything was lit up red.

The steak came out with the salad and sides. I asked why the salad wasn’t brought out first while waiting for the steak. I didn’t want to have salad while the steak was getting cold. He said that’s how they do it there.

The waiter was apparently training somebody how to cut the steak and took his time explaining it to him. He told the guy cut it one way and not saw it. That’s great. All this while the steak was getting cold. The herb butter wasn’t even melting on top of the steak. The wait asked if the doneness was fine. But, how can you tell by looking at it in a dimly lit dining room and not tasting it.

He put the steak on my table and then left. I just had appetizer plates and butter knives. I had to ask for dinner plates and steak knives. When I tried the steak it was lukewarm to cold. Didn’t explain the salad dressings that came with it. The steak was overcooked. And there was no crust on the steak. They didn’t ask how everything was after serving the steak. But, later brought a hot cast iron griddle and didn’t say anything. I had to ask the waiter what it was for and he said to warm the steak up. Why would I need to warm a steak up if it was served hot? And cooking it some more?

The sides that came with it were small. Small bowls that would be single serving of sides. For the price they charge I was expecting a lot better service and quality of food. I had to ask call a waiter for everything. I would steer clear of this restaurant with the...

I don't leave many negative restaurant reviews, but my experience was not a good one.

I have been to this restaurant twice, the first time was brilliant, the most recent time over the weekend was the COMPLETE opposite. I went for my wedding anniversary thinking it would be like the first visit. The reality was though that I would have received better service at a street taqueria, than with the staff at Bruna.

To start, the waiters were rude. The first waiter was great, but then the waiter changed three times just out of pure disorder in the restaurant. It seemed like they weren't being managed properly and it wasn't clear which waiter attended which particular table. We asked multiple times not to take the entrée away because it wasn't finished and while we weren't looking they took it anyway. We had to ask multiple times to be served. It was chaos and they didn't bring us serviettes with our food and then they didn't bring a glass with bottles of beer (not a big deal but this an exclusive restaurant).

Then when the new waiter took our order he asked my wife 'usted que va a querer?' which is a very cold way of taking an order. Is Bruna now too 'high class' to be above basic courtesy?

We then had to wait around an hour for main plates to arrive. The worst part of the whole experience was that after an hour of waiting my wife's main meal came out stone cold, like it had sat out for 30 minutes. My wife took one small bite, realized it was cold (not even luke warm) and we kindly asked the waiter to heat the food. After we waited another twenty minutes, we got the food back but out of spite the chefs had thrown half the meal in the bin and returned less than half the meal on the plate. It was definitely done out of spite by other the chefs or the waiter because we complained. How basic... seriously?

My wife declined to eat the main and we got the bill. The waiter did not offer to bring out a new dish which I would have expected. He then even had the nerve to ask for a tip after such poor service. Just unbelievable.

Unfortunately Bruna is starting to suffer the same fate as some of the other exclusive restaurants. They have forgotten the reason that they become so famous in the first place - through brilliant food and service. We received neither. 'High class' places like this too often forget why people pay big amounts to dine at their establishments - through a classy fine dining experiences with impeccable service and food. Bruna no longer reflects this experience at all and I wouldn't be surprised if people stop rating the restaurant so highly.

My advice - don't go. Your money is better spent at other fine dining restaurants like El Italiano...