Restaurante Alcalde — Restaurant in Jalisco

We dined at Alcalde tonight. Our reservation was at 8:30. We showed up right at the time of the reservation and were promptly seated. We decided to enjoy the 11 course tasting menu with our group of 4.

The cocktails were very good. The Pineapple Breeze said it contained Serrano, so we had expected a drink with a bit of a kick, but no such luck. It wasnt quite up to the par with the rest of the cocktails, although, the tamarind margarita really set a high bar.

The pacing of the meal was very slow for us. We expected a couple hours on dining, but we left 40 minutes after close, over 3 hours spent at the restaurant. The pacing left us with short attention spans waiting for the next course. We didnt feel like we were really making progress into the meal. The restaurant brought out a few small amuse bouches. This was a very nice gesture and we enjoyed them quite a bit. The blue corn quesadilla was definitely our favorite. The 11 courses all had great flavor, and very enjoyable on their own, however, in an 11 course tasting, only the roasted pork tail had any real texture to it. Over time it became hard to continue eating soft food over and over again. Fruit and Herb Gazpacho, Clam Ceviche, dehydrated tomato in a cheese sauce, herb parfait, venison tartare (a course we requested from the main menu), green mole, marinated coconut meat, Roasted pork tail risotto ( the only crispy savory dish served), roasted mushroom and anaheim mole over queso oaxaca, ice cream, and a floral tartlet(the only other textured dish. The fruit and herb gazpacho was the consensus favorite at the table, although, we all had our own dishes that we enjoyed the most.

I would recommend Alcalde to others, but my own personal preferences/criticisms would be to vary the textures a bit more, and build a wider range that balances back and forth to keep the palate interested. The ceviche and the tartare could have been served at a colder temperature as well . And, since the courses are small, we would have liked only a minute or two in between the 3 bite courses, so we could have finished the meal in 2 hours instead of 3.

Overall, I touched on a few points to improve, but the flavors were outstanding. Very unusual, very inventive and creative. We will likely return. We enjoyed...

I don't like having to write reviews like this, but our experience at Alcalde was not a good one.

Alcalde is beautiful inside.

Our waitress was fantastic. We loved talking with her, and she made great wine recommendations.

The amuse bouche was served on a flower bouquet, so while pretty, the bite itself was nothing more than an herbed cream cheese-filled cracker. There was nothing inventive or inspiring about it.

The lime juice in the shrimp aguachile was terribly oversalted, making it impossible to taste the flavors of the green apple and other herbs that comprised the dish. It was meant to be mixed up and eaten on a tostada, but the dish arrived with large pieces of shrimp, apple, and greens--none of which were bite sized. So we had to mix the aguachile, transfer it to our plates, and then chop it up to consume it on a tostada.

The suckling pig was fine, but again, it arrived in huge chunks (with bones), so it was on the diner to butcher the meat in order to consume. I'd expect this if I got suckling pig from a street vendor for $10, but not from an $80 suckling pig.

We selected the Mogor Badan cabernet at the recommendation of our waitress, and that was excellent.

The chef, Paco Ruano, had his laptop on a table in the dining room, in front of the kitchen, and was very loudly making phone calls to his vendors. It was really unprofessional and obnoxious--most people don't want to hear others speaking on their phones in public, let alone in a high level restaurant where it's being done by the chef and co-owner!

I researched my restaurants before coming to Guadalajara, and I was expecting Alcalde to be the standout meal of my trip. It stood out...as the worst meal of my trip. Fortunately, I went to Hueso the night before, and that meal was...

Guadalajara Eats 2024 #10, Mexican #9, Tasting Menu #1, "Nice" #6: I had been on the fence about eating here the last two times I was in Guadalajara. As the prices of Pujol and Quintonil continue to soar, I decided Alcalde's tasting menu actually seemed like a comparative "steal".

tl;dr: I am so glad we ate here!

Upon arrival, the vibe was a lot more fun and playful and less stuffy than I had expected. The cocktail menu was similarly fun and quite expansive (compared to Xokol's). My favorite cocktail was the Posca Allende (mezcal, Lillet, guava shrub) $240. While other favorites at our table included the Clover Club and Gallardo (bourbon, mezcal, amaro averna, lemon) $240.

I honestly don't think there were any or many misses throughout the tasting menu.

Standouts: coco, leche de tigre ikura; kanpachi tlayuda, wagyu, chocolate pastrami tartlet, & tuétano buñuelo. The progressionw as especially great, and I enjoyed starting and ending high a la "bookends".

Sadly, 2-3 courses were swapped out last minute. One was well-explained while the other was quite confusing and took a little follow-up.

The only other odd thing was how empty the restaurant was for a Saturday night. Considering the quality of food and ambiance, I can only imagine there isn't a massive demand for food at this price point.

Our group felt this was our best meal in Guadalajara with Xokol being #2. While this was our favorite, we didn't feel like it was 4x better than Xokol (as it cost 4x what we paid there). However, if I compare it to Pujol it costs half as much and is probably better IMO (10+...