Dzalbay — Restaurant in Mérida

TL;DR great musical groups, but venue leaves something to be desired.

This place is a merida classic for live music. Unfortunately, the set up and acoustics isn’t that great for listening to music. It’s a very small space and awkward so many tables don’t have views. All too often there are groups of people drinking and yelling loudly instead of enjoying the band which is especially disruptive in a small space. Nonetheless they have great shows!

The cocktails there are very tasty. Not too expensive for tourist standards but definitely higher range for local standards.

Surprisingly the food was way better than I expected. It may have been the best burger we have had in merida which shocked me! Great texture, good cheese, bacon. The only issue is they don’t have fries and all plates are served with chips 👎🏽 the churipan was disappointing. The baguette was dry (tasted day old) and the dish came with very little chimichurri so it was dry overall. The sausage was good though. I do really like the greens used on the burger, salad and sandwiches here as well. It is a rarity to find a baby kale mix at places!

The service is very slow. Once again because this place is so popular and so small. There is often a long line to get in. So if you have a group you want to see arrive early. But even once in we waited 15 minutes for our drink order to be taken and waited another 25 for the drinks to come. Then when we ordered a second round the drinks didn’t come for 30 minutes so we notified the waiter and at the end they tried to charge us for the drinks that never came…though they did remove this charge when we clarified with them.

The atmosphere of the place is nice if it isn’t slammed. The upstairs terrace is lovely as well. But overall this place is too popular and too small to meet...

Like the other reviews say, the music is amazing (I would give five stars to the musicians), the cocktails are good (sometimes a bit too sweet), and the food is average. I disagree with the service being friendly, in my visit one of the waitresses got really rude when I inquired if they have some salty snack besides the olives, like peanuts. I got a condescending and aggressive lecture that this place is a "jazz club" and not a "cantina", and that everything they do is "a la carte" and if it is not in the "a la carte" then it is not possible. This might be true, despite the word "cantina" being written everywhere, but a simple "no, sorry sir" is less off putting. The other male waitress on place was friendlier, because he was drunk, so he kept forgetting orders. Each item had to be repeated at least three times. Finally the female waitress looked really annoyed when I simply rounded up the bill instead of leaving a percentage tip. I guess she was expecting a better reward from having to clean the mess of the other two. All in all, come for the music and stick to ordering just a round of...

We came to celebrate a friend's birthday. We ordered 4 plates and 4 cocktails. My wife took one bite of her meal and said it wasn't pleasing. We immediately notified the waitress and gave her back the entire plate with one bite missing. When the check came, we didn't understand why we needed to pay. I calmly and respectfully approached the manager and he began speaking loudly to me saying, " You ordered it, you have to pay!" I asked him to lower his voice as I was standing less than a foot away from him. He kept talking over me, telling me that my displeasure is subjective. It is subjective, because I am an individual and if you charge me full price for a meal I return that same meal to you, in full, it's insane to charge me full price. The waitress never offered to replace the meal nor ask if I wanted something else. Which is called good customer service. My friend also sent back his veggie burger after taking one bite. Word to the wise: eat...