Elena Vales Bakery — Restaurant in Mérida

I've been to this location twice with my spouse since we've arrived in Merida. The first time was a better experience than the second time. Hence why we decided to return on a separate occasion. Your dining ambiance here will depend on who is working that day. Okay, to clarify.... the first visit was very pleasant in the atmosphere. Their were other families having breakfast around us enjoying their time and food in a peaceful environment of soft, easy listening music at a decent volume. Where as if you were in conversation with the person next to you, you could still converse without yelling over music. They even played a mix of English soft jazz at times. The second time we visited, the ambiance was atrocious. It was just us dining in this cafe/Bakery, and the music was loud Latino rap music. Not exactly fitting for a café, maybe if you were in a nightclub, then I could see the music being an appropriate choice. The staff didn't even bother to adjust the volume when we came in. They just stood around playing on their phones. It is clear that situational awareness is lacking here. The Americano coffee is nice. However, our pastries were very bland in taste and dry. Maybe we'll try a different location in the future, but I seriously feel like this was a mirage as our first experience was memorable compared to our most recent...

Honestly I’ve been living part time in Mérida for almost 15 years enough so I still remember when this was just Elena’s bread. No coffee just an old bread shop where Elena made fabulous bread and chased me down the street once to give me my change (4 centavos). Those days are long gone and in a city full of lovely coffee shops don’t ever waste your time going in here. I only had to go again today because they open earlier than the other 3 or 4 I normally frequent and the staff were totally ignorant and rude and my latte tasted like dirt. Don’t try and gentrify if you’re incapable of hiring good staff. The two of them today didn’t look like they could add 2&2 and come up with the right number. Next time I’m up early I’ll walk a few more blocks to...

The baked goods are problematic. They are in the sunshine for hours, which is unusual. Twice I had a dry cinnamon roll. The coffee is unfortunately very expensive. A small-medium cup of Americano is 55 pesos. There is no free or discounted refill. Because of that, this is not a place to bring your laptop and hang out. The courtesy of the staff varies greatly from visit to visit. The condition of the room is good. (There are 6 tables, each with three chairs.) This could be a fine place to spend time drinking coffee and working or socializing, but instead it is flawed and prohibitively expensive. Perhaps the idea is just to buy and leave. This is the heart of the tourist...