La Negrita Cantina — Restaurant in Mérida

This is the third restaurant/bar that I visited in Merida yesterday. It was the worst, the prior reviews of them not having good service in general nor nice to foreigners are so true. I would avoid if not a native Spanish speaker or foreigner in general. I am from the U.S. and this is my 3rd time in Mexico and this is the second worst place outside of one in Mexico City. I speak limited Spanish and am a person of color. I would have given 0 stars if possible for the racism and horrible service.

Upon arrival there was a lady sitting outside of the entrance in which I said “Hola” too in which she didn’t respond but just looked me up and down and said something to I guess the man who was security at the entrance who was assisting some people already in. He turned and waved me in but didn’t speak. Inside it was full of people sitting and some dancing- very crowded, had many different areas, and I didn’t see any available table available but there was a place at the bar. It was kind of confusing at first and no workers assist with seating or clearing a space. They had a good live band playing instruments and also played popular Latin music. I would not recommend and definitely think the service is horrible and they are racist towards foreigners who do not speak Spanish and not from Mexico it seems.

The bartenders don’t greet you and are not friendly, for the menu you need to scan a QR code on a napkin holder which isn’t obvious at first, and you need to make a few attempts to call out to a bartender for help. I tried my best to point to the menu items I wanted (nachos with arrachera and a Margarita and say them in Spanish). Despite this (never a problem in most other places despite my American accent and trouble accurately pronouncing words in Spanish) the male bartender gave me a dirty look and walked away to assist another customer. Even with pointing to the menu which had the words in Spanish!

I was very embarrassed and given the limited Spanish I kind of froze up. A male sitting at the bar next to week asked if I needed help in English and tried to order food for me (he told me the kitchen was closed after speaking with the bartender) and I did get a Margarita. I tried my best to just not race out of the door. I actually got teary eyed too after I thanked him for helping me and he gave me a napkin. The Margarita was horrible by the way. The staff just in general seemed rude and unprofessional.

Lastly, they automatically add a 15% tip to all of the bills (even to the native speakers) as the man who assisted me was from Mexico and I saw his. That is not a good practice, shady, and I do not like places that do that which I don’t see often in my travels. If they were not horrible with customer service and the racism, it could be a great dance spot as it seems like a chill fun spot with the local people.

FYI- The first two restaurants I visited in the past week were Museum of Yucateca Gastronomy and El Lucero . The previous 2 had authentic local cuisine, amazing waiters who were attentive, friendly, and constantly willing to help and checked in consistently. No rudeness or any of the...

Great vibe but THEY WILL SCAM YOU for money. Watch you bill, be careful.

Just visited this place and after hearing good things we were excited. Drinks were good and reasonable and the vibe was great.

However, when it came to paying I paid by card. Put my card in and the waiter handed me the card machine which asked how much I wanted to tip. I added 5%, we only had one round of drinks so we literally only saw our waiter 3 times (once to be seated, once with our drinks and once to pay). I handed the machine back to the man, he looked at the screen, look confused, frowned and pulled my card out. He then put my card back in, this time when he handed me the machine it didn’t ask the tip amount it just asked for my pin.

I did the maths, and the total shown on the screen was more than the total + 5%. Doing the maths again, it turns out that he had added a 10% tip this time, knowing for well that i had only added 5% previously. I didn’t argue as my Spanish isn’t very good and it was very loud in there. He absolutely knew what he was going and it is a big scam, as he then took my customer receipt with him so that I couldn’t check the price again. But as we only had two drinks I know that he scammed us! If you’re unhappy with a 5% tip why have it as an option?

Disappointing as it ruined a lovely evening and we had planned to return for food but absolutely will not be going back, as will be warning people. Noticed there were lots of white people in here, lots of travellers and expats but very very few Mexicans. Perhaps it’s because the locals know they...

I get why this place gets high reviews, it looks really good, the music is fun, and the drinks are cheap but good. However, the service we received was TERRIBLE. When we arrived the place was full so they gave us 2 options: sit at a table at the door and get some drinks while waiting, or wait in line. Obviously we chose the former. After waiting for 10 minutes, we asked our hostess if there was already a table available. She told us it was gonna take 5 more minutes. After another 10 minutes we asked again. She said people were currently paying, so we could take their table (in these 10 minutes several groups of locals were let in and given a table, which is maybe understandable if they prefer a local crowd). Then in the following minutes serveral groups (tourist and local) kept being given tables. She kept signaling us it would take another 5 minutes. However, we never got the new table, even though we could see for our selves there were now plenty empty tables. We asked for the bill so we could leave, and they even had the nerve to charge us for snacks we did not order and never touched.

Would not recommend for the...