Chapulín — Restaurant in Mexico City

Staying at the Hyatt Regency Polanco, on the evening of 05/14/2024 we chose the CHAPULIN – Itercontinental restaurant, for a business dinner with clients. Our group had 4 people, we ordered starters, wine and main course. We were well looked after, and the experience as a whole was pleasant.

To our sad surprise, the next day, early in the morning, both my coworker and I began to experience symptoms of food poisoning that would only worsen throughout the day, culminating in a hospital admission to the emergency room at Hospital San Martin, where we were diagnosed with severe food poisoning. Both my colleague and I ate the same dish. “Arrancheras with Camarones” (photo attached). Due to the fact that we ordered the same dish, the time at which the symptoms appeared, the fact that the symptoms appeared before we had eaten any other meal, there is no doubt that the poisoning occurred during dinner at CHAPULIN.

The poisoning was severe, brought immense discomfort and made it impossible for us to continue with our activities the following day. It is simply unacceptable for a restaurant of this standard to offer contaminated food to customers to the point of causing such discomfort. Certainly a problem with food storage and health surveillance protocols.

By email we communicated the fact to both the CHAPULIN manager, Mr. Augusto Ramírez, and Mr. Jean Christophe Prioux, director of Branded Restaurants at the Hotel Presidente InterContinental, but no action was taken. There is no way I can recommend the restaurant after a disastrous...

The dining area was booked, but the host asked if I would be okay w/ a seat at the kitchen bar. The service was fantastic! We were able to communicate fine w/ my limited command of Spanish. They gave me a QR code to scan so I could get the latest menu offerings (which they seem to change often).

They brought out a couple chips w/ three different levels of spicy, pepper salsas. When they tell you something is spicy, it means something different than what you get service in the States. Holy cow! Delicious, but I was already sweating before they brought out the appetizer. I ordered the Green Ceviche appetizer. I could only finish half of that before I had to tap out to save room for dinner.

I planned on getting two different tacos, but one was going to be enough at this point. They were watching me as I tried the app. I’m so appreciative that they didn’t just bring everything out at the same time. I changed my dinner order to just the Gaonera New York Dry Aged taco. I was delicious. For dessert, the Wood Fire Cheesecake Berry Compote did not disappoint and the coffee to accompany it was the best. At the end, they brought a pufferfish decoration with some dessert cookies.

The Chapulin is definitely worth a try if you’re in Mexico...

Simply put: this place is way too overrated. Giving a little bit more details from best to worst...

1. decoration and architecture: this is the only outstanding thing of the restaurant. Really amazing every single detail. That's why it was among the 21 Prettiest Restaurants in Mexico City according to Food and Pleasure. But... That online report never mentioned that we were to expect amazing food nor good service at all...
2. food: it is good, but it does not blow your mind... It is honestly flat... Without surprises nor anything that could make you remind of Chapulín as a good and unique restaurant.
3. service/attention: the worst without hesitating. They left us at the very cornered table, our original waiter disappeared after 20 minutes, they never offered us a clothe rack, the sommelier (first one attending us) was a disaster (he brought us the wrong wine bottle twice, then he surrendered saying they did not have what we ordered). Afterwards, the other sommelier, Hector, moved faster and found us quickly our alternate choice. However, we had already had our entrée so the damage was done...

Definitely not recommended for...