La Opera — Restaurant in Mexico City

Very bad experience and was taken advantage of.

Our visit began great being greeted by a smiling door person who seated us after a short 10-minute wait.

Our waiter was friendly and did a good job accommodating our broken English. We ordered juice, a salad, and two of the daily menu items - Barbacoa de Picaña and pulled pork tacos at the waiter's recommendation.

The food was bad. Both were very dry and we were particularly disappointed at the waiter's reccomended tacos which were very expensive for tacos.

We ended up having to wait 10+ minutes after we were finished eating for someone to come and give us the bill. We felt after our order had been taken our service completely disappeared.

Due to our understanding of Mexican tipping culture, how bad the food was, and the long wait, we decided we didn't really want to tip. However, when the machine prompted us to tip, I misunderstood the "4. Other" to mean "no tip". So I pressed it and passed it back without typing in the custom amount. Today this happened again at a different restaurant and the waiter passed the machine back to me and told me I needed to enter an amount. This did not happen at La Opera. Instead the waiter decided not to clarify and used his own discretion to charge us with a 15% tip. While this is not unreasonable, I'm astounded by the fact he took the liberty to choose how much we tipped instead of asking.

A few hours later before our next meal I had very bad food poisoning which lasted two days. I didnt eat anything that day aside from La Opera up to this point. So unless it was rinsing my toothbrush with tap water, then it was...

La Opera is an institution harkening to the Porfiriato, a different time in Mexican history where grand buildings were commissioned (Palacio Bellas Artes) in the flavor of the French Belle Epoque. Indeed, upon passing the storefront, one might need to double take to ensure that they are indeed still in Mexico, and not in late 1800s France. The high ceilings are adorned with ornate plasterwork that compete with the food for your attention, and win. While the interior design of a location is a landmark in and of itself, the food and service are not.

It seems that the management understands this, and seeks to capitalize on minimal reinvestment into the furnishings, ingredients, and staff. A true Belle Epoque location would have well-trained garcons to match. Unfortunately, we were met by a maître d' with an eccentric half haircut who neither bothered to hide her boredom nor discontentment over her station. What she lacked in customer service skills she made up for in attitude. When our time came to be seated, she motioned to us in the manner one would to get a dog to come to heel. The wait staff were no better, and would sooner drop the food on the middle of the table than provide a pleasant dining experience. The food was mediocre. Unfortunately this place will continue to do fine as they are banking on their appearance. Its lost...

It was my dream comes true to eat at this historic restaurant where Poncho Villa was. I also read all the excellent reviews. The ambience, food, and decor are nice. However, the server we got really needs a lecture about inclusion and diversity. He might see me as an Asian and made an assumption. When he put my dish down on the table, he said, "Take a photo first before you eat." Then, he giggled. He offered to take a photo for a couple next to us. but he didn't offer the same thing to me and my husband, who tried to do our own selfies. At the end, it was weird when we were paying. He put the check at the table. I held the wallet and was going to pay in cash. He waited there and was there by the table staring at me. I felt I was on the spot and looked at my husband. So, my husband said to him, "we will pay, you don't have to worry." We ended up tipped him 200 pesos as I tried to stayed calm and tried to convince myself that all he did was just some misunderstanding or a cultural gap. In retrospect, three days in Mexico City, I never experienced any other server like him. Since day 1, all servers I got were nice, polite, and welcoming. All I could think of now is that this server may have created stereotypes about Asians. And,...