La Xampa — Restaurant in Mexico City

First, the good: the vibe is nice here, the cocktails are excellent and the DJ was good. Our server was friendly and prompt, as well. Would be a 5 star for me if we just came for drinks. The croquettes were also a tasty entrada.

The bad: I originally ordered the creamy rice dish but then our server informed me after that the kitchen was out. No big deal, I asked him what he recommended instead and his first suggestion was the salmon, so I ordered without hesitation. He asked me how I prefer it cooked and told him medium. The salmon arrived hard as a brick, super over cooked. I'm not generally picky, but both my dining partner and I agreed it was super over cooked. So I explained and confirmed that it was ordered medium. Our server apologized and brought another. However the second one was so undercooked the filet was still frozen on the inside! Out of concern of illness, I refused again. At this point I would have been happy the same piece even warmed in the microwave but instead he told me it was not possible to have another. At this point we had been in the restaurant nearly two hours, it was nearly 01:00a and had been traveling all day, so was getting desperate for really any edible food. I then decided on the pork as an alternative, per his suggestion and ordered it to go.

To my surprise, the salmon was still on the check! So I asked to have it removed which our server said was no problem. But then he returned and said that because the salmon was still prepared we still had to pay for it...insulting! In the end I had to argue somewhat intensely with the manager to have it removed. It's not like we were asking for a free meal, we spent $1000 on other dishes and drinks. Overall it was a terribly disappointing and embarrassing incident to have in front of my partner. If your kitchen can't prepare food properly or safely, you should be prepared to provide the customer service to remedy the situation. I've spent many years in the service industry and understand mistakes happen, even repeatedly sometime, but there is always an opportunity to make it right.

And lastly, we were served a (albeit fantastic) cocktail in a cracked glass and the pork was dry, gristly and overall unexceptional.

Anyway, I would recommend to others for music, drinks and table service but definitely not the food...

Just... no. There are FAR too many great restaurants in Mexico City to waste your time at this place (including one right next door).

My wife and I both have serious reactions to any dairy products (which does make travel challenging), and we were VERY explicit with our waiter that I wanted my roast beef sandwich sin queso (without cheese).

When it arrived, I was far from impressed with the presentation. The sandwich was falling apart because of the lousy bread they used. And then when I bit into it, I realized that there was cheese on it. I pulled the top piece of bread off of the other half and there it was: a big hunk of Swiss cheese, partially melted over the meat.

We called our waiter over and he took the sandwich away only to return a moment later with the SAME sandwich that they'd obviously just peeled the cheese off of. Insult to injury.

This morning I'm dealing with nasty congestion and intestinal issues.

Sadly, after checking out other review sites, I see that I'm not the only one who has experienced bad service with their food at La Xampa. So, do yourself a favor and go elsewhere.

There are amazing restaurants in Mexico City that have impeccable service. This isn't...

Service was excellent. Fine dining style but casual. Excellent excellent staff. Attentive, friendly, good at what they do. Atmosphere is excellent. Food was... Well, it was rough. All I got was garlic shrimp and the slider, but couldn't force myself to finish either. The shrimp was unbelievably salty, and if my family heard me say that they would be shocked cause I put way too much salt on everything. So trust me, I EVEN I say it's too salty to force down... It's bad. The burger was very confusing. Like, a pulled pork style that was smashed into a patty, kinda, and had brown gravy on it. Like gravy for mashed potatoes but super dark. And still with a fresh tomato and lettuce? It was the strangest burger I've ever seen and it was not good.

Sorry guys, I hate talking bad but man, it was SO expensive and all tasted so bad. I now know why I was literally the only person there. Way way way overpriced.

Drinks were EXCELLENT though. Very very good. Pricey, but great.

My total, for two tiny appetizers that I couldn't eat and two small drinks was $860 not counting tip. (I left a great one still cause the staff is awesome)....