Quebracho — Restaurant in Mexico City

I dined at Quebracho three times in June 2018. My friends from South America bugged me for years that gringos don't know their steaks, so, OK, I caved and found Argentinian steak place in Mexico City.

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MY FIRST VISIT was on 06/13 (or 06/14):

I ordered CORTE QUEBRACHO -- their signature cut, medium-rare. It came with a lot of fat and membrane around the steak that I couldn't even cut through with a steak knife. I had to send it back. It came back and only the middle part of the steak was nice and juicy. I paid 950 pesos ($47) for their best corte and had to do sawing work like a carpenter to cut my steak into thin slices, just like jamon, because normal, half inch slices were unchewable.

The default salad was OK. The Malbec was OK, no comparison though to California cabs.

My whole meal including tips and a bottle of wine was 82 dollars. For 82 dollars, I'd had a nice big steak in a solid place like Morton's in San Jose, CA.

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MY SECOND VISIT (I don't remember the exact date):

I decided to give Quebracho a second chance, because I saw some nice cuts on the tables of other guests. I ordered ARRACHERA cut (skirt steak). It was nice and juicy -- it was enjoyable and proper steakhouse experience.

French fries were bland -- they clearly make it from the frozen bags -- not freshly cut.

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MY THIRD VISIT was on 06/25 and only because the other steakhouse on the same street was closed for the night.

I ordered BIFE -- NY Steak (450 pesos/$22) -- medium. It came with a nice chunk of fat+membrane attached to it like a trailer to the car. I sent it back, because I specifically asked for black outside and pink inside just like on the neighbor's table. I came back in a better state, but I had to discard the fatty "trailer" immediately, because it wasn't edible. 20% of the steak was nice and juicy, the rest was just OK -- the type of a "steak" you'd buy at Safeway to impress your relatives from the remote village in Siberia. Nobody asked me: "How is your steak?". Not even once. I told the waitress (I speak Spanish, btw): "This is not a steak I'd expect at a steakhouse, I had to discard big part of it and the rest wasn't up to steakhouse level". She said nothing in return, but "Do you want to leave a tip". I said, yes, 10%. She charged my card 15% anyway. No, I'm not joking, just ask her.

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All three times local people at other tables seemed to enjoy their steaks and their steaks DID look good. So, I can assume that Quebracho provides cuts of different quality to the tourists and to the locals. There is another possibility: people who live in Mexico City don't know what is a good steak -- and this is hard to believe to me.

But I have no regrets, because experiences like at Quebracho make you appreciate steakhouses that DO care about their customers (and...

My dad almost went to jail over the undisclosed prices at this restaurant.

We were a little tired of having mexican food and wanted something different in the city. We were recommended this restaurant by a friend and thought we would give it a try.

They never brought out a menu and instead had a QR code that did not list prices for the stuff they ended offering for us to order, which was a variety of meats that we chose from the board that they showed us.

The meat was OK. Nothing out of this world, but probably the best we had thus far in Mexico. Compared to any steakhouse in the U.S. it is probably a mediocre one. But the rest of the food was pretty decent. The place was down to earth and comfortable, nothing fancy at all.

We had a pleasant dinner. But then the check came. They charged $100 for a ribeye steak probably weighing 14oz. Not an amazingly tasty or well cooked meat by any means. We had to ask for one of the steaks to be sent back for some actual searing since it looked like boiled meat but still raw in the center.

We were very surprised. We have been to pretty amazing steakhouses all over the world and have never spent anything close to $100 for a mediocre ribeye steak like that. The restaurant ended up knocking $100 off the $1000 bill. Not a great comfort when you are caught off guard by an unexpected $300 bill for steaks that weren’t that great to begin with.

That said, pretty good wine and sides, but save yourself the $100 and buy 6 ribeyes at Sam’s Club instead. They will taste...

Servers were attentive and we had a nice table upstairs by a window, so we could still hear the live music below. Ordered the grilled provolone, chicken skewer and a steak (sorry, don’t recall which one he had). The cheese was unique and delicious, but I found a hair wrapped around the tomatoes and another of a different color and length under the cheese. My chicken skewer was dry and not dry flavorful. The “salad” was the same sad iceberg and flavorless tomatos that was garnish on the steak plate. My husband’s potato side never came out. He said his steak was very good, but it came out rare, not medium rare. The center was not edible based on his taste.

I am not sure if we had a fluke of a meal but I can’t believe that three dishes with issues is a...