Santino Polanco — Restaurant in Mexico City

Place was less than half full. I was seated outdoors towards the back. Only 1 other table out of 4 was occupied in my section. A few minutes after being seated the couple at the table next to me started smoking cigarettes. I got up and asked the hostess if I had been seated at the smoking section and she thought I wanted to smoke so she said I couldn't by law. I explained the situation and she didn't even try to tell the table smoking is not allowed. So I offer to move to a table in the front and she agreed immediately. I ordered a Cesar salad not knowing it was made table side which I always appreciate and it didn't disappoint. I also ordered a pasta which arrived too soon because I was eating too slow, I guess. The waiter asked if I wanted it then and I said no so then they kept it warm until I finished my salad. That dried up the top of the pasta but it tasted good nevertheless. It came with a slice of terrible toasted bread with parmesan cheese. The bread tasted like 3 days old so I put it aside and instead enjoyed the one they bring as a starter. Wine was nice. I have to say the server was very accommodating so 4 stars for him and 1 for the hostess who obviously was ok telling me I could not smoke but didn't even try to stop the...

I have the reasonable expectation that an Italian restaurant should prepare great Italian food. While the service and aesthetic at this price point were quite good, the food needs a lot of improvement. We had three dishes, each of which were fairly mediocre. 1) The salad was wet and the dressing overly sweet. Ingredients were clearly not fresh. 2) The pasta dish, linguini with salmon, was way over sauced and plain, although the fish seemed fresh. And when the waiter served us at the table, he put a much larger portion on one of our plates which was rather awkward. My guest commented about it and the server did nothing to balance the plates. Otherwise, service was quite good. 3) Pizza was terrible. We had it split into two styles. The crust was dry and tasteless, breaking into pieces as we ate it, the cheese was over-baked so was also dry. It was clear the chef took a cheese pizza prepared earlier and simply added the toppings we requested. An Italian restaurant should serve near perfect a pizza and this one was a disaster—lazy, dry, cold, not fresh,...

Not Recommended

My partner and I had a very disappointing experience at this restaurant. He ordered a Margherita pizza, and I ordered a filet with a balsamic and red wine reduction, cooked medium-rare (closer to rare).

First, they brought the pizza, which was nothing like an authentic Italian Margherita. The sauce was bland, there was no mozzarella, and instead, it had shavings of some cheese that maybe resembled Parmesan. Meanwhile, since I don’t eat carbs, I had to sit and watch my partner eat, as my filet arrived 15 minutes later.

When it finally came, it was drowning in an extremely acidic wine and balsamic reduction, making it completely inedible. Despite my request, the meat was well done, and once I scraped off the sauce, it was clear the steak hadn’t even been grilled properly. An Italian restaurant that can’t cook a filet? Unbelievable.

Out of sheer hunger, I ate half, only to end up with a terrible stomachache....