La Taberna De Los Duendes — Restaurant in Oaxaca

Even though my experience with mushrooms was uneventful in San José del Pacífico, this place (plus being up there in the forest) made the whole trip (literally) worth while. The atmosphere in the place is so cozy, and the reception and the service by the owners and the staff is outstanding. As I was there I saw some people coming in and out after reading the menu, I must say that if you're traveling on a budget, this is not the place for you. It is not that expensive, it is a little bit above average prices but what you pay for a pasta or a steak, is what you get and I think it's even more. Portions are so out of proportion, you can easily feed 2 people with one dish, and still they serve you some bread and some cheese with some fig jam which is delicious. When it comes to drinking, there's a nice selection of beers and wines. There's just one thing with the ventilation of the place, when the kitchen gets busy, it will cover the whole place with smoke and you'll ended up coming out smelling like if you were the cook. Unlike most places up there, you can pay with credit card which is nice if you want to save your bills for other occasions. Overall this place is great and eating there is a...

This was literally the worst culinary experience I had in my life. The only thing ‘Italian’ about this place is the arrogance of the waiter (hopefully he’s not the owner).

After we waited for minutes and minutes for the waiter to finish his phone call we got treated with a basked of the cheapest and tasteless white bread possible, with a overload of black pepper and a lack of salt, olive oil and garlic. The house wine was a blend between Cabernet Sauvignon and Malbec, normally one can expect a wine like that to be fully bodied and with strong, distinctive aromas. Unfortunately it tasted like a cheap blend box wine I use for cooking.

We had a pasta carbonara con egg shell with funky white cheese which couldn’t be further from the beautiful tase of Parmesan. Not even mentioning the horror they call pancetta. And we had a pasta ala Mexicaño el fantasya. Which we took back home to feed to the dogs, they only took one bite and ran off. Poor dogs. Truly disappointing. Right after we left, I threw the whole thing up while the waiter and chef were kind of watching through the window. After two months of eating Mexican street food I never had any problems food- or service wise.

Please avoid going...

Well, it's 2023 and the world is obviously not the same as yesteryear. So after enjoying a tasty trout here for ages, the other day, a Sunday, they denied us our dinner arriving at 7:30 pm after a 3 hour drive from the city and very much looking forward to this meal all day. Some highly disinterested young person, arguably with birthing potential, just shoo'd us out. Considering they close Mondays and started treated their loyal customers in this uncouth fashion, forget it then. Hasta la Napoli and ciao.

My originally exited review 5 years ago updated 2 years ago: San Jose del Pacifico is not what it used to be but there is still one sure shot for the intrepid gourmet: Los Duendes hits the spot as much today as it did years ago. Even though they are known for pastas, I'd recommend something you can't cook at home or eat elsewhere every day. The trout was reasonably sized and exquisitely prepared "a la plancha" with an excellent large mixed salad and generous portion of very tasty mixed and mashed potatoes, also had a courtesy cheese teaser and nice garlic baguette - add some Hibiscus tea and you're all set. Más o menos 15 bucks per/person....