Levadura de Olla Restaurante — Restaurant in Oaxaca

It's shocking this is Michelin rated. I had the single worst experience I've ever had at a restaurant in my lifetime. The headline is they called the police - on a quiet female sitting calmly in her chair who never swore or raised her voice, simply wanted a comfortable place to sit. What in the world could prompt that you ask? Here's the story: Walked into a hot room that looked like all the cheap dive restaurants we have been enjoying so much. Charming in a dive restaurant- not good for a Michelin star level experience. It smelled bad and they wanted to seat us in basically a hallway to the kitchen. The other slightly less bad option was a table in a doorway with your back to said hallway in a slightly less hot room that smelled far worse. We were so uncomfortable and wanted to leave but were very hungry and trying to make the most of the birthday dinner we had so carefully planned. So we moved one chair to sit together instead of in that weird and incredibly uncomfortable position. After discussing food and drinks with the Waiter the table behind us sat down. There was plenty of room for them to get comfortably in their seats and for a person to walk between the tables. But as they were sitting a man (I learned later is named Jose) came to tell me to move my chair back to its spot with my back in the middle of a doorway. I was shocked they would ask that and said I felt really uncomfortable in that spot. I noted there was plenty of room behind me for the guests and to pass. He kept insisting without reason that the chair had to be in its original place. He finally said "you have to follow the rules." I asked what rules. Which he could not name. So I said firmly and directly in a flat tone if I'm breaking the law call the police but I'm not comfortable in that spot and I'm going to sit here. So he said he would call the police- he said I was "so rude" and that I was a "bad customer" - (later he cited us asking to change tables as a reason we were such rude bad customers. So basically trying to be comfortable was what was so rude)

It reminds me of the thing we teach kids that when someone calls you a name that's what they really are "twinkle twinkle..."

Anyway the guy clearly had some issues.

We tried to ignore it and order our food but he came and stopped us from ordering and said the police were coming. At that point we decided to wait to see if they really were for pure amazement of anyone acting so abhorrently. I have video footage of the police coming- how spacious and reasonable the chair placement was- the whole thing. Never a raised voice, never a swear word, never an insult, just trying to sit in a comfortable place where no one else was disturbed- that merited a police call?

I asked a few times to talk to the manager who never came. I also asked the man his name and he refused to tell me- in my experience that's always the first sign someone knows they are not acting right.

Anyway the website has his photo and his name- Jose. He's the head of service relations. So my guess is if someone who is this horrible with human interactions is in charge of service that the problem comes from the top. The whole experience from start to finish was the single worst restaurant experience of my life- left us both upset on a night we were supposed to be celebrating. At least we have a good...

Overrated place with ok food, bad cocktails, homey decoration and confusing service.

Food: Ingredients are fresh, but there’s definitely much room for improvements in seasoning. Most dishes we had lacked seasoning, some the seasoning was not balanced. Guacamole with grasshopper: not many grasshopper, mostly mediocre guacamole. Tomato salad: really nice idea and nice local tomatoes, however the purée’s seasoning is off, way too pungent and salty. Quelites soup: only thing I really enjoyed! The soup is made of natural local herbs. But still, the seasoning was very mild, which works for this soup but not most of other dishes. Fish of the day: Mahi Mahi was wwwaaaayyy over cooked. Super dry. Huge disappointment. Celebration of two moles with chicken and pork: the pork is cooked wonderfully. The chicken is surprisingly underwhelming, not soft enough and a bit dry. The mole was ok.

Cocktails: margarita was mediocre. I had the cocktail with weird popcorn in it and a little bit super super sweet liquid. Personally don’t think the person who invented this drink understands cocktails. So big disappointment in both classic and original cocktails.

Service: staff use pads to order online directly to the kitchen, which is very advanced in Mexico. However, the lady who waited our table was quite confusing. She served my bf’s main dish while I was still eating the last bit of my appetizer soup. And after my bf finished his main, she served my main. Considering this restaurant seems to wanna go for a bit higher class, the service is very confusing. I have never dined in a medium-higher class restaurant where they serve main dishes like this.

Decoration: nicely decorated with fresh ingredients and very homey. Their bathroom gives a lot of privacy and you can’t see the other stall’s person’s feet which is very rare in Mexico, which I do appreciate a lot.

Overall, underwhelming food and experience with overly hyped reception. Lots of tourists waiting and eager to get in, while in my opinion it’s not worth the money and time. (Netflix recommendation disappoints again. Btw I came here curious for iguana, and they don’t have it. Guess they only have it for TV...

Oaxaca #14 (Oaxacan #5, "Nice" #2): a little conflicted about this review.

If you only order one thing: plato de jitomates (highly recc the agua de maiz, too)

Levadura de Olla came highly recommend from many, many friends. Of all the dinner reservations we made (Los Danzantes, Labo Fermento, Criollo, Xaok), this was by far the restaurant I was most excited for (I actually made a second res because I assumed I'd love it!).

Long story short, I was let down. It was my partner's favorite meal of our trip, so I'm rounding my 3.5 up to a 4.

We ordered: agua de maiz $70, Ticunchi (jugo de agave) $80, vino tinto de las casa $185; Plato de jitomates nativos Oaxaqueños, puré de betabel y vinagreta de frutas $290, Tamal de requesón, flor de calabaza, mole negro y coloradito $245, Mole de guayaba, camarón, coliflor capeada y quelites de la Mixteca $380; Nicuatole de leche quemada $145, Panqué tibio de elote $140

What we liked: -the vibe is quite cool and we appreciated the open roof -the amount of NA beverages was great (and reminded us of Xokol) -the tomato plate (and the ability to order a half portion!) -the moles in/on the tamal dish -the guava mole and the shrimp in the mole de guayaba dish -the birthday dessert was very kind/sweet but also delicious!

What could improve: -service was very slow and odd (I'm not sure if we had a new waiter) -the moles in the tamal de requeson were great, but for me the tamal itself was a bit boring, typical -while we loved the guava mole and the shrimp, the caulifower tempura was just bizarre to both of us. It didn't really make sense and didn't add to the dish. It took away from the other great flavors IMO -cocktail menu wasn't very inspiring (especially compared to Los Danzantes and Labo Fermento)

I would definitely come back as there were so many other dishes that looked incredible on the menu. This may have just been a result of too high expectations. I plan to attend the Arca Tierra Cena in CDMX where Thalía Barrios y Jesús Ramos will be cooking, so I'm excited to try...