Origen — Restaurant in Oaxaca

Here's what I don't understand. We've been to A LOT of restaurants over the years, many of them on recognized "Best" lists of South America, Mexico, Michelin, San Pellegrino, etc. Usually when it is on the list, the food AND service is above average, even if the prices seems outrageous. The management usually understands what a great experience means, even if the servers / staff doesn't. Usually it means, they have their stuff together and generally a well oiled machine.

In the case of Origen it is the total opposite. We came for what we expected as a premium price meal above an already 'expensive' menu since it is "new years". Origen did move to a new location and understandably they are still learning how to cook food in the new space that was once a cafe. But you'd expect the front of house to already be well acquainted with the process of taking orders, coming back with food / drinks, etc. Nope. Food came out cold, drinks took forever, not one time in a table of 4 did we actually enjoy the food together, there was random cold piece of lettuce on the only remotely hot - overcooked dish (duck). We had cold consume with slightly warm mushroom ravioli. They offered a vegetarian option but it was half the number of dishes as the normal one but charged the same price without any noticeably better ingredients or technique. The hardworking wait staff did their best but the management was a disaster and we tipped the staff separately for holding it together. The restaurant charged ~USD$800+ for 4 people.

If the management even showed a little bit of care -- it's a different story. I shared the frustration with front of house AND who I assumed was the owner, neither really cared. They actually seemed surprised that we had feelings about this experience when the bill came. We saw what looked like a friends and family table next to us who also seemed to be frustrated waiting hour plus for food and drinks. I saw people from other tables walking up to the bar to order their own drinks since the staff was overwhelmed. We heard from other tourists who went for brunch another day, they were equally disorganized when it was only 2-3 tables, waiting 45 mins to get their coffee. I should have read the more recent reviews. They paint equal disorganization.

Maybe they will get their stuff together eventually but wait it out a bit. It's not worth the money and it is must be a shadow of what Origen was when mentioned on the best of list. Or since we were tourist, they...

This dining experience was one of the worst ones I’ve had to date. When we made our reservation, we were told that there was a 10-minute grace period otherwise we would lose our reservation. This is typical so we arrived 10 minutes prior. As we were seated and had ordered our drinks, the waitress spilled the watermelon water all over me. I felt bad for the waitress as she seemed really distressed and told her accidents happen, not to worry. I was with a large group so I excused myself and told the group I’d take a cab back to the Airbnb so I could change as the clothes I was in were soaked. The restaurant didn’t offer to pay for my cab which I thought was weird but went along with it. After I returned to the restaurant, the group asked the head waitress to move forward with the tasting / fixed menu (with the wine pairings). The first course came out and we didn’t get our wine paired to our course; by the time we finished our meal, they decided to bring out the wine that was supposed to pair with the first course. For our second course we waited at least 30 minutes, and had the same issue where we didn’t get our wine pairing until after we finished our meal. As the waitress came to pick up my plate for my second course, she spilled it right next to me and proceeded to tell me that someone from our table had “bad energy” and needed to be cleansed in Sage and Palo Santo. Not only that but, at this point, another 45 minutes had gone by before we got our third course and we had to ask the waitress to bring our wine pairing with our third course before we began our meal. By the end of our dinner, when we asked for the bill, the restaurant didn’t offer to comp for anything and expected us to pay full price for the terrible service. I would understand if the food had been fantastic, but it was extremely underwhelming and overpriced. I do not recommend this restaurant whatsoever. You’re better off going to Criollo, Danzantes, or...

I had the tasting menu. Details as follows:

The space is beautiful. It’s an absolutely gorgeous and well-adapted restaurant space and the vibe is great. My biggest suggestion would be stopping here for an app or 2, a mezcal, and leaving somewhere else for dinner.

Drinks: Cocktail menu leaves something to be desired and the wine selection was uninteresting. Craft beer in Oaxaca is in its infancy (and it shows) so I will suggest you opt-out of the drink-paired tasting menu. Don’t come here if you’re simply looking to get an amazing cocktails because even the one i ordered (Cítrico) tasted on Sunny D w Mequite and was better left off my bill.

Food: I had the Spring 2021 tasting menu. It contained some of the more well executed dishes I had amongst tasting menus in the city. The mushroom tostada & fish course were my favorite (also the duck croquette w plum + beer reduction as amuse bouche. it was fantastic) There were many techniques amongst the plates that demonstrated well control and knowledge over local ingredients and how to execute them; however, there we choices made elsewhere in the dish that ruined the harmony of them.

For example: the shrimp crudo came with an orange zest float that was mixed shaved ice and salty like the sea. I didn’t realize this and ate around it at first but once i hit the orange ice, i immediately stopped eating the dish both for how unexpected straight up SHAVED ICE was and how salty it tasted. It was quite an unsettling execution; brutal avant.

Th dessert was equally as jarring with dollops of what tasted like intensely soured milk amongst what was otherwise an absolute fantastic representation of oaxacan cacao in all forms.

I ordered a second dessert to redeem which was incredibly good. The “native corn w milk” which was very well done and satisfying.

overall, i’d stop by for a plate or two and a drink as a pre-courser to a full...