EDITED: My original review was 3 stars, and I detailed both how outstanding the food is and some issues I had with service on my first trip. In the original review, I noted that the restaurant was exceptionally busy on a Friday night at 8pm, which probably contributed to the service issues.

I did not speak with a manager that night or leave my contact information. In other words, I did not ask them to reach out to me – I just wanted to post a review because of the mixed experience.

But the next day I received two personal calls, first from our waiter who gave a sincere apology, and then from the COO of the restaurant. This has even more significance when you consider that the review did not have my contact info. With more than 1,600 reviews, they saw a single three-star review and then must have gone through some effort to figure out who I was (when they only had my name from the Google review) and then called me.

I believe strongly that the true “measure” of any business (or person) does not come from when things go smoothly – it comes from when things go wrong, and from how they respond to the things that went wrong.

So after receiving the phone calls, we decided to give Mochomos another chance – and we did not regret it. This time we went in on a Monday, and not only was the food still exceptional, but the service rose to the same level as the food.

With the wait staff not stretched thin, we experienced service on a 5-star level; from the more obvious things you’d expect – a highly attentive wait staff – to some really nice touches, like the waiter helping to serve the shared appetizers, using what looked like a practiced or procedural move, and the huge sparklers that Mochomos uses to celebrate special events (we were there as two couples, one celebrating their anniversary and the other celebrating their engagement).

Between our two trips (a group of four) we had 8 appetizers, 6 entrees, 5 deserts, and a dozen or so mix drinks, and literally every single thing we ordered was delicious. Not one single bad, or even “so so” item was delivered!

The drinks are unique and have a beautiful presentation, and are nearly as good and as memorable as the food. And as for the food – between the flavor and the unique preparations, this would easily rank in among the top “best food I’ve eaten” restaurants!

In short, Mochomos truly lived up to its stellar reviews – through exceptional food, true 5-star service on our second trip, and simply in how they reacted to adversity.

The lasting impression for me won’t be that we had some understandable service issues on a packed Friday night. It won’t even be the food (though that will have a lasting impression too, since it was so good, and also quite unique in its preparation) - it will be that everyone at Mochomos cares so much about the customer experience that even a 3-star review which included a lengthy section dedicated to how good the food was (from someone on vacation no less) warranted going the extra mile – and more.

I plan to update this review one more time when I return home, with some photos we took of the food. I’ll look up the menu online to get the proper names when I do.

For now, I’ll say that the two shrimp appetizers on the very top left of the menu were two of the best shrimp dishes I’ve ever had, and the flan Nutella desert is not only super delicious, but insanely unique. If you like spicy, I would also highly recommend asking for their spicy salsas, which complement many of the dishes beautifully (particularly the black habanero salsa, though all of the salsas - both the two that are included, and the three extras you can order - were excellent).