Restaurante Las Monjas — Restaurant in Querétaro

I have been here twice and both experiences were like night and day. My first experience was back and December and I was so blown away by the service and food I made sure to come back a second time.

Yesterday around 5:40pm was a very slow dinner service and we were the only people in the restaurant. I will note that the food is fantastic, I had a Cesar salad and mole. The building the restaurant is in is historic and charming and the fountain in the middle is beautiful. I cannot say the same for the service we received. The first server that attended us was kind and seemed attentive. Somewhere between seating us and taking our order we got a different server, I was with friends who don’t speak Spanish so I was interpreting to them and the server. About half way through our salad the new servers mood changed. He seemed short and like he did not want to serve us. I am from the area and know the customs well, so I was very confused as to what happened. We continued to eat our meal, my friends were blown away by the flavors. The server came to ask us how everything was, I shared that everything was delicious and thanked him. He walked away without saying anything, this was third time that happened, didn’t think too much about it just thought maybe he was in a short mood. We asked for to-go boxes since we were so full and assured the manager that we loved all of the food and thanked him for everything. The manager came to our table twice to help the server (again confused as to why since we were the only table there and I could see the server standing back). Towards the end of our meal, my friends wanted to practice their Spanish so they wanted to ask the server for our check, I asked the server to please come towards us because my friends had a question and he looked right at us and then walked out of the restaurant. My friends looked at me in shock and also wondered what was going on. We sat there for a while waiting for him to come back towards our table. Again, we were the only ones in the restaurant. The server just stood in the corner and stared at us. My friends and I looked at each other and wonder what was happening, my friend said it seems like they do not want us here. Finally I had to wave my hand and asked for the check. He turned away and mumbled something and immediately looked back at me to see if I was still looking at him. By this point I was sure that he was upset about us being there and I wondered if maybe we came in as they were closing, they close at 11pm and it was 7pm. When he returned I asked him why the restaurant was slow this evening (sometimes there are road closures) and he didn’t respond. Gave me the terminal to pay and he walked away without saying anything. As we got up to leave the manager and server were both near the exit and the manager was the only one who wished us a good night. As much as the food is great here, the service is not consistent enough for me to return. Despite this servers mood, we tipped him. He looked young and I knew that I did nothing wrong, I am chalking it up to him being inexperienced. I was cordial, grateful, and communicative during our time there. I was disappointed that the server acted the way he did, since I was excited to bring my visiting friends to a unique experience...

This was recommended by a local Mexican friend and the food was very good. However:

On my first visit, the waiter immediately suggested the two most expensive items on the menu (I'm sure they're good - I ordered a great chorizo starter and mole instead). At the end, however, there was some confusion about the size of the tip, so I ended giving about 20% more than the actual bill. I'm well travelled and my Spanish is decent, but certainly not fluent enough to negotiate the specifics in such situations - I'm happy to pay a large tip on occasion for good food, but know this was high.

The next visit, another confusion - My accompanying Mexican friend this time did receive the most expensive item on the menu, despite thinking he was only getting an enchilada with a particular kind of meat. Delicious, but €20 more delicious than anticipated. Fool me twice...

Lastly, in the attached produce shop, I was charged 70 pesos for an item labelled 60 pesos (I queried), whilst an item without a price tag was quoted at 45 pesos, despite on the next day when I returned having a sticker stating 35.

4 interactions with 4 'mistakes', including one that fooled a local resident? Other reviews have mentioned similar issues, such as free coffee refills being charged. Great food and wonderful setting, but I regret to say - go somewhere else. These probably weren't all accidents and there are plenty of honest restaurants around dealing in similar quality. So nearly great -...

I had formerly rated this as 5 stars, but today we had a very different experience. We arrived at 4:30pm for some coffee and pastries. The waiter actually invited us to leave and go to the bakery next door!

We stayed and had the sausage soup and chicken enchiladas which were good, but our waiter had his back to us whenever we were trying to get his attention for coffee refills or napkins, etc...

If you get coffee with breakfast, you'll enjoy free refills. But after 1pm, you pay $2.25 USD per cup. Of course that isn't written down anywhere. You only learn that when you receive your bill.

The food is great. The prices are very reasonable. Unfortunately for us this time, we learned that having a good waiter can make or break your experience and our waiter clearly decided we weren't worth his time...