El Alebrije — Restaurant in Zurich

El Alebrije is a fantastic experience that’s world-class Mexican food served via a clever pricing model with a friendly, passionate owner and staff in a beautiful space.

We had an assortment of high-quality Mexican dishes (the al pastor and fish tacos were incredible, and the duck confit was out of this world). It’s traditional Mexican cuisine, so it’s a lot of well-seasoned, mouth-watering proteins, fresh tortillas, flavorful salsas, and fresh vegetables or tubers as sides, whether a taco or a more typical main course. We learned that the restaurant is the only establishment in Switzerland that has trained chefs from Mexico, and it shows in every bite. A very delicious cuisine that’s not often as well-represented in the US or around the world as it could be, but very well-spoken for here.

The menu is a curated 15+ options offered in a unique model - you pay a set price for a number of dishes you’d like for your meal, and you can mix and match the sizes of dishes. For example, you can do an appetizer, a taco, and a main course for the 3 item price, or you can substitute the main course and just have a double helping of tacos with you appetizer. It’s a level of flexibility that allowed us to create our own set meal, which was innovative and much appreciated.

The space was beautiful - well decorated, great lighting, comfortable seating, and the soundtrack was a bespoke selection of American 60s and 70s pop and folk songs (so not quite your usual dad rock). All in all, a very intimate, romantic, and cozy space (it’s the holidays, and the decorations are lovely too).

The last thing to share is that the service was very friendly. We were welcomed by the owner of the restaurant (we forgot to catch his name, but he was a great host!) He took our order, helped his staff serve our food and drinks, helped clear the table, and stopped by to ask about us and share interesting stories about the restaurant. You can tell that he’s passionate about what he does and about sharing great cuisine with the city.

Just a wonderful evening all around - we hope to come back again one day when...

It was our first time at the alebrije. We were really excited to hopefully get some authentic flavors and feeling of home that evening - but alas - left with a somewhat bitter taste. The service is amazing, the waiters very friendly and attentive. The cocktails are super yum and really strong. With a Margherita I’d expect salt or Chile on the rim - this was missing and would have added another level to the cocktail - for the price that can be expected.

We ordered sopa azteca, wanted to share a portion of pastor, and then birria and Pato.

The sopa lacked all the flavours of smoked chile, came with 1 tiny piece of avocado and 3 pieces of cheese. Basically tomato soup with some fried tortilla. Was not impressed.

The taco was probably the most laughable thing I’ve ever seen. They served us 1 taco - which looking at the cost of the taster menu will have cost … 20-30chf. For 1 taco. The meat was meaty, the sauces too weak and watery for my liking and could have done with more flavor. Not impressed. I’ve had better Al pastor in Switzerland off taco trucks.

Our main menu was tasty, but the whole experience was just funny. We were given 3 tortillas in the first run which obviously lasted 1 minute. I was given app. 1 cilantro leave chopped to oblivion and even less onion (why not red??) for the birria. It was mainly soup, some marrow and a tiny bit of rice. The pato was really tasty from what I tried, the ensalada de nopales lacked all flavor.

As someone whose worked in hospitality and loves cooking Mexican food (and being Mexican) I found the experience to be strange. We paid 300chf incl tips for what I felt was good worth max 200.

Way too expensive and flavors...

Had a fantastic experience at El Alebrije tonight and am actually somewhat surprised by some of the reviews I read as I went to post this. As a Californian who has been in Europe for a month, I was craving some comfort food and really was satisfied by the Mexican cuisine at El Alebrije. The jalapeno margarita was on point, the flautas were on par with what I would expect from a local food truck at home (a good thing!) and the pescado was well seasoned (and the owner Miguel was incredibly kind and brought me homemade blue corn tortillas to make the plate my own). I also really appreciated the trio of salsas - reminded me of my fave taqueria in SF and each salsa had a truly different flavor profile and level of spice. They also all paired nicely with the dishes, which isn't always the case with a salsa bar.

For what it's worth, I had the opposite experience of many of the other commenters and felt that service was more than adequate - my order was taken immediately, menu choices were described clearly even with a language barrier, I was checked on multiple times, and I didn't have to wait at all for a second drink order or to get the bill. Maybe it's because I've been in some more "relaxed" parts of Europe for the past month, but this was by far the most attentive service I've had in weeks.

The vibe is good, ambiance trendy and it felt like a "less explored" neighborhood of Zurich - would absolutely recommend. For any Americans out there, it isn't going to be your classic huge menu / Tex Mex fajitas a la Chuy's or Cozymel's (nor is it purporting to be!), but it is going to be similar to what you'd get at an authentic Oaxacan place...