Tómalo Grill — Restaurant in Austin

I realize I should've taken photos of the dishes, but ok here we go.

This is the second time I go (1 year apart), the first time I went to this place it was called Bacalar, great concept, dishes were good, overall was a little bit expensive, but the food quality was there, so no complain. They had a decent chef back then.

One year later, they renamed the restaurant to Tomalo. Here's my problem, there's no branding to this place, there's no story about the name, the place, the food history, nothing, it's supposed to be a Mexican cuisine restaurant, but there's no vibe to it, no ambience, nothing, but perhaps let me explain:

Atmosphere I made a reservation to go to this place for dinner. As soon as we arrived, I felt rushed, even though there was almost nobody in the place, there was no person greeting in the entrance, and suddenly they felt the rush to greet us and sitting us without checking reservation, but that's fine, I guess it wasn't needed.

Light ambience was off, it was too bright, kind of the feeling when they're about to close. They had the lights dimmed high, but then there were candles in each table which threw the ambience off.

Music This was another missed opportunity. The experience for restaurants like this should be as close as possible to being more authentic. Playing over and over reggaeton, it's not what this place is meant to be. I like the genre from time to time, but this was not really the place to be listening to this genre specially over and over, maybe play softer melodies, instrumentals, idk, but needs to be variety.

Food

Queso This is were it failed the most. For starters we order a queso, which we got high expectations for this since normally Mexican style queso fundido it's great, maybe some Oaxacan queso, qith chorizo, idk, but something that makes you feel damn this is good. Instead they brought us an almost cold, white cheddar melted cheese, with few drops of pico? The dish was definitely not worth it but of, maybe the main dish are... Wrong...

Pollo con Mole Horrible, they brought me a super dry roasted 1/4 chicken, with black beans that smelled horrible, most likely from a can, and one slice of small jalapeno again, from a can, and rice that was over-cooked, and not Mexican style rice. NOT to mention, there was no mole on top of the chicken, but to a side, 2 to 3 spoons portion-wise. What the heck? Not Mole, they were not even trying.

Pork al Mojo This was the other dish we tried... I have no words to describe this. There was no flavor to the pork plate, nothing, not properly salted, no condiments, no condiments, nothing, plain and simple pork, that I think was microwaved or something....

Drinks There were few options, it was ok, nothing extraordinary, a "Meh" experience.

-- Service It was ok, at least the person attending us, but everybody was off, we asked about the music, they changed it to Cumbias, again, completely off for the place, and at the end, before closing time, I guess we were the few remaining guests, they turned on the music to high, like wanted us to go away.

Overall I think they do not even have a chef or something, this is by far the worst rebrand of a place that was working, and by far, this is not Mexican cuisine, nor the...

This place is the worst place I’ve ever visited in my 36 years of existence on this planet. I think a trip on foot to the barren desert, in the year 1746, while occasionally stepping on legos would have been a more delightful experience.

Rudy is the worst server I’ve ever come across. I’m not sure if this guy has ever looked up the words “customer service” in his life but I think that would be a good start on his journey in the service industry. Or he should very thoughtfully rethink his life plan because the service industry is really not it for him.

We had reservations on a Saturday evening and I asked if they could make any sort of gin martini with some sort of flavor (a cucumber martini, etc.) and he very condescendingly said no multiple times and didn’t try the least bit to work with me on coming to a happy medium with what they could offer. He kept saying no like I was a moron and he kept repeating that none of their fruit offerings were fresh (I was looking at their other cocktail listed items for inspiration, for example: grapefruit) and he just kept saying everything was sweet and nothing would work. By the way, not having anything fresh is a huge red flag in itself. He was beyond rude and argumentative. This was our first impression of this place and we all just got up and left (we had just arrived).

I can completely understand not having the ingredients for something but his attitude was sooo unnecessary and just plain rude. He had zero desire to work with me. I’ve worked in the service industry before and I have never dreamed of treating a customer the way Rudy so easily treated me this evening. I would never return and will be sure to...

When my boy Brandon said he wanted to hit Tómalo on Rainey for his birthday, I was a little skeptical. I thought, “Alright bro, another spot with overpriced margaritas and mid queso—classic birthday trap.” But I pulled up anyway, because that’s my guy.

Then I walked in and immediately realized: Tómalo is different. The vibes were vibing. Music hitting, lights perfect, and somehow it smelled like both vacation and good decisions. It’s not your usual Rainey chaos—it’s that elevated kind of lit.

Enter Amy, our server and the true MVP of the night. Cool as hell, chill under pressure, and funny enough to hang with a table of slightly-too-loud birthday degenerates. She didn’t miss a beat—knew the menu like she wrote it herself and dropped recommendations that changed lives.

The cocktails? Moonwalking on my tongue. Amy talked me into a mezcal drink that had me rethinking my entire relationship with tequila. The food came out looking like it had its own PR team—queso fundido bubbling like a lava lamp, tacos dressed to impress, ceviche fresher than a SoundCloud drop.

By the end of the night, Amy had us feeling like VIPs. I was talking to her more than the birthday boy—sorry, Brandon, but she had better banter.

Bottom line: if you want your next night out to feel like a cinematic universe premiere, pull up to Tómalo, ask for Amy, and let her direct the show. This spot? Certified...