Zama Latin American Cuisine — Restaurant in Bakersfield

TL;DR: Atmosphere/Interior Design - 5/5 Food Quality - 3.5/5 Service - 1/5 Demographic - 2/5 Employee Knowledge -1/5 Bathrooms - 5/5 Employee Friendliness - 5/5 Employee Professionalism - 3.5/5

Too Long; Did Read: Yesterday (2/11/23), my girlfriend and I were in Bakersfield for the day exploring from out of town. 3pm rolled around and we started looking for lunch since we'd only had breakfast hours earlier. We saw Zama on google maps by chance and decided to wait until it opened at 4:30pm because she was interested in taking a look at the decor/atmosphere based on the photos. We walked around downtown a bit until Zama opened and entered to find the place was booked for the night. Not a problem; we sat at the bar instead. It took us about 20 minutes to figure out what we wanted to eat, and in the mean time a group of younger people crowded behind our section of the bar and for the next 30 minutes or so were frequently bumping into us and reaching over us, or leaning up against our chairs. This was frustrating because the rest of the bar was relatively unoccupied and the staff didn't say anything to their guests. During that time, my food came out, but not my girlfriend's. In fact, her food did not come out at all for ~25-30 minutes. I finally asked the staff what was going on. The young woman behind the bar apologized and said she wasn't sure why they sent my food out, which I hadn't touched because I was waiting for my girlfriend's food to arrive. At this point it's about 5:30pm and the woman asked if I wanted a new plate, which I declined in favor of not wasting food; I asked if she could just warm my meal. About 10 minutes later both plates arrived. I only got about 4-5 bites of warm tuna, and it was cold beyond that. My plate was honestly insulting considering the price. $27 for an average sized tuna steak. I asked for rare and got a steak that was somehow medium on the left half and rare on the right. It's as if the chef cooked it toward the back of a grill the whole time; the side closest to the heat cooked more rapidly, and the side farther more slowly. Aside from the tuna, I was expecting mixed veggies, a salad and mashed avocado on the side based on the menu. What I got was one 5" long, .5" diameter half-slice of an orange carrot, one 5.5" long, .5" dia half-slice of a white carrot, one half of the head of a small Portobello mushroom, one piece of a head of floret of cauliflower, a hand-full of arugula/lettuce and maybe one tablespoon of mashed avocado. My girlfriend got braised pork, which honestly was wonderful. The flavor was outstanding, the portion size was ok. It came with two small (~4" dia) corn tortillas. She asked for two more, which cost $3. Overall cost was $32, which is still verging on ridiculous. Honestly, after waiting 30 minutes for her plate, I was seriously considering leaving and going to Chipotle. For my money, time, quality of food and taste, that would have been the smarter option. In regards to the staff, they were friendly. Perhaps acting too much like "buddies" and throwing around colloquialisms, but still very friendly. I was surprised to learn nobody seemed to be able to answer any of my questions though after they asked me if I had any questions about the menu or drinks. What does "pastor" grilled chicken entail? Don't know. How much are extra tortillas? Don't know. How much does Lagavulin 16yr cost? Don't know (turns out it's $40 for 2oz by the way, or you know... $90 for a full 750ml bottle at Total Wine. Is drinking in a cool setting that important? Don't know). And when they left to ask someone, I had to re-ask because they forgot by the time they returned. And throughout the 30 minutes of waiting, I would be surprised if the staff didn't see how the people around us were bumping into us and reaching over us... It was painfully visible. Would have been nice if they asked them to step just a few feet to the other side of the bar to avoid putting us in the awkward situation of asking a large group to do so ourselves. The bathrooms were sick - 5/5, but Chipotle...

Quick Summary All fire, but no sizzle. Zama is very social media friendly with its decor, ambiance, and plating. However, the food and service are far from satisfactory. Expect to pay NYC / SF prices as well

Food- 3.5 stars Everything was plated well, but it was a hit or miss on the taste on all dishes Chips and salsa- they had some banana tortas that tasted extremely stale and old. The tortilla chips that came by were better

Ceviche- this was decent. It had a good amount of acid, but really needed some salt

chicken flautas- this was good. It was like a better taquito and impressed with their green sauce

pollo con mole- the mole was good, but there was a good amount of bones and cartilage, which made it difficult to enjoy

Skirt steak cheese taco- this was the best entree of the night. The melted cheese really added to the taco and the steak was relatively tender

pollo al pastor- this was seasoned well, but it tasted like a meal-prep meal

cochinita pibil- this was decent. I did enjoy their Spanish rice and beans

poblano mac and cheese- this was decent

Flan isaac- definitely a denser flan since they use goat cheese. It's decent

panque de elote- this was a little bit better than the Flan

Drinks- 4 stars The drinks were decent, but definitely more on the sweeter side. They were priding themselves on having an in-house mixologists who would make the drinks at table side (e.g. drinks and a show). But was disappointed that despite ordering from the mixologist menu, they were making all the drinks at the bar and the mixologist never came by

Service- 2 stars Service was quite slow, but it wasn't due to lack of staff. There seemed to plenty of servers, but many seemed to be new waiters. Little things like the long duration for the check, lack of refilling water and technique, and forgetting our drink order until the end of our dinner, really led to a subpar experience

Ambiance- 5 stars The restaurant resembles a modern metro lounge with its decor (it's almost like Catch LA and Catch Las Vegas). Although it was a cool ambiance, the food and service fell short

Bottom Line Zama gets an A for their marketing and interior decor. However, the food and service failed to meet...

My husband and I had date night and we chose to go to Zama.

Overall vibe is great! Decor is great, music is popping and the staff are friendly. Food had highlights and low lights. Drinks were amazing!

Food: We chose to checkout three appetizers, guacamole, ceviche & flautas. The top one from the bunch are the chicken flautas. I would come back just to have those. The green sauce is delicious and the flautas are crispy and tasty. The ceviche was fresh but lacked seasoning and acid. The guacamole had some good moments like the pop of pomegranate and good flavors. However there was a green type sauce in the middle if the dish that watered it down. I prefer chunky guacamole, so was not too appetizing for my pallette. Dessert, you have try the flan, yum yum. The rich consistency reminds me on how my mom's make it. My husband tried the cornbread pound cake and enjoyed it thoroughly.

Drinks: Homerun in this department. MARACUYA MARGARITA and CARAJILLO were both winners. Taste, freshness, drink design, was fantastic. Must order to check out.

Service: The staff was friendly and I appreciated the staff's transparency that they were having some system issues and was holding things back. They were busy, so the server may have been a bit occupied and was not able to make it to the table as often, but other staff members made up for it by sparking up small talk and asking how is our meal.

If you want to get dressed up, go to a place with an LA vibe in our own Bakersfield backyard, with great drinks and check out the most delicious chicken flautas you have ever had,...