Mex Taqueria & Bar — Restaurant in Cambridge

I don’t usually write a negative review, because I feel like we are all experiencing such a change from how life was pre-pandemic, that I don’t want to be mean about a restaurant. But in this case I feel so disappointed in the nosedive this restaurant has taken that I am going to share my experience. The last 5 times I have gone to Mex, it has been disappointing, going from great initially to bad to worse, mostly the drinks/bartenders. (Not kidding, 5 times I kept going back thinking “It’ll be good again this time, I just know it.”) When Mex first opened a few years ago it was outstanding. The bartenders were among the most skilled I have had the pleasure to enjoy. Their drinks were perfection, they were very nice and very fun and friendly and did fun things like shaking and tossing the shakers from one to the other bartender. Their mixology work was amazing. They were noticeable professionals. They made drinks just how I like a drink, perfectly proportioned and a taste of the alcohol, not too much, not too little. I fell for the Mangonada drink – a slushy mango margarita drink w amazing flavors of tamarin, lime, salt, chili powder. It was this flavor combination and excellent mixology that made the drink so enjoyable. We would look forward to going to MEX for the Mangonada. Then over time we noticed the great bartenders were no longer there. Then we noticed they changed to ‘pre-mixed’ Mangonadas. That’s code for crappy pre-mixed, least possible alcohol ever. It is the way the restaurant will save money on alcohol because you will not be having much of it in your drink, trust me. The only shining light I had was to hope for the insanely good flavors added to the rim and the special chunky straw covered in the flavor/spices. For several visits I pretended I was ok with this change to pre-mixed and that it wasn’t a giant step in the wrong direction. However, after 5 lousy visits in a row, I can pretend no more. I went on Friday night and it was the last straw. The kid behind the bar might just as well have been working at the returns counter of Home Depot. He obviously knew nothing about how to make a drink. Specifically he did not know how to make a Mangonada – and, really, all he had to do was the pull the pre mixed pitcher and manually add in the spices/flavors to the rim of the glass and the chewy straw. He couldn’t even get that right. He did not add the flavors! I couldn’t tell if that was laziness or stupidity or lack of training. He was young and chatting a way w the other staff, thereby making us wait as we waved to try and get his attention. Took a while. Sorry but shame on him, we were the only ones at the bar! We got nachos which were good. When it came time to get our bill, we get a story about how he gave someone else our bill and we’ll be paying their bill since they already left the restaurant. While the pricing was close enough ($2 difference), it was really the cherry on top of an already bad experience, after 4 previous bad experiences, thereby reiterating how little attention is paid now to customers, the service and the making of drinks. It was bad. So bad that I’m not going back. Shame on the managers and owners for letting go of their initial high standards, thinking it’s ok to be mediocre and that's good enough. Shame on them for not maintaining the excellence they started out with. I don’t have a lot of money to go out often, so when I do, I am going to spend my hard earned dollars in a place that is yummy, fun and worthy of a tip. I am not a big drinker but I do like to enjoy one good cocktail. If you do go to MEX, set the bar low. Very very low. And then you might have a nice time. I think skipping MEX altogether...

HUGELY DISAPPOINTED WITH HOSTESS/ MANAGEMENT FOR LACK OF TACT AND SIMPLE ACCOMMODATION : After booking a reservation 6 weeks in advance for a party of 7, 6 of us arrived (one was shortly behind) and were sat (3 two-top tables pushed together, one chair planned on being added to the end) closest to the door with the ICY BREEZE flowing in every time someone opened the door of the restaurant, which was about every 30 seconds, so it effectively felt like we were sitting outside, and we ALL opted to keep our winter coats on. Their idea of accommodating the 7th person was to position the 7th chair on the end closest to the door which was RIGHT in front of the entrance, hostess stand, and also where people stand while checking in waiting for a table. The party of 2 next to us on the other side finished and left, so we asked the hostess if we could bump down and include that table (ours was 3 two-tops pushed together) instead of the one on the end, so that our 7th person could be not positioned in front of the door. It was essentially just a matter of us bumping down by one table. When one of us politely asked the hostess, she was extremely dismissive as if it was a dumb question, and answered the question with something to the effect that gave us the impression she misunderstood what we asked, “yeah yeah I’m gonna out a chair here on the end” (the 7th person had not shown up yet). We weren’t asking for a chair, we were asking to bump down so the 7th person wouldn’t be trampled by the incoming traffic and the freezing cold temperature by the door. Confused, we sat back down as it was busy, and she seemed annoyed, so we didn’t want to continue the interaction with her. When a manager passed by, we asked him if we could bump down and he actually understood what were were asking after he gave us a chance to explain why instead of being dismissive like the hostess, assessed the situation and said “yes sure! Let me sanitize that for you no problem.” The hostess/front of house hears the interaction, interjects and addresses him and says “No. I already told them no.”, in a bossy tone. And the manager then told us “oh okay never mind sorry.” This was all before we got any food or drinks, but the kind waitress had brought us water. It did not make sense at that point for us to stay, so we got up and left. Quite a shame because the food and drinks looked really good in the menu and we had been looking forward to it...

Hola personas en la red! This place is really good. They kinda just stuck me in the attic tho. And unfortunately the doors that protect the boozy woozies were locked. I’ve been to a lot of restaurants in my day, and man, with this being the first restaurant I’ve been to in women’s history month, I am pleasantly surprised with this turn out. I’ve never seen such strong women! And NO I’m not talking about that “brave” or “persistent” mindset. I mean REALLY STRONG. If I was in a street brawl, which I sometimes get myself in ☺️☺️ I would want THESE WOMEN backing me up. I might pull a few aside and try to start an underground fight club (jk but not). Think it could help w my personal strength even though I’m as alpha as a little Irish prick can get! Not to mention the olive oil in the guac. At first I was like 🤨🤨but then I was like 😋🤤 (yes I drooled a bit). I liked it especially because it reminded me of Italy, and that reminded me of my mother. She went to Italy for her semester abroad. I don’t remember the specific city but it rhymed with Home. Idk. Now to the main event. They have this interesting light fixture. It is a full bike they have hanging from the ceiling (see picture). First off, who rode it up there to begin with? Second off, could I be the next one to ride it? So I paused my delicious dinner to go climb over the rails and ride it. I thought it was like one of those mechanical bulls you find at a traditional Austin TX sports bar. However, when I tried to ride it, all the waitresses were screaming, “No! No! No! No! No! No!”. I was kind of confused because I haven’t taken Spanish since middle school, but I had this weird gut-feeling, they were mad at me for doing something I shouldn’t?!?! I figured it was time to get the bill. I dropped the pen though (in my defense it was a TERRIBLE THROW). Then I realized I was too scared to get down and had to call the fire department. While I was being fireman-carried out they didn’t TECHNICALLY kick me out, but they put my face on their wall. And I am NOT famous, yet. Overall though, really great guac and margaritas....