Nicolas Cocina de Herencia — Restaurant in Carmel-by-the-Sea

Carmel locals for a Birthday dinner for 2 on Friday night. There has been a lot of buzz about a new Mexican restaurant in Carmel Plaza (with a sister restaurant in Salinas). Carmel needs a signature Mexican restaurante - could this be it? We decided to check it out for a special birthday dinner. We researched the menu but could only find online ordering (no descriptions of dishes), and menu photos from Yelp. We booked a table for 2 anyway.

We arrived at 6:30 and immediately seated. All but a few of the 20+ tables were already full. Clearly people were excited to try out this place. We sat down and it was very loud (there was no ambient music playing - it wasn't joyful noise - it was just loud). The tables were large (so you are a little farther away from your guests than normal), the walls are reflective, and there were a lot of people. Several times we asked the servers to repeat what they said due to the background noise level. We were not off to a good start. One very cool feature on each table was an elegant yet simple LED lamp with different light settings that made it simple and easy to read the menu - yay!

Our waiter was friendly, available and seemed excited about the offerings. They had an interesting list offering of mocktails and tequila/agave based cocktails but were disappointed there was not a single gin cocktail - so we ordered one margarita that was overly salted (sure there is salt on the rim, but the drink itself tasted VERY salty) and one ginger-based mocktail that was bright and excellent. We ordered Kumamoto oysters as well (but they were already sold out at 6:30!!). We then switched to guacamole - it was nicely plated and had house baked chips but a bland and unremarkable flavor. The drinks and food throughout the night were served very quickly from the bar and kitchen.

We were looking for vegetarian/fish dishes for main so we ordered Tamarind Aguachile (pan seared ahi tuna with tamarind marinade) and Maitake Birria (maitake mushroom with chili marinade and rice/beans corn tortilla). The were very nicely plated - there is clearly a lot of thought about the presentation of the food here. The Birria was a great dish with deep flavors and nicely spiced. The Tamarind Aguachile was terrible. It was an off-putting dish, it did look like it was seared, but was like a cold slab of flavorless tuna, it had a gelatinous mouthfeel (like it was in the refrigerator for days) and was the worst tasting ahi we have ever been served. Maybe we should have complained, the waiter said it was his favorite dish after all, but didn't want to make a fuss at a birthday dinner.

At that point we skipped on desert and an after dinner drink (they did bring out a scoop of ice-cream with a candle and sang happy birthday).

Unfortunately we would not recommend this place for any of our out of town guests in the short term. There are clear gems here the mocktails, the plating/presentation, Maitake Birria, friendly wait staff, but too many startup problems (no ability to research menu in advance, VERY noisy ambiance, appetizer availability / tastiness, and nightmare Aquachile dish). We have great hopes that Nicolás Cocina de Herencia will become THE signature Mexican...

Order: Pineapple julep, Guava lychee coupe, Guacamole with chicharrón, Queso fundido, Enchiladas suizas, Mole enchiladas, Fajitas, and carne asada.

Food 8.5/10 and then it all goes downhill from there, we were a party of four and placed our order and our 2 appetizers were brought out to us along with a batch of tortillas (thought these were part of the appetizers since they came out with them). Placed our drink orders and they were brought to us, my girlfriend took a sip of hers and then the waiter came back and said “oh did you order this?” And proceeded to take that drink to the back (didn’t even ask if we wanted to keep it, the drink was her drink they just forgot to put the guava juice in it). When our food was brought out, the table was obviously over filled with drinks, appetizers, and now our entrees (they should’ve at least offered to move us to a different table, the servers were even struggling to find space for our entrees on the table all the while there was an empty table for 5 directly next to us). Amongst the items ordered were a carne asada and a skillet which are both supposed to come with an order of tortillas, we asked for a second round of tortillas because we thought they forgot to give us our second set of tortillas, which took forever to be brought to our table. When we were all done eating, we noticed the bill was $254 and some change and that we had been charged for that second set of tortillas. Not mad about the price at all since the food was indeed good, but would definitely recommend going to their sister restaurant villa azteca in Salinas 1000%, we’ve been to that location twice and have never felt disappointed by them.

PS: the queso fundido had a short black hair in it which I found when were already a quarter of the way done with but I didn’t tell anyone because I was already frustrated with the rest of...

I came opening night ready to endure some hiccups and give constructive feedback. There were very FEW hiccups, overall GREAT. There was a some confusion about what food/drinks went to which table, but that is to be expected and will most likely be resolved in a short time. My server Sergio was happy to answer my questions and explain menu options for me. He recommended a mezcal, Xicaru, that I enjoyed much more than I thought I would! I had the lobster taco appetizer and ahi tuna entree. The taco was served on an incredibly creative personal hot stone grill which doubled as a hand warmer. Beyond 5 stars for presentation! Despite having its own heater, the inside was only warm, not hot. The cheesy lobster taco filling was rich and tasty. I would give it 3.5/5 only because the crispy tortilla had cooled down and was crispy/chewy and the filling was lukewarm. I will definitely try it again because I think it can be 5/5. My entree was outstanding! The ahi is served with a seared sesame crust but had this unexpected, generously portioned, tamarind sauce that is so light, tart, and fresh that my taste buds were singing! There are little fresh crudités bits of cucumber, onion, radish, and pineapple that make each bite its own unique flavor. It was served with Gamesa Saladitas (saltines from Mexico) which seemed confusing to me at first, but were a great vessel for the extra tamarind sauce. Overall, I’m so happy to have this new spot in town. I hope...