Casa Tulum — Restaurant in Chicago

I wish I could say my first visit to Casa Tulum in Chicago’s South Loop was memorable—in a good way—but unfortunately it was memorable only for how completely they failed to serve us.

My wife and I arrived on a weeknight around 4 PM, and the restaurant was eerily empty: just two other tables occupied, and about eight staff members milling around. We were promptly greeted and seated by the hostess, and then… nothing. For more than fifteen minutes we sat at our table—no menus, no water, no acknowledgment whatsoever. Meanwhile, the staff clustered in small groups, checking their phones or chatting with one another, completely ignoring the guests in front of them.

When someone finally brought us menus, it was clear why nobody was in a hurry to take our order: the table was sticky and littered with crumbs, and the menus themselves were smeared with old food stains. We waited another ten minutes hoping someone would come by to take our drink or appetizer order—again, nothing. At that point we decided we’d wasted enough of our evening. We stood up and walked out, and even then the hostess didn’t offer a single word of apology or explanation—she just watched us leave.

I’ve lived in the South Loop for over a decade and was genuinely excited when Casa Tulum opened. But after this baffling level of neglect—from filthy tables and stained menus to completely absent service—I cannot in good conscience recommend this place to anyone. There are dozens of far better spots nearby that actually appreciate your patronage. Do yourself a favor: skip Casa Tulum and take your business somewhere that treats you like a guest, not an afterthought.

RESPONDING to Manager: Hello Casa Tulum team,

Thank you for taking the time to respond. I can assure you that my review is neither false nor fabricated. My wife and I were indeed seated at your restaurant on June 13, 2025, and experienced the delayed service, unclean table, and stained menus exactly as described. There is nothing for me to gain by misrepresenting what happened.

The fact that you’ve labeled my account “fake” raises serious concerns about how guest feedback is received and handled at your establishment. I’m not sure which camera feeds you reviewed, but we had no interaction with your servers at all (outside of the greeter)—nor did anyone ever apologize or explain the delay as we left.

I hope you will take this opportunity to review your training and service protocols. Genuine criticism is meant to help you improve, not to damage you unfairly, and I encourage you to investigate this matter thoroughly so future guests aren’t met with the...

I am so happy to see more dining options in the southloop! This is my second time dining at Tulum. The reason for the 4 stars is because our experience between the first time and the second time was very different. Overall the food was fantastic both times and their salsa is sooooo good! We’ve tried their flautas, Tulum special, whole fried snapper, mole, fish tacos, and ribeye tacos. I love their horchata iced coffee! Not too sweet and very delicious. The lack of consistency in service was definitely noticeable this time. The first time when we dined here our server was awesome. We asked for more salsa and she was so happy we liked it so much. She checked on us often even though she was very busy with many tables. This time things started off odd because my husband ordered a diet fountain drink as it says on the menu and our server brought over a canned Diet Coke. On the menu it says you get 2 refills which is fine(even though most restaurants offer unlimited) so we were confused why it was canned. When we inquired about this she said the fountain drink machine was broken and we would still have to pay for the fountain drink price, but we would only get one canned soda. It just seemed so weird not to mention this when we put in our order. He opted out and just decided to stick with water. The second thing was since we had 4 people in our group this time we asked for more chips and salsa and she said ok. We noticed after a bit she wasn’t bringing them out even though she walked by us few times so I asked again and that’s when she let us know the first chips and salsa is complimentary, but the ones after that are extra $4 each . Honestly I’m happy to pay extra, but I was taken back because this wasn’t the case the first time when we were here and I wish the server just let us know when we asked for more the first time instead of just having us wait. Overall it’s a good place for food and I love the atmosphere, but I do think they need to work on being more consistent with their service because no matter how good the food is inconsistent quality of service will sour the...

The experience we had was horrible. First we were given stale chicarrones. Then although three plates came out my wife’s food did not. After being told it was coming out, we waited more, only to be told they brought my wife a side of mole as her dinner and not the mole plate with chicken that she ordered. After another long wait her food came out, after everyone else was done eating. After dinner, my wife ordered a lava cake for my birthday. After the order had been placed and 20 minutes later we are told they only had one lava cake left and another table who arrived after us got. My wife also ordered a cafe de olla. That too never came. After inquiring we were told it’s coming only for the waitress to come and say they don’t have any today. The experience was just over all horrible and to top it off we did not even get an apology from management let alone anything taken off the bill. For an almost $300 bill you would think the service would be much better and that management would have handled it much differently.

Update: Shortly after posting the above review, one of the owners reached out and expressed his apologies and concern for the service we received. He expressed that prior to calling me he had already been in contact with the staff and management at the restaurant and would be working to ensure the type of service we received was never repeated with any other customers. Being that we have visited this restaurant previously and experienced great service, we believe the owner will correct the problem. Based on the owner’s response and corrective actions, I have changed my rating to reflect the restaurant is a great place to eat,...