Oyamel — Restaurant in New York

The experience wasn’t the best. When we arrived to book a table for two, the host checked her iPad and said there was a wait of an hour. Then, she glanced again and immediately seated us! I’m not sure why she mentioned a wait when she did so quickly. We feel really discriminated on that maybe because we were only in our normal clothes. Later, the server came and we asked for water and lemons, but she only brought room-temperature water. We ordered the chips and dips, empanadas, and drinks to start. We got our food, and then the server brought the drinks, but that was it. She never asked if we needed anything else. I kinda wanted to ask anyone if refills for the chips are free, and we wanted to order tacos, but the other staff weren’t very friendly either. When our empanadas arrived, we wanted to ask if refills for chips were free, and he said, “Yes,” but then he said, “I’M NOT YOUR SERVER.” It really got under my skin, and I started ranting to my companion about everything that went wrong. The table next to us had a guy in a suit who came three times to ask if they were doing well or if there was anything good, but never to ask us. The other table nearby had cold water, which I could tell because it had moisture on the bottle. Meanwhile, we had room-temperature water (no moisture on the bottle). After about 40 minutes of our entire dining, the server came to ask if we wanted to order more, but I just didn’t want to eat anymore because of that one runner/busser. We were supposed to order another round of drinks and order each flavor of tacos because a friend of mine recommended the place and said the food was good. To be clear, I don’t have hate for the server as I saw she was really busy with the other tables too, but it’s just the other staff, the host, the bussers, but the food was...

Oyamel was sadly a miss on several fronts. I’m a huge fan of other José Andrés restaurants like Zaytinya so was even more disappointed by Oyamel.

(1) The food was not particularly fresh or flavourful. The only vegetable they seem to know how to cook with for vegetarian options is mushrooms - mushroom taco, empanada, queso fundido, arroz, quesadilla - oof! Made it a very boring menu for vegetarians, which is such a pity considering Mexico’s incredible diversity of produce.

(2) Taste-wise, the dishes were not particularly interesting. They would have benefited from bolder seasoning or incorporating more Mexican herbs and spices into the dishes. I was especially disappointed by the freshly-made guacamole; we ordered the spicy version and there was barely any heat! The cocktails were great though - the watermelon margarita was very fresh and fun.

(3) The restaurant was maybe 40% full so not particularly busy. Yet we needed to ask three times for a serving spoon for our salad, they brought us queso fundido with chorizo instead of mushrooms, and the staff seemed really flustered. Maybe the restaurant is understaffed in general.

(4) The space is huge and beautiful but lacks any sound insulation, making it difficult to hear others at the table even when you lean in. I can’t imagine how raucous and shrill it’ll get in the winter without any sound insulation.

Overall, Oyamel isn’t worth the ~50/head you might expect to spend. Would grab drinks here if I was in the area, but I wouldn’t make it a point to come here, and certainly...

Great service and nice atmosphere with sub-mediocre to inedible food.

For $18 the guacamole is not made fresh, there’s so much lime (a preservative) that’s all you taste. The consistency is mushy and watery. I sent it back, they sent back the same stuff and insisted it was made fresh — with no lime. Okay. Totopes were supermarket gringo style, though served in a pretentious paper cone like pomme frites.

The suadero taco was so salty it was inedible (and I like salt). Also served on a single tortilla so it fell apart when I touched it. (Most places would double up.) Carnitas was edible but bone dry, huge hunks of pork rather than shredded.

Enchiladas verdes was okay, for Caliente Cab Company or some other tourist/student place where they count on you being too drunk to notice. Though on that note, the cocktails were way too sweet and light on alcohol.

Bottom line, I can’t believe Jose Andres put his name on this place. I recommend any of the Little Spain Mercado options next door — unfamcy, excellent Spanish and Catalan cuisine. Give this place a miss.

Edit to address the owner’s response: if the guacamole is made to order, why is it we sent it back because there was too much lime, yet when we got a fresh bowl it tasted exactly the same? Our waitress insisted there was no lime in it, but I know what I was tasting. Frankly it had the taste and consistency of prepackaged guac. I’ve traveled to Mexico for 30 years, many regions, and never encountered “fresh”...