T'zunun Restaurant — Restaurant in Pleasant Hill

Really odd interaction. Second time coming here. First thing that happend after we were seated was the host very rudly told us we were 2 hours late and we would have one hour to eat before we needed to leave the table. and we were actually 15 min early for our reservation. Without saying anything the waiter ran up and said don't worry about her he doesn't know what her problem is. Waiter was very nice in general. My nieces got steak tacos from the children's menu. Food took probably 40 min to get to the table.

When it arrived everything was great except they didn't bring tacos for the 2 little girls. They brought 2 plates of 3 pieces of steak. The waiter came confused with what the food runner brought and asked if he could just bring us some tortillas so that we could just have the girls make their own tacos with the meat. We said sure thats fine more or less it's the same thing. It was kinda a bummer because the girls didn't get much to eat but we made due and my Wife shared some of her French toast with our nieces. Everything else was great with the meals. At the end on the bill we were charged 2 "steak platers" and another 10 dollars for tortillas.

So the what was basically 2 very tiny street tacos that we actually had to make ourselves at the table because of a kitchen error came put to 18 dollars a piece. I wish I took a picture of the steak because it was so tiny it seemed like a joke. Honestly I'm suprsied they charged us at all for the "tacos" we spent roughly 300$ and def didn't get the 300$ experience.

Another odd thing on the bill was the way they did gratuity. I'm used to seeing mandatory gratituity on bills for larger groups and It makes sense especially with how terrible some people are with tipping. We had a party of 7 so that made sense. What is new to me is the fact that the gratuity was baked into the total before they calculates the tax on the bill. So instead of paying the bill and the tip/gratuity is extra after the fact we were actually charged tax on the gratuity/tip.

Tldr rude hostess, nice waiter, long wait, odd charges to the customer on bill for mistakes that the restaurant made, odd to have to pay tax on a tip, def not sure if we will come a 3rd time and kinda sad I ended up having to apologize to my family for what I thought would be a nice brunch...

Pleasant Hill, CA. Tzunun exploded on the dining scene in 2022 and quickly became a foodie destination in Northern California for its vibrant cocktails and visionary dishes inspired by the less-well known regions of Mexico. Its young chef and owner, Jesus Wence, focuses on sustainability and modern Mexican cuisine. His family owns the popular Wence’s restaurant and they hail from the Mexican state of Michoacan.

I sat on the rustic covered deck outside which still felt like an upscale space. Service was flawless, Angel and his team were all professional and genuinely friendly.

The wild mushroom tacos were perfectly seasoned, deftly put together so each ingredient shined: the thick, soft house made blue corn tortilla had melted mild cheese on it so the moist mushrooms didn’t make it fall apart, and the julienned deep fried crispy leeks added a touch of salt and oniony flavor. I could eat those every day.

Oh, the blue corn is gluten-free non-GMO heirloom corn imported from farmers in Mexico whose families have farmed for generations.

I also tried the Mexican street corn ribs and the house made potato chips (they were out of yucca chips) with organic salsa roja. I’d have to say I like my Mexican street corn homemade because I shamelessly slather on more mayonnaise and Tajin. Since you have to eat these with your hands you might not want to order these on a date. But this is a family restaurant (fur babies and children enjoyed the deck with their loved ones today) and eating with one’s hands is a delight for the young at heart. The corn ribs had wonderful flavor. The potato chips were generous in portion but not salted so the salsa roja came to the rescue. It was very good.

You can confidently bring your foodie friends to Tzunun for a fresh culinary adventure. Highly...

This place is interesting and worth trying. I couldn't help but feel like it was a little too swanky without the full payoff. There is some really cool ideas on the menu. I appreciate that the menu isn't big and they've definitely thought about what they're serving. We tried a few things and nothing left me with a reason to come back besides the ambience, vibe and service here. It does a lot of things right but I felt like the duck carnitas were under seasoned. the tortillas are definitely made there and the corn has a great flavor but im not really convinced they're made to order which is a bummer. they all felt really dry and cold and broke super easily. they had the flavor, they aren't bad, i just felt like if you spent $20 on 3 tacos, well, they should at least hold together a bit better.

The octopus was cooked perfectly, the queso had an amazing flavor with a very nice portion of peppers but I felt like a little cream could be added to make it a little bit more spreadable. It came out piping hot which rocked but after your second serving it already hardened up and needed to be scraped and wasn't easy to share with the table. It was very good, and if that is the style it's intended I respect it, just felt like it was a little more work than necessary.

I'd try this place again in a few months and see if they have anything new on the menu. I know it's really new and wish them luck on their venture, they got a really cool spot that is...