Had a non stellar experience so wanted to share with the FTC community as it seems no one has dropped review yet. Earning some prestige from Infatuation and the like but I don’t understand the hype. I never like tearing places down, especially when the food tastes great. However, the restaurant experience at Humingbird is severely lacking. First off, the DIY service experience, but not refilling the water pitcher or utensil trays for the nearly 3 hours we were there for the chef tasting… Very strange. Don’t get me started on the 3 hours for what is basically appetizers a main and dessert.
The pacing for the courses is nonexistent, there is no food for 1.5 hours and then suddenly 4 tostadas arrive at once. We found it very difficult -nigh impossible- to share most of the dishes. You might be able to shatter a bite of a tostada for each person. We had two repeats of a potato dish at different times in the meal, one as an app and another as a main… Not sure when it was supposed to actually be served and we were too hangry to raise any issue. Table behind us received their starters after finishing one of the mains.
As far as the food,I apologize for not taking photos but it is all very tasty. Presentation is nice and flavors clean. Not certain anything was that memorable though. By the end of waiting an hour for dessert, I raised some of my issues with the staff. They offered to bring another dessert. Our group just hustled to leave instead of waiting another hour.
Strange dining experience. Recommend you hold off until they establish their stride and can put together something worthwhile.
I was curious about the new place in the neighborhood and thought I’d brave it (despite your review) and check it out with a friend (definitely not with the tasting menu).
The food was good - got a salmon hand roll (alright-nice ceviche salmon), scallop aguachile. Really liked the aguachile. We shared the shrimp dumplings. I thought they were going to be a little more mindblowing, but this convinced me about eating things wrapped in shiso leaves.
I think the server thought we didn’t order enough (we ordered a couple things but it was a light meal) and we got a little brusquely handed the check to pay at the end of the meal when we finished eating. I was a little confused, there were only two tables in the entire restaurant at the time. I know we were hitting 6p when more reservations might come in, but the restaurant was empty?
Left me with a bit of a bad taste in my mouth. We’d still spent almost $50/per. Maybe I’m just not cut out to be eating at restaurants in this day and age? It’s getting expensive, though i think the pricing is pretty reasonable here for what it is. This all just makes me all the more mystified as to how Holbox keeps it so accessible and high quality.
I know these reviews are old and I saw a pretty positive comment in another thread but wanted to reassure that there’s no more DIY. My wife and went on Friday before a show in City West. Service was prompt and efficient though the space still looks a bit DIY, not exactly what I was expecting but very comfortable. Was packed by 6pm.
Admittedly i have been a Zarate fan going way back so I was curious to try it out. Hand rolls were quite nice. Two raw fish dishes, a very good tuna carpaccio and a fantastic Seared Opal Tiradito with aji amarillo leche de tigre, short rib dish was quite tasty as a shared main. But the papa no rellena (no pic) were fantastic. A little short on texture but the flavor mix was delish.
Website said alcholol free and no BYOB so I tried a CBD beverage. Took a little of the edge off before a night of something similar to dancing at the show. Noticed a few tables brought their own wine with no problems.
