I went to Quintonil a few months ago on a trip to CDMX. Thought it was quite overpriced for what it is; I think they have jacked up their price a bunch in recent years since they have moved up the rankings pretty substantially and effectively have a duopoly at the top end of CDMX fine dining with Pujol (which I had a much better experience at personally) .
The service was fine – I didn’t have any issues though it was also nothing particularly special or worth writing home about. Probably closer to 1 Michelin star service than 2 star service in my experience.
The food was pretty mediocre though. Four out of the 11 courses were dessert which I found very strange from a menu composition standpoint. The main mole dish just felt like a cheap knockoff Pujol’s version if I’m being brutally honest. They also tried to lean too hard into the whole eating ants/bugs thing – not sure if it’s for like shock value or to try to help them standout or something.
Overall Quintonil is closer to a 1 star than a 2 star in the Michelin guide for me, and certainly nowhere close to deserving of its no. 9 ranking in the 50Best list. I can name 10 better restaurants pretty easily off the cuff, frankly not sure why people on this subreddit are so obsessed with Quintonil. It’s probably one of the most disappointing fine dining experiences I have had relative to its reviews/ratings/rankings.
by dushane_hill
3 Comments
I felt the same way. Great review.
Thanks for the post. I’m intrigued by this restaurant if only because it seems like consistently, the restaurant most mentioned in the reservation exchange thread by people trying to offload resos is Quintonil. I wonder why that is.
Interesting review, it’s a shame you didn’t have a good time. I went earlier this year and had an incredible experience. My menu was very different, every course knocked it out the park, and it seems you didn’t have the build-your-own-tacos course which I loved. I think I had three dessert courses in total (our final dessert was the same as yours). I agree service wasn’t amazing, it was fine. The only thing putting service above a 1* was having multiple people putting our plates down in-sync.
In terms of the bugs, I wouldn’t say it was shock value so much as educational since in Mexico you can quite easily come across meals with insects in them. It wouldn’t even make you stand out, they sell them everywhere. I think they’re just leaning into Mexican cuisine.