DOLCE...MENTE POMPEII

Dolce…Mente Pompeii

Restaurant Name: Dolce…Mente Pompeii

Date Visited: Sometime in 2008, and December 28^th 2010

Address and Phone Number: Pez Volador #7, Zona Hotelera KM5.5, Cancun. (Close to the Hotel Casa Maya on the ocean side) 998 849 4006

Restaurant/Menu Link: http://dolcementecancun.com/index2.html

What We Ate:

-          Drinks:

o   Limonada: Regular

o   Coke: All sodas in cans.

o   Red Wine: Decent house Primitivo and Merlot. Didn’t take a look at the wine list and the waitress didn’t offer to bring it. I think she was in too much of a rush to offer.

-          Appetizer: They bring totopos and a thin focaccia type bread with a spicy sauce as well as mayo  for a complementary appetizer. The bread, drizzled in olive oil was pretty darn good.

-          Salad: Didn’t order one. Ate too much bread…

-          Main Course:

o   Cannelloni: Karina had this and I should have asked her for a bite. It looked good and she polished it off.

o   Maxi Raviolo: Edgar had this, a GIANT homemade ravioli (yes one) that LITERALLY covered the entire plate. I have to say it was pretty great. The tomato sauce was homemade and smooth not chunky. It was a lovely light sort of tomato sauce that was perfect for the spinach and cheese filling. Yummy! He was still hungry though.

o   Fusilli Pesto: I had this. It is always scary for me to order pesto because sometimes it is so strong! This was great!! The pasta was a bit undercooked, but the flavor of the pesto was lovely and the pasta also wasn’t drenched in sauce. It was quite tasty.

-          Dessert: None ordered. It was late and Edgar has been working for 15 days in a row. That plus 2 glasses of that house primitivo and it was DEFINITELY bedtime.

Service: OK. Well, we were a group of 10 with no reservation and so I was expecting that our food would take a bit longer to come out, which it did. It was worth waiting for and I also appreciated that they still sat us quickly with no reservation.  HOWEVER! This woman broke the cardinal rule of waitressing and gave us “the eye-roll” TWICE. If you do not know how I feel about the eye-roll you should ask my students…or my father who feels the same as I do. Anyway, being waiting on by a snooty, eye-rolling waitress is never fun, but she came around at the end of the meal, and smiled at us a few times. Nice. At least she was competent.

Ambiance (Décor, lighting, music, seating): Over decoration. Super Italiano! The most interesting was the giant statue of David, decorated for Christmas, that also had a hole cut where the privates were and had a stuffed toy moose tucked inside there with his head and antlers coming out. Odd. Good seating for large groups. (But make a reservation if you don’t want the eye-roll.) Sufficient lighting, not too dim. Right on the beach if you sit on the patio.

Crowd: A good diverse crowd. A lot of Americans and many people who seemed to be regulars. Many big groups (over 8 people) but this might be just because of the holiday family dinner season. Some people really casual (even one waiter) some people dressy, felt like a come as you are type place. No customers wearing togas, though I am sure they wouldn’t frown on it if you did…

Note: Ok, my reason for not going back is so petty but it is what it is. The food was good but I was overwhelmed by what I like to call “the cheese factor” at this restaurant (nothing to do with the food…). TONS of holiday decorations, a giant plaster statue of David when you first walk in (also decorated for Christmas) busy table cloths, busy wall patterns ah! Too much to handle. In addition, all wait staff (except for one guy in jean shorts and a t-shirt (?!)) were wearing togas with gold beads and Caesar type plastic gold medals on them, and long sleeved unmatching cotton shirts underneath. Plus the eye-rolling issue.  

*Also: Mil gracias to Gary for picking up the check for this one! Nice guy, good conversation…in English!

Will I go back? No. (But if you do decide to go, don’t forget to iron your toga.)

Leave a comment if you have tried this restaurant and want to add something!