Nowadays, I turn to Reddit a lot for restaurant browsing and recommendations (my favorite thus far is the r/finedining subreddit). Before my trip to Mexico City with my wife Jun last February, I wanted to see what some of the common denominators when it comes to favorite restaurants of Reddit users, and one restaurant kept coming us: Máximo in the Roma Norte neighborhood. After going through reviews and reviews, I was eventually sold on checking out this restaurant with Jun. Our visit happened to be on Valentine’s Day and the restaurant was absolutely packed, with many of the tables occupied by handsomely dressed couples looking to have a romantic dinner. I was somewhat under the weather on that day from a cold I caught before our flight from DC, but soldiered through to try as many dishes as we could at Máximo. Overall, we had a lot of like from many of the dishes, but one dish unfortunately was a major dud.

One of the best dishes we’ve had during our time in Mexico City was the octopus ceviche at Máximo. We both marveled at how texturally perfect the tender octopus and the crispy tostadas were; it really was a match made in heaven! I felt like I could’ve just spent the entire dinner putting these insanely delicious octopus pieces with guacamole spread on top of tostadas and called it a night. Even after the octopus was gone, Jun couldn’t stop munching on the tostadas, saying this could be the very best tostadas she could’ve had her entire life. The roasted baby corn, with Hollandaise sauce and parmesan cheese, was also quite delicious. I was quite pleasantly surprised with how tender the corn’s texture felt, and Jun was just as impressed with this can’t-miss diss. We also shared lamb birria “sincronizada” (a type of flour tortilla-based sandwich) that was quite rich and delicious. After all these memorable dishes came a major disappointment. We chose the organic roasted chicken on the specials menu as a main dish, and it was not at all what we had expected. Yes, we have had some really fine chicken dishes at restaurants elsewhere so our expectations were maybe a bit high, but the texture of the poultry from Máximo wasn’t quite the juicy and moist one that we had been used to. We made up for the underwhelming chicken somewhat with vanilla cheesecake and berry flavored ice cream that was not overly sweet to our liking, but Jun couldn’t shake the feeling that our meal at Máximo would’ve been much more special had we tried something else for the main.

Máximo is one of the most popular restaurants in Mexico City, and based on the look of the dining scene (even considering that we visited on Valentine’s Day), getting a reservation in advance online is absolutely essential. I liked how the dining room, which was once an auto repair shop, with candle lights on every table, gave a chic, industrial look. The service was more or less fine with all the service staff we interacted with speaking proficient English. Another slight downside from dining at Máximo was how pricey everything generally was, on par with some of the most expensive bistro restaurants in big U.S. cities like New York. Same goes for the wine list with rather larger mark-ups from the retail prices than I would’ve expected. Is Máximo an absolutely must-visit restaurant for people who live in or visit Mexico City? Our dinner at the restaurant was one of those what-if times where we had a mix of brilliant and equally underwhelming dishes. If you are looking to dine at an upscale restaurant in Mexico City that showcases how Mexican cuisine is reinterpreted in a modern fashion with other culinary influences and traditions, Máximo is certainly not a bad place to start. Be prepared to pay up, though.  

Address: Av. Álvaro Obregón 65 Bis, Roma Nte., Cuauhtémoc, 06700 Mexico City, Mexico

KenScale: 8.0/10 (Jun’s Score: 8.0/10)

Website: https://www.maximobistrot.com.mx/en/

Reservation via OpenTable