The Critic and Co. had lunch yesterday at the new Ca d’Oro Italian restaurant, located in that plaza on Prolongación Montejo where Carls Jr hamburgers (formerly Checkers) is located, across from the giant Interceramic tile store.
The Critic had read a good review on gorbman.com and so was excited to have the opportunity to give this relatively new restaurant a try.
The two appetizers ordered, suppli al telefono and melanzana were good; the melanzana or eggplant was rich hearty and very satisfying while the best part of the suppli was the great presentation in a paper cone. Others in the party thought the suppli a little bland, but the accompanying cooked tomato sauce perked the little rice/cheese balls nicely.
For main courses:
- an abundant fusilli in a tomato sauce which, according to it’s owner, was good;
- a roast duck with a lemon sauce;
- a Pecorino cheese pizza;
- and the Critic had the tagliatelle with panna and prosciutto.
Overall, reviews were generally good on the food. The pizza and the duck were outstanding, while the tagliatelle was quite bland. If it hadn’t been for the prosciutto, it would have tasted like not much of anything.
Bread seemed homemade and was warm, crispy and light; while the three accompanying butters (habanero, chile de arbol and garlic) were very good although it could be that the butter was actually margarine, if such a thing were possible in the Ca d’Oro.
As usual, the Critic is critical of the service. If you are tired of reading this same old criticism of Merida’s restaurants, stop reading here and go outside and play.
But it seems that the owners of Ca d’Oro have spent a lot of thought, time and money on the decoration, the menu and some wonderful food. The waiter was slow, charmless and not particularly knowledgeable. When asked when the restaurant opened, he seemed unsure and said ‘it’s my understanding that they opened about year ago’. When asked is they had mineral water his answer was ‘yes’. When asked further what kind of mineral water, he replied ‘Perrier’. When asked if they had Pelegrino he replied ‘yes’. Upon returning to the table to remove finished plates, he went on just a little too much about how it was evident that the group enjoyed the food (the empty plates).
If this is nitpicking, so be it. But one only has to have dinner at La Recova, or for really outstanding service, La Dolce Vita in Cancun, to see what a difference well-trained, knowledgeable and professional waiters make.
Final verdict? Try it yourself. There are a lot of items on their menu and the Critic is sure that there are some real gems in there.
We really enjoyed our dinner at Ca d'Oro in mid-Oct. It was still fairly new, and we had to make made reservations, which is probably not the case now. We felt waaaay under dressed with lots of "pretty people" decked out around us. Great people watching!
Our meal was fresh and tasty, and we felt this place offered a nice change of pace from our normal restaurant experience in Merida. Our service was just fine – not bad, not great. I ordered a salad for starters, but the waiter brought me a BIG slice of lasagna. I’m sure it was my Texas twang that threw him off. I never said anything about the mistake, because TJ already had his fork in it for a taste before I knew it! I’m glad we didn’t send it back, because it was very good and you could tell the sauce was homemade.
My main course was the shrimp and prawn dinner. It arrived with the shells removed from the prawns, but they remained on the smaller shrimp. It was hard for me remove the small shells and legs in a civilized manner, so I finally gave up. It’s a shame that they didn’t remove the shells on both – why just the prawns?
One funny thing did happen…they didn’t have their liquor license yet, and some government officials came in to pass out H1N1 info. While the staff stalled them downstairs, the waiters rushed around and collected everyone’s wine, beer, and spirits, and then hid them. The officials came upstairs and passed out packets of hand sanitizer and H1N1 literature and left. Shortly thereafter, our bottle of wine was returned, but with two empty glasses (they were half-full when removed)! We looked at each other and shrugged. When we finished our bottle of wine, our waiter brought us two full glasses of wine. It really surprised me, because I didn’t think he was paying attention…we clinked our glasses and toasted to another interesting night in Merida.
Interesting indeed! Glad you enjoyed it and thanks for taking the time to write about it here! My comments regarding the service as it compared to La Dolce Vita in Cancun are outdated; the service there (Cancun) has slipped somewhat and is no longer the yardstick by which other restaurants can be measured.