
I went to Mexico City with some gal pals a couple of weekends ago. A marvelous time was had by all. The design scene? Yes! The food scene? Yes! The bar scene? Not so much...
Now, I had heard tale of amazing cocktail haunts throughout the city. We went to two that have serious cocktail list rankings - Hanky Panky and Handshake. The former cracked into the top 100 list of best bars on planet earth. The latter - drumroll please - was actually named the #1 best bar in the world.
Not too shabby, eh?
Well, I didn't like either spot.
Hanky Panky had the whole "speakeasy" conceit down with the bar being hidden through the kitchen of a taqueria.
The room felt like some Disney World imagineer's idea of a "cool bar scene." And, the cocktails? Thumbs down. Not one of our drinks was balanced. Each tipped the scale too far in one direction or the other. We even left without finishing our drinks - hoping that this was an aberration.
Surely a visit to Handshake for a nightcap would redeem Mexico City's cocktail cred, right?
Wrong.
The bar is located at the entranceway to a nondescript hotel, supposedly "hidden" because of its unmarked black door. Hmmm. The crowd lined up at the door gave that big secret away. Still, I was hopeful.
I shouldn't have been.
We were summoned inside and into a fairly non-descript room with a few flourishes - and then was thrown by a huge shout out from the staff and a few patrons: "Bienvenidos!"
Seriously?
And, they did that every single freakin' time anybody came into the bar.
That wasn't all. They tried to rally everyone to shout "Hasta luego" when parties left too.
Now the question is: how were the drinks? The answer: they were good.
They were mostly clarified punches. Tasty clarified cocktails. Were they mind-blowing? No. They were good. But definitely not good enough to off-set the cheesy, forced vibe in the room.
I can promise you that I will find a bar that I love in CDMX; maybe several. I'm just not going to follow the top bars lists anymore to find my Mexico City watering holes.
So, I didn't find my cocktail spot this time around. I will return. Great cocktails will be found. That said, I did find many a fine taco - and many other delights. In fact, there is a restaurant I need to tell you about. It was the flipside of my bar experience in CDMX. It was everything I wanted and more...Stay tuned...