Saluti Carnevino - Zacatecas

Totally recommended- The pulpo was amazing! Our friend had the Solomillo over Himalayan Salt block with mezcal and she loved it too!

Lo encontro (I found it). Tucked away in a small neighborhood we found a great little Italian Restaurant and bar. On the way to the bar we asked the taxi cab driver if they ever got snow at this elevation of 8,570? Oh no it just gets cold . We were greeted at the door and guided to our table and immediately two waiters rushed to serve us. So we then ordered our drinks and dinner which was delicious and the ambiance was one of Italian/Mexican contrasts. All of a sudden everyone cooks and waiters but not us rushed to the front door which really had the only window. As they were all men |I just assumed it was a pretty girls as they had their cameras out. After a few minutes it all settled down and we finished the meal off with coffee and a Baileys. As we opened the door to leave we were amazed as it had snowed and the streets and cars were covered. I have included photo 's.

We were impressed with the decor and upscale feel with reasonable prices. Our waiter was most helpful and suggested we order 2 different typical Zacatecas dishes: pork with mole sauce , something boda , and a stuffed pepper, both to share, instead of 2 dishes the same we had heard about the pork boda).Then we had the elote pastel which he said was the most popular) dessert like a delicious corn cake with honey) and we loved it. We were so pleased that our food was typical and most delicious , not altered for tourist taste.

Make sure you check your bill. We liked the service, the food and in general the experience. However, we were overcharged by almost $50.00 DLLs $1,000 pesos). They also didn't give us a detailed bill only what they charged us. We're disappointed with that. I went home and made calculations and that's when I figured that they overcharged us. If you choose to eat there just asked for your detailed bill.

So the place looks nice but the name says “vino” so you would expect at least a half decent wine menu. But like usual in Zacatecas, we bring a bottle for corkage in case they don’t have any decent bottles, which, of course, was the case. Now, the bottle we brought was red, and I wanted white wine, but the only white wine they sell is Domecq XA, which is nasty stuff, and they don’t have any sparkling or rose wines, so red wine it is. We ask how much for corkage: the waiter says he needs to message the owner (so that the owner can arbitrarily come up with a price . Now I don’t know what class of restaurant this is but professional establishments have a set corkage fee. But not here. Magically the owner decides out bottle costs 770 pesos so corkage is 350. In reality the bottle costs 550, but really, we have to wait ten minutes for the owner to put his magical price tag on our wine??? I like wine and I happily consume wine by the bottle at establishments that have good wine options on their menu. As mentioned above, this place has no white, rose, or sparking options, but it’s also worth mentioning the pathetic nature of their red wine menu, which consists of the following: Domec XA red (nasty stuff , Concha y Toro (what bottle isn’t specified, clearly the cheapest one, no thanks , both blends from Tierra Adentro (good if you like a red wine with no structure , Tierra adentro merlot (tastes like underripe menthol , 3v (only decent wine , and Maria tinto (a good wine but very overpriced at 550 in stores for what is essentially very “meh” . And that’s it. So it’s a restaurant that brags about its wine (wines on the walls and the name “carnevino” and yet doesn’t even have a half decent wine menu and tried to arbitrarily charge us 350 pesos for corkage when that price is ridiculous for Zacatecas, and when we are the only, I repeat, only people in the restaurant. Corkage doesn’t even cost that in Cabo San Lucas. I wanted to have a good time, but my number one turn off of restaurants is when they try to rip you off like this, and worse when this is caused by incompetent management (ownership . To top it off we would have ordered many more things, but I’m not interested in bargaining corkage fees, especially on my birthday in an empty restaurant, so we left after appetizers. Too bad because the waiter actually did a good job; the problem here is clearly the clueless owner. Sad thing that a restaurant that tries to put forth the appearance of a wine oriented establishment is so adverse to allowing quality wine to be drunk under its roof. Definitely never going back or recommending this place. You shouldn’t have tried to rip us off just because!!!