Bacanora

After a lot of waiting, I had the opportunity to try Bacanora last week. If you're wanting to make a reservation yourself, they open up the first of the month at 9am for the following month. Reservations go quick and are booked up within minutes so be quick and flexible on times!

The ceviche is a delicious and unique starter that is made with Hiramisa, a type of yellowtail fish that is very tender and not overly fishy. The sauce was to die for and I could have eaten it over and over again. The Caramelo was both of our favorite and had a tender, delicious carne asada with fresh toppings on it. I also liked the marinade on the Costilla Asado (Short ribs), and thought the meat held the juicy flavor really well. The staff were helpful and kind and made this experience very easy and enjoyable.

We came here for brunch a few weeks ago when we failed to get a reservation for dinner (I am all about reservations and I know my way around technology, but if I give that system ZERO stars, not because we didn't secure a reservation that time, but because it doesn't even bother to hold your spot while you fill out the online form and someone else can swipe it while your entering your contact information!)

My brunch food was great, including the horchata. It may be a bit expensive for horchata, but I'm worth it ... on special occasions.

My short ribs had good flavor and the tortillas were fresh. The eggs had a beautiful orange color (not the sad yellow that we see a lot these days), and the pickled onions had a nice crunch with just a little bite.

We secured a reservation for an early dinner the next month, though it took two of us racing the clock. For dinner, we started with a frijol dip and corn crisps that tasted very fresh and were not greasy at all. The beans were a bit spicy and were a great start. For the main, we split the pollo platter (a carnival of choose-your-own-adventure fun) that could feed four people, I think. It is half a grilled chicken, tortillas, beans, papas, rajas, and we even had some quesadilla triangles, grilled onions and jalapeños and radishes.

We had leftovers that I made into a chicken-potato-bean-chile stew the next day for lunch with some of the leftover tortillas. (So I got another whole meal out of the platter!)

To drink, I had a citrus+ginger juice on ice that was really refreshing, and we had a chocolate, cherry flan for dessert. I like my flan a bit more set than theirs, and I felt that the chocolate topping overpowered the flan a bit, but I understand it's a personal preference.

The staff were busy and friendly. The place is tiny and it can get loud. Note that your reservation is for 90 minutes. The service is pretty fast, so we didn't feel rushed within that time.

Plan ahead to snag a reservation (a month in advance!) -- TIP: create your account before the day that reservations open or you'll just be wasting your time.

We parked on the street and walked both times. I don't know if there are lots nearby, but we did not have trouble finding street parking (both times, though, we arrived when they opened).

tough to get in
small restaurant
friendly staff with eclectic food
odd location off grand ave...worth the drive

Well friends, the hype is REAL. It may take you a real long time to get a lucky reservation, but when you do, get excited because your tastebuds will be dancing. The restaurant itself has about 6 tables and a few seats at the bar, hence the tough-to-get res because it is so small, and well, very tasty.

You only have 90 mins to dine here, so they take your order pretty quickly. We started with cocktails and they were phenomenal, and the shrimp ceviche. Their main margarita is made with Mezcal but I swapped for regular tequila and it was fresh and delicious. The shrimp ceviche was to die for - I wanted to drink the sauce!

Next, we got the warm cabbage salad. YUM! It definitely had a spicy kick but again, the flavors were out of this world. For entrees, we split the carne asada tostada and the pollo platter (a MUSTTTT). The platter was absolutely incredible. It came with moist/flavorful chicken, warm tortillas, beans, quesadillas, potatoes, peppers, onions, green chilis in broth - wow, wow. I am salivating just typing this! We definitely had leftovers and made burritos at home a few days later.

We will absolutely be back if we can get a lucky res again! Thank you for the awesome experience.

So, so good just very, very small but my friend got us a spot when I came down to Phoenix! Honestly I have really low opinions of most Arizona places but this one is HIGH! Everything we ordered was absolutely delicious

Bacanora is the hot ticket in Phoenix now, getting a James Beard nomination and write-ups in all the big publications. Since we couldn't score a reservation we decided to try coming on a Saturday morning at ten a.m. The good news is we walked right in. The sad news for me is that the two dishes I had my heart set on trying (pollo asado and caramelo) were not available at this time. You will see brunch-type items that aren't on the website (like waffles) so I gave one of these a try.

My Baca Waffle No. 1 was delicious. It had roasted pineapple and a luxardo cherry sauce with a bit of powdered sugar. I should have asked what leche quemada nieve was, as having a scoop of ice cream on my waffle in the morning is really too decadent for me. More of a dessert thing.

The restaurant has such a great energy. Everyone who works here is friendly and welcoming. I love how they've decorated the trees out front with yarn and random items. My waffle was overpriced but executed well. I'd like to come back and try the Mexican food I'd hoped to sample - if I can possibly luck into a nighttime reservation.

I've had Bacanora on my must-try list of restaurants for months (and months & months & months). I wasn't able to snag a reservation until just a few weeks ago, and perfect timing as it worked out for a special celebration. We arrived there about 15 minutes prior to our reserved time and were seated immediately. It is a very small restaurant with a countable number of tables, but it definitely makes the atmosphere intimate and comfortable.

Since this was our first time, we asked for a quick run-down of the menu, which our server was happy to provide. She let us know that some items have been on their menu since they opened and they're added some newer items, more recently too. We wanted to try out a few things, so we ordered the Cucumber salad, Pollo Asado, and the Mar y Tierra.

Our cucumber salad came out first. It was a unique dish, one I've never thought of before but definitely light and refreshing; it had cucumbers, tomatoes, radishes, cheese with a salsa & dressing. Our other two dishes came out later and were quite impressive-looking. The Pollo Asado was a half chicken (4 pieces) served with a side of beans and tortillas. Our sever said the Mar y Tierra was one of their smaller dishes, but it too was a decent size with pieces of hanger steak & scallops a top a combination of beans, salsa, and cheese, served with tortillas.

We enjoyed both dishes. The chicken was flavorful and tender (a couple pieces were charred a little bit more than I'd prefer but it was fine after taking the skin off). My husband said the hanger steak was cooked perfectly and tasted really good when put together with the beans, salsa, etc in the tortillas.

Overall, I'm glad that we had the opportunity to finally try out this restaurant. Given how difficult it is to secure a reservation and for me personally (since I don't eat much beef), the number of options I could order on the menu, it's not somewhere I'd return to over and over. However, if you're looking for good food with more unique options, I would recommend this restaurant!

Our friends booked Bacanora for a private birthday party and invited us. I've always wanted to try this place out so what a treat. First off the staff here was amazing. They took care of us like family. OMG the food was amazing. I would come back for the Halibut Ceviche alone. Best ceviche that I have ever had!

The papas sucia was so good. Love the combo of cast iron potatoes and smoked birria. However the hanger steak was absolutely to die for. So delicious.

I know it's very difficult to make reservations here but I'm going to have to try harder. It's worth it!

We missed out on being able to grab a reservation here a couple of times so we put our name on a waitlist in case anyone cancelled. Luckily that worked out and we were able to make it in on short notice. I'm glad we did because the food was amazing. The grill and smoke flavors permeates food and add a welcome touch to each dish. First we got the cauliflower and charred cabbages as appetizers. Both were amazing. Then we split the mar y Tierra and got a side of papas al horno. Also all amazing. Everything was excellently cooked and full of flavor.

The food was absolutely delicious; loved the place, the concept is so pretty, and the service was just great