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Nicolas Cocina de Herencia, Carmel, CA

Nicolas Cocina de Herencia

4.6
4.6
295 Reviews
$31 to $50
Mexican

Make a reservation

2 people
7:00 PM
Booked 29 times today
  • Good for special occasions
  • Great for creative cocktails
  • Hot spot
Reservations are not needed but are recommended, Walk ins are Welcome.

The newest creation from the owners of the beloved Villa Azteca in Downtown Salinas (Salinas City Center), the eatery honoring the Alvarez family patriarch will open Summer 2023 in Carmel Plaza. The 5,000-square-foot restaurant will have indoor dining, bar seating and a small outdoor space, serving specialty Michoacán dishes as well as other Mexican favorites, incorporating three generations of family recipes.

Additional information

  • Dining style
    Fine Dining
  • Price
    $31 to $50
  • Cuisines
    Mexican
  • Hours of operation
    Lunch Daily 11:00 am–4:00 pm Dinner Mon–Thu, Sun 5:00 pm–8:00 pm Fri, Sat 5:00 pm–9:00 pm
  • Phone number
    (831) 574-8802
  • Dress code
    Business Casual
  • Executive chef
    Andres Becerra & Susana Alvarez

What 295 people are saying

Overall ratings and reviews

Reviews can only be made by diners who have eaten at this restaurant

4.6
4.6 based on recent ratings
  • 4.6Food
  • 4.5Service
  • 4.7Ambience
  • 4.2Value

NoiseModerate

Loved For

  • California Central Coast

    Hot spot

  • Monterey / Carmel

    Best Food

  • Monterey / Carmel

    Best Ambiance

  • Monterey / Carmel

    Innovative

  • Monterey / Carmel

    Hot spot

  • Monterey / Carmel

    Lively

Review summary

AI-generated from verified diner reviews
Nicolas Cocina de Herencia offers an upscale dining experience with "excellent" Mexican cuisine and "attentive" service. Guests rave about the unique mole sauces and the "delightful" ambiance. While the menu is on the pricier side, the fresh ingredients and "creative" dishes make it "worth a visit" for those seeking elevated Mexican flavors.

295 Reviews
  1. Belinda

    San Francisco

    1 review

    5.0

    1 review

    Dined 3 days ago

    1. Overall 5
    2. Food 5
    3. Service 5
    4. Ambience 5
    Food was great. Drinks were tasty. The staff was friendly and attentive.

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  2. neil

    VIP

    San Francisco

    12 reviews

    3.0

    12 reviews

    Dined 3 days ago

    1. Overall 3
    2. Food 3
    3. Service 2
    4. Ambience 5
    I really wanted to like this place. Alas, it really is no bueno, mostly because the service does not match the style (and price) the restaurant aspires to. This place wants to be a high end elevated Mexican food destination, and you have the sense that is what it is going to be when you walk in and look at the menu, but the service is so poor it spoiled the experience. Ambience is lovely. The main issue is our server was just going through the motions and was clearly only trying to move us through the meal without creating anything close to a nice experience for a Saturday night out in a resort town. We had said we were not that hungry and wanted to get a couple apps and one entree. We settled on two very heavy apps (the shrimp bone marrow and the birria queso fundito birria). Both were really nice, especially with the homemade corn tortillas, but super rich, oily, and heavy. She really pushed the short rib blanco mole for an entree without telling us it was essentially the same thing as the birria, and also super heavy. She just didn't really think about what we ordered and didn't care. She couldn't get the appetizers straight and we had to correct her twice about what we ordered before they came, and ultimately one of them was the wrong app (just the queso fundito without the birria) and had to be brought back. The Mexican mule was way too sweet to the point that I had to send it back and just order a spicy marg (which was really mediocre and almost devoid of flavor). When the bill came she charged for both drinks which I had to bring to her attention. She fixed the bill but her response told me she was aware both were on the bill and simply thought we wouldnt notice. Overall, the food ranged from great (the apps) to OK (the short rib) but the service was embarrassingly bad for a place that ended up being close to $175 for just a few items. They need to decide whether they want to invest in creating a fine dining experience or not. Currently, it isn't close.

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  3. Joe

    San Francisco

    3 reviews

    5.0

    3 reviews

    Dined 3 days ago

    1. Overall 5
    2. Food 5
    3. Service 5
    4. Ambience 5
    Spectacular experience the Mexican food was very authentic. The plate was enormous. Actually we couldn’t finish it. All. Everything was so delicious. The service was beyond expectation will highly recommend to anyone.

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  4. Athena

    VIP

    Central Coast

    5 reviews

    5.0

    5 reviews

    Dined 4 days ago

    1. Overall 5
    2. Food 5
    3. Service 5
    4. Ambience 5
    Took my BFF here for her birthday lunch. The drinks were amazing, went down very easy. The food was absolutely fabulous. Homemade tortillas, meat was full of flavor. Great ambiance. I would absolutely come back.

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  5. Chris

    VIP

    San Francisco

    43 reviews

    3.0

    43 reviews

    Dined 6 days ago

    1. Overall 3
    2. Food 4
    3. Service 3
    4. Ambience 3
    Food okay, but not spectacular, and prices are crazy! Chips & salsa- $18, Fajitas - $45. We were over $200 for two people. Value not there and I wouldn’t return.

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  6. Aryn

    VIP

    Washington DC

    5 reviews

    3.0

    5 reviews

    Dined on January 5, 2025

    1. Overall 3
    2. Food 3
    3. Service 3
    4. Ambience 4
    While the restaurant is in a beautiful space, we thought most dishes were ok (both mole sauces were delicious!); service was ok (in our opinion the staff seemed lite for a busy Saturday night but nothing against our waiter he was just so busy); and dishes were extremely expensive

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  7. Gowri

    Cleveland

    1 review

    5.0

    1 review

    Dined on January 4, 2025

    1. Overall 5
    2. Food 5
    3. Service 5
    4. Ambience 5
    Beautiful restaurant! Highly recommend the mushroom queso fundido and miatake birria. Worth a visit :)

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  8. Anna

    Central Coast

    4 reviews

    3.0

    4 reviews

    Dined on January 4, 2025

    1. Overall 3
    2. Food 4
    3. Service 2
    4. Ambience 4
    Food is great, service is understaffed. Second time coming here in 6 months and for the price, the timing of everything is pretty poor. Apps came before drinks, another 20 min just to order our entrees and then about 30 min to get the entrees.

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  9. Katherine

    San Francisco

    3 reviews

    5.0

    3 reviews

    Dined on January 3, 2025

    1. Overall 5
    2. Food 5
    3. Service 5
    4. Ambience 5
    Great food and great service. Birria and pibil were exceptional

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  10. Edward

    Central Coast

    1 review

    1.0

    1 review

    Dined on January 1, 2025

    1. Overall 1
    2. Food 2
    3. Service 2
    4. Ambience 4
    We ordered 2 appetizers, Mexican corn & guacamole . I ordered the short rib and my wife ordered the halibut for our entrees. Appetizers were brought out and I was told to order a different entree because the short rib would not be ready for another 2 hours, so I ordered the shrimp. After we had the appetizers, they brought out my shrimp entree and told my wife she had to order another entree because the halibut would not be ready for 1 hour , so she ordered the pork dish. They took my entree back to the kitchen. They finally came back to our table with our entrees and 30 minutes later. My shrimp entree was cold , they just let it sit in the kitchen while they made her entree and brought them out . They were not apologize or even offer any type of discount or complimentary beverage. It was a very , very , very bad experience. Would have been nice to have gotten an apology or some type of discount in this situation, but neither happened

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FAQs

Nicolas Cocina de Herencia is rated 4.6 stars by 295 OpenTable diners.

Yes, you can generally book this restaurant by choosing the date, time and party size on OpenTable.

Make a reservation

2 people
7:00 PM
Booked 29 times today
Google Map for Nicolas Cocina de Herencia

ocean avenue & Mission St suite 111, Carmel, CA 93921

Additional information

  • Neighborhood
    Carmel
  • Hours of operation
    Lunch Daily 11:00 am–4:00 pm Dinner Mon–Thu, Sun 5:00 pm–8:00 pm Fri, Sat 5:00 pm–9:00 pm
  • Price
    $31 to $50
  • Cuisines
    Mexican
  • Dining style
    Fine Dining
  • Dress code
    Business Casual
  • Parking details
    Private Lot
  • Executive chef
    Andres Becerra & Susana Alvarez
  • Additional
    Beer, Cocktails, Corkage Fee, Full Bar, Wine
  • Phone number
    (831) 574-8802
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of Use
  • Cookies and Interest-Based Ads
  • Cookie Preferences
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