Xni-pec de Yucatan

I really wanted to LOVE this place, but the service made it just a «like».
Upsides: The food was tasty-​empanadas were solid, ceviche fresh and marinated well, guac was very good. Be careful not to fill up on appetizers. Dinner was excellent — including the fish/​shrimp tacos and sopes with pork. The décor is inviting and cozy, live music was nice.
Downsides: limited bar, beers are solid usuals. Margaritas were horrid-​the syrup too sweet bottle mix type. Service was ok, but spread too thin. I think our waitress was also the bartender!?!
I think we’d go back, but maybe get take out!

This restaurant is CLOSED in Brookfield. There’s a sign on the door that says they’ll be opening a different location in a couple months, but doesn’t say where.
I can’t save this without a rating, so I’m giving it two stars… which is what we experienced last time we came here.

Had high hopes for a date night, only to be dashed by a lame experience that cost more than it should. But hey — a place this cool we should make some reservations, honey… lets call them and set that up. Ring, ring… «The voicemail box belonging to Xni-​Pec is full. Please try again later.» So… you have a phone number that just redirects to a full voicemail box? That should have been the first warning, if their *disaster* of a website wasn’t a clue already.
We heard about this due to the unique cuisine and it being Michelin rated… but, spoiler alert, the food is just OK, but once you get the bill you’ll feel taken advantage of.
We went dressed up a bit expecting the place to be nice, but it really is a very casual place along the line of some of the local taco joints. It’s quaint but looks more like a local restaurant on a budget for décor. Oh, and the lights flickered a lot and kept changing in brightness. :/​just weird.
— Salsa: red onion, red onion, lime, some tomato, more red onion…
— guac? Take the horrible salsa and add their avocado. $ 7.50 for one cup of guac?
— beef rellano: SALTY mound of cheese with ground beef inside
— (blanking on the name) basically pulled-​pork and tortillas with rice and beans :/​Not to mention I nearly cracked a tooth when I took a bite and hit a bone.
— sangria: just ok, mostly ice and wine… skip it.
— margarita: weak and not all that tasty… skip it
— tamales (2) about the best part of dinner but bland… on-​par with frozen ones from a grocery store, but with less filling.
What did this set us back *before* tip? $ 70. Yeah. $ 70. This would have been a good dinner at, say, $ 50 or so, but eff no at $ 70.
We were so let down we just got the check and left to try and save the date-​night… no, we don’t want boxes for the large amount of food we left over, thank you.
Save your money and move on… trust the bad reviews about the food.
— not worth the money
— just OK food at the level of a local taco joint
Just skip it. Unless you’re dying to try it and have money to burn. We wish we would have gone somewhere nice and spent the same money on GOOD food.
I don’t normally go into such detail for a review, but this was 2-​star, then got the bill and it’s 1-​star. We won’t be back, and will discourage others.
Oh and yeah, they do try to take photos for you while eating. No thank you sir, let me eat my high priced mediocre food in peace.
Website: Not to mention their website has *NOTHING* to do with their restaurant… so dont even bother visiting it other than comedic value. (1) it’s nothing more than the stock template for any restaurant (2) the menu is not their menu (3) the text is all lorem-​ipsum placeholder text (5) the hours arent accurate (6) wtf are they thinking?

what happened? we read about this place over and over again in the reviews and the Michelin mentions. i hesitated in going and regretted it when it moved out near brookfield zoo. but i chose to go and see what’s going on and ordered
chicken soup — just ok, need more seasoning
empanadas — loved the mushroom one but not the rest
cerviche — good, slightly more acidic than usual
shrimp — ok, the shrimp was old and fishy
coconut fish — ok, never thought of coconut & fish but really yum
rice pudding — just ok, really runny
the food was just ok, maybe should have ordered meat instead of seafood?
really nice service though! even took our pictures!

Great find by my man!
We stopped by for dinner before heading home to IN after losing a hefty amount from horse race. Just kidding! It was very small amount!
I loved the fish and octopus escabeche that I ordered but the live music playing that evening which we later on took over made our experience here more fun!
Picture! Picture! Yep, they’ll take and print good quality photos of you enjoying their food and live music. lol Bartlomie, thanks for emailing the pictures! We were the noisy crowd playing the guitar last weekend!

After trying to come here for 3 weeks (they were shut down due to an electrical issue) we went here for take-​out — - shrimp, black beans, and pork.
I’ve never had Yucatan food, but it was a great new experience. Things don’t taste SO differently, but it’s nice to change up the Mexican experience now and again. I can’t describe the spices– but the rice was great, black beans were good, vege mix was delish too.
The tortillas are LOVELY! A light taste of corn, but as thick and moist and chewy as flour ones.
Next time we will dine in!

I have a soft spot for Yucatan food and there is not any place in the city that specialize in it. So a 20 minute drive later, we arrived in the cute downtown Brookfield. It’s a cute little restaurant with half dim lighting, good for dates or small group of friends,
The menus were full of Yucatan items… Cocinita pilil, tixin-​xic, Yucatan style empanadas, etc. Thanks to the other Unilocalers, my husband had the special «chile en nogada», a rich stuffed poblano pepper with a creamy walnut sauce. I had the cocinita pilil and it was delicious too. The portions were not large compared to normal Mexican restaurants, but actually it was refreshing to have a normal portioned meal.
Service was very courteous and felt like a neighborhood place. We plan to come back to try more dishes!

We started off with appetizers ceviche and VAPORCITO (tamale). Both were very delicious. The I ordered the PESCADO TIKIN-​XIC and will definetly order it again!!! The habenero salsa is very addicting! Added it to everything I ate.

Absolutely LOVED XNI-​PEC!!! Not your typical Mexican restaurant. Its regional mexican food from Yucatan. I had their Poc Chuc pork. It was really good. What REALLY blew me away was the sample the owner gave me to try their special. It was a sope de chicharron. OMG!!! If I EVER met a woman that could cook like that I would fucking MARRY HER! LMAO! DELICIOUS!!! Im kind of watching what I eat because of summer. Well, thats out the window because their habanero salsa was soooooo good I ended up drinking 3 beers to cool me off!!! NOT FOR THE FAINT OF HEART. Its definetely hot. If you dont like hot then stick with the Pico de Gallo. TOTALLY WORTH THE TRIP!!!

Best «Mexican» I’ve ever had, and ranks highly among the best meals I’ve ever had.
I was in Chicago for a conference and went to the Brookfield Zoo. Looked for a good place for food near there. Came here because Unilocal recommended it and want to kiss Unilocal firmly on the mouth. And not just because we got a free appetizer out of it.
Because we checked in on Unilocal,we got a free Sopesitos app. It was tasty and the worst part of the meal. The chips and salsa were amazing — best tortilla chips I’ve EVER had, and some of the tastiest salsas I’ve come across, including one that was genuinely spicy (a very rare find for a spice fiend).
Honestly, I can’t even remember the exact main dishes my GF and I had — the main impression I had is that I had to concentrate rather hard to hold off a foodgasm. I had a beef dish, and the GF had a chicken mole dish. Absolutely incredible on every level. And we ended with flan (at the GF’s insistence) — I don’t even like flan and this elicited quivers in my food-​based nether regions.
Service was a tad slow, but the food was good enough to make up for it. Then, the host took our picture and emailed it to us, free of charge. It was actually an awesome little benefit.
And ring the bell on your way out if you liked the food. You’ll ring the bell.

Visited 19Nov2011
Coming to Xni pec is like coming home for dinner. My wife and I try hard to make it here a few times a year, and this time, it’s been about a year … too long!
The food here, for us, is consitantly flavorful. We have been to the Yucatan of Mexico numerous times, and I will tell you that the food at Xni Pec is exactly what it should be.
We started with a pitcher of Sangria ($ 22) served in the porcelein cups you find in Mexico. We shared an appetizer of gorditas ($ 6.50) but asked them to be filled with Cochinita Pibil, which is a shredded pork that has been seasoned with achiote and baked in banana leaf. This is very typical of what you will find in the Yucatan, and they have the most authentic in Chicago.
I came here for the Chile en Nogada ($ 23.00), mostly available from September through December, when pommegrantes are in season. Chile en Nogada is a poblano pepper that is stuffed and covered in a walnut cream sauce, decorated with pommegranate seeds. It represents the colors of the Mexican flag. Xni Pec’s version is spot on. The poblano pepper filling has ground seasoned pork with some fruit and nuts. The pepper is then covered in a walnut cream sauce that will take you on a quickie trip to heaven. Their version is true perfection, and honors tradition. Also keep in mind that the dish is served from warm to room temp. The pepper is heated a bit, and the walnut cream is poured over the top, and must be served this way so the sauce does not melt. Some diners not familiar with this dish will think that it is not served properly, but this is the way it is done.
My wife had the Pescado Caribeno ($ 13.50), which is a fish filet cooked in coconut milk. It was very fresh and very smooth with the very slightly sweetened milk.
For dessert, we shared our two favorites here, the rice pudding — not typical here, but definitely Mexicano style, with cinnamon and some fruit. And the Camote’, which is calabaza and pumpkin squash cooked in Mexican brown sugar (piloncillo), oranges, cinnamon, and clove.
The total tab was $ 83.
We enjoy coming here and hope you will give it a shot. Try to visit on the weekends in the fall and try the Chile en Nogada… tell me I’m right, that this is one awesome dish!

Really tasty yucatecan food in a nice, small space. Really spicy salsa and mind-​blowing mole. Good service.
It’s a really nice change of pace for a Mexican restaurant, as the Yucatecan flavors make everything a little different than what you’ve had other places.

Me: Xni-​pec de Yucatan
BF: Gesundheit!
Me: Thx! I don’t know what it is but my sinus’ have really been acting up lately.
BF: Hehe. You said «Butt». Where you wanna go for din?
Me: Hows ’bout Xni-​pec de Yucatan?
BF: Sounds tasty.
And so it begins…
Such a cute little place with staff that make you feel like family. I LOVED their habanero salsa. Not a spice fan? No worries! None of their food is spicy but they’re nice enough to provide you with spiced salsa on the side for those of us who dig the kick… and I can defo dig it.
My Bf and I both enjoyed our meals; mine was the vegetarian Papadzules — Tortilla dipped in pumpkin seed sauce, filled with egg topped with tomato sauce and cheese— it was good but it defo could have been warmer. The real winner on our table (and what I’ll be going back for) Camarones Al Ajillo —Shrimp Marinated in Guajillo Chile, garlic and herbs. Served with rice and veggies— so garlicky, and a wee bit spicy from my addiction to lathering everything in their habanero salsa made this a perfect dish.
We left in good spirits from the large pitcher of sangria we’d consumed and the delicious meals served by people who felt like family (really attractive family).
We will certainly be back and bringing friends to spread the word. :)

Best guacamole ever. Great ambiance, great service. Reasonable prices.
We were looking for A place to eat because the power was out. I didn’t even want Mexican, but I changed my mind. A real treat the soup was savory and the salsa was very fresh, crisp even.
Open later than other restaurants in the area. Excellent presentation,.
Hand made tortillas too.

We really wanted to like this place after reading all the fabulous reviews. I don’t know if they are struggling or not, but it sure seemed like they were. Their menu has been drastically reduced from what it says is available on their website. Everything my fiancé asked for they said they no longer offer — even when he asked for a Diet Coke! They don’t offer wines any longer — you have your choice between water, sangria, margarita or beer only.
The place was pretty freezing, so try not to sit near the window or the brick wall. It took about 15 minutes to even get our water filled. We received a basket of chips that we devoured and thought it was kinda chintzy that they didn’t offer us any more.
I will say that the appetizer that we ended up ordering was really good (Combinado Yucateco). Food was good quality, nice presentation.
However, once our entrees arrived, I have to say I was disappointed again. I ordered the Sopa de Mariscos, but 3 out of the 5 mussels in the bowl hadn’t opened up upon steaming. I had to ask the others at my table, but I’m pretty sure that means that the mussels were either bad or they weren’t cooked long enough. I was glad to see was a crab leg included (note: it was snow crab, not king crab like noted on the menu), but it wasn’t pre-​cracked and I had nothing to open it with on my own. Not very easy trying to pry it open with my fork.
My fiancé ordered the Poc Chuc Pork and it was a very tiny piece of meat covered with a lot of onions to make it look like it was a bigger entrée than what it really was. He was disappointed.
Our waitress didn’t stop by even once to ask us how our meals were or to check in. Nice customer service.
The restaurant business is cut throat and for $ 88 for 3 people there are way better places to eat than this place. Save your hard earned cash and go somewhere else.

First i’ve had this kind of food.
I really really like the salsas, Gorditas, and Fish and Shrimp tacos.
The pork in red sauce was ok, but you’d have to have the taste buds for it.
I’ll go back, but stick to the apps, and side dishes, not the entrées.

Okay, this place is so good that I’ll overlook the horrid font used on their menu and give them a good review. ;-)
We decided to go outside of our comfort zone and try this place, as we live so close to it and all! Let me tell you, we were super pleasantly surprised! I’ve never had Mayan food and I must say I am a fan.
We called ahead, a bit worried that on a Thursday after 5:30 there may be some commuters taking over the joint. We asked to reserve a table for 2 away from the door (Brr!) and when we arrived they already had water, chips and salsa there for us. A cute little touch! If you like spice, try the habanero salsa. Yum. The other salsa is not spicy, just flavorful.
I ordered the Sangria which was good, hearty and full of chopped fruit. He enjoyed his margarita (served in a wine glass?) though it wasn’t totally a-​mazing. No complaints, though.
We read tons of reviews before coming in and knew it was important to try the Combinado Yucateco appetizer for $ 12. It comes with 1 Pescadilla 1 Vaporcito 1 Taco de Cochinita and 1 Taco de Pez.
OH MY GOD. It was all so delicious! Try this, if nothing else. We split each item and it had us wanting more. It was great to get a taste of everything.
For dinner, I had the Panuchos y Salbutes which were super good — even the soup on the side was good — but it had a bit too much of the pink cabbage for my liking. Not a big deal, it’s manageable and you can just take some off. He had the Enchiladas Placeras and they were really tasty too! After the chips and salsa and the combo plate we could not finish our meals — it’s a good amount of food.
All in all it was a nice experience. They do show a movie on Thursdays which is different, but nice. There were only 2 other couples there while we were there so we enjoyed the quiet evening together. We even stayed for an extra round of drinks and relaxed and the guys were nice about it. We spent a good amount of money here but appreciated the cuisine a lot so it was a nice treat. Service was pretty good and they seemed to appreciate it a lot when we complimented the food — a couple of times! I could see it getting a bit hairy if it is a busy time of day or week, for sure.

Thanks to Unilocal search, I found Xni-​pec (pronounced «shnee peck») in Brookfield. Xni-​pec serves traditional Yucatecan Mexican food, and has been in this small but cute space about nine months.
I was amazed at how empty the place was, just a few in the know regulars dining the night I went. We started with the tamal in banana leaves. About the same as a regular Mexican tamale, except the banana leaves allowed it to be more moist.
The habanero hot salsa was extremely spicy and addicting. My main dish of tilapia was savory, but slightly fishy. Fish should never be fishy, in my opinion. The Mom’s recipe Mole Rojo with chicken was much better. What a true mole should be.
The sweet potato dessert served cold, was a plate of sweet potatoes served in a sweet syrupy sauce. It was delicious, but would’ve been better served over cinnamon ice cream or something to that extent. The service here is relaxed, maybe a bit too much. If this place was in the City it would be packed everynight.
I enjoyed it a lot, but there’s some room for improvement to earn the fifth star. Don’t forget to ring the traditional bell on your way out if you liked the food!

It’s a triangular shaped restaurant between Grand and Prairie. Because of the train station, do not park on southbound Grand. It will be hard to back out since there will be a long line of cars waiting to go over the tracks. The place is cozy and the staff were very welcoming and accommodating.
We had the platillo de cochinata and the pollo pibil. Both were very good dishes. They were marinated and seasoned well. Both dishes were served with rice and a slice of fried plantain. The homemade tortillas are the best I’ve had. The side of potatoes for the pibil were also quite tasty. My issue with the meals were the value. The cochinata portion was quite small and the pibil was a medium sized leg/​thigh. Both were $ 12.50. There wasn’t much beans and for being in Brookfield, there wasn’t anything significantly upscale that justified the price. There is no competition to this kind of food but paying over $ 30 after tax and tip with no beverages makes it very difficult to recommend this to others or encourage me to come back again during these economic times.

My husband and I came here on a Wednesday night at around 6pm and by the time we left at a little after 7, every table was taken. The new place in Brookfield has about 10 — 12 tables.
On this particular night, their credit card machine had not been working for a few weeks so it was cash only. Just a heads up in case you are going there soon.
We were greeted warmly at the door and seated right away. I had the sangria ($ 7) — which was really strong and delicious made with fresh fruit. We decided to try the combinado yucateco appetizer ($ 12) that gives you a sample of 4 different dishes. They were all really good. For dinner my husband had the mole rojo ($ 12.50) and I had the fish tacos ($ 8). Both were good but not spectacular. The side of rice was about ¼ cup — not really a side.
The reason why I went down on the stars was because of the service. We had to ask for everything: more water, extra napkins, the check, can we order our food, another beer, more chips etc etc. I felt like we could have serves ourselves better. Also, it was SO SLOW. I think they need a little more help in the kitchen.
All in all, I am glad that there is another ethic food place around here. We will probably try it again because I really want to like this place! Hopefully they work on the service a little bit.