La Mascota - Cuauhtémoc

Just like spain--order a drink and get a free small dish of food. Very nice service, tasty food, nice atmosphere

As people rightly say below, the food isn't free as the price of beer is much higher than other bars but for <90 pesos i ordered a bottle of beer and received 2 plates of food that was basic but tasty. Both the food waiter and the drinks waiter asked for a tip when handing the bill and the experience was a bit rushed but worth the visit

Great atmosphere a litte run down, tier 2 mariachi group, full of boisterous, loud, hard drinking workers singing along to the mariachis. The real deal! A few key pointers: 1. food comes free with the drinks (US$4 5), 2. separate waiters for the drinks vs the food and they want to be tipped separately, 3. Mariachis were about US$2/song, 4. didn't see a woman or child in the place, 5. food can be ordered off a little menu of 6 to 8 choices and range from soups to tacos to quesadillas to enchiladas. We stopped by for a few drinks but stayed for the atmosphere it was fun!

The most wonderful experience of my visit to mexico city by far. i went as a single male on a sunday afternoon, the best time to go for sure. of course in true cantina style i was stood at the bar, ate one tasty dish after another until i was ready to burst, chatted with the owner, staff locals and watched the show that is la mascota. they have 7 serious rotating daily botanas, try as many as you can. mariachi's come in and go out and everybody enjoys themselves, even the staff, which in itself tells you something. couples, ladies and groups are seated and there is also a regular menu. truly a magical place and something rare and special.

We went here for drinks after going to La India (my favourite, down the road . The drinks were around 140 a piece and the cocktails you get are of fairly dubious quality. The atmosphere is very fun and old school though. When you buy drinks you get to choose things of a 10-item menu (eg. chicharron in salsa verde, carnitas etc. The free dishes of food were pretty average. At the end of the meal the worst happened. We got charged 720 pesos for 5 drinks (which is totally fine and left a 70 peso tip (a lot for a dive bar and then these other two guys came over and told us that they were expecting another tip for bringing the food and that there was a separate tip for food and drinks?! needless to say we told them that information came too late and that it was ridiculous and we left. I also just got an $8 transaction fee from the bar itself for paying on card. Overall though, I enjoyed the place! just be wary of the above information!