Last night, our first night in town, we had dinner at El Bajio, a Veracruz-style Mexican place in the neighborhood. It was cute: Bright textiles on the walls, baskets, orange napkins. I had the ceviche verde, which was decent, and a yummy ensalada de nopales with strips of grilled panela. Crayton had enchiladas verdes. (When my salad arrived, Crayton eyed the white cheese warily. “What is that? Tofu?” I gave him a Look. “It’s CHEESE.”)
When it came time to pay the bill, the waiter asked us something about closing the account, or leaving it open. We said to close it. He looked confused. (And maybe a little offended.)
“Close it?” he asked again.
“Yes, yes,” I said. He didn’t move. He asked again if we wanted to leave it open.
Finally, Crayton said yes, okay, leave it open. The waiter whisked away the check and our credit card, and brought it back a few minutes later. We noticed nothing amiss: The receipt showed our final bill, and a space to leave a tip. Crayton wrote in the tip and I was ready to go. He suggested we stay and ask the waiter what “leave it open” meant.
I have this weird thing about not wanting to seem like a tourist, but these are the cultural things we need to understand. (Right?)
So we called the waiter back and I explained that we just moved here from the U.S., and what did this “leave it open” thing mean? The waiter very graciously said that it meant the customer would write in a tip on his/her own. And then he said some other stuff we didn’t understand. (About how some customers write the wrong amount on the check? Huh?)
Now we know, but still, kinda weird. Has anyone else in Mexico City ever experienced this?