A Great Axe Throwing Experience in a Cool Venue

Review of Hacha Mexico Coapa, Mexico City, Mexico

We had a great time throwing axes in Mexico City. I do want to say that up front because I do have a couple of criticisms to mention later, but I don’t want that to overshadow what was a really enjoyable axe throwing session in a cool venue. Enjoyable for all the groups (of predominantly young Mexicans) who were packed into the place too, who were also having a great time.

The fact that it was so full and buzzing when we arrived is notable, particularly as it is such a large venue. There were 11 double lanes (so 22 targets altogether) along two walls, with a spacious seating area down the centre, front to back. Apparently, Mundo E is an even bigger venue with 38 targets. Along with another venue, Hacha Arboledas, these three make up the Hacha Mexico chain, all in Mexico City – currently the only axe throwing venues in all of Mexico.

The venue is located in a modern retail area in a Mexico City suburb, and fits in well amongst the niche shops and smart restaurants. The look is sort of smart-industrial. The kind of thing you get in cool restaurants, which lends itself well to this kind of stylish axe throwing restaurant/bar. The menu was packed with a variety of fast food staples (burgers, pizza, pasta, taco et al), and a range of beers, cocktails and soft drinks. It was certainly as good as any other (non-throwing) restaurant in the area (if not better) and there were people in there just to eat (although they could have been throwing later). The venue is actually listed on Google Maps as a Mexican restaurant.

Hacha Coapa is set up well for groups (in fact our axe coach was mildly surprised when we asked for a lane just for two people). Although there were plenty of lanes, there was still a generous amount of space around the lanes and in the restaurant/seating area in the centre, for people to sit, eat and drink. You could order food from the lanes to be brought to your table.

In addition to parties, the large venue could seat plenty of spectators for axe throwing tournaments. Hacha Mexico is affiliated to WATL, although there wasn’t much reference to leagues (apart from #WATL tags on the boards). Still, they would be a great option.

The targets were the newer (at the time) standard WATL specifications, with the five target rings and four killshots. They were painted on to pine planks, which were well on their way to the scrap (as mentioned – first criticism). The central plank had been replaced recently, which was a plus (as we mainly hit there, of course :)), but the two adjoining planks were very splintered. My upper right killshot was completely obliterated (before I arrived). It didn’t help that the boards were of pine, but the axe coach did water the boards regularly to get the best out of them (as much as is possible anyway with pine). I guess it was only social throwing, so they don’t have to be perfect, but they could have been better.

The other minor criticism I had was that the axe coaches were of the ‘instruct and leave you to it” type. The absence of an axe coach close at hand was a positive for us, as we were both competent throwers. However, I’m not sure this approach is great for beginners. It’s a common enough practice in plenty of axe throwing venues though, so not peculiar to Coapa, and the group on the lane next to us were having a whale of a time, despite being clearly first-timers. They didn’t stop laughing at each others’ attempts for an hour and let a huge cheer every time someone stuck one. It’s just I felt they could have stuck a few more with a bit of further coaching.

Our axe coach was very welcoming though and, despite our poor Spanish, walked us through the initial instruction concisely and competently. He explained the WATL game rules. Scoring was on a whiteboard at the side of the lane, which was fine. He did stay with us until he was happy we could throw ok, and popped back a couple of times to check in on us.

As there were two of us, we each had a lane to ourselves on the dual throwing lane. The house axes were just simple kindling hatchets, but were fine for an hour of fun, competitive axe throwing. We got plenty of throwing in and overall really enjoyed the experience. It was as good as setup as I’ve seen anywhere else outside of Mexico and the restaurant/bar was far better than many axe throwing venues (that have one), with the added bonus that the throwing was really good value (maybe half the price to some places of similar quality in the USA).

Disclaimer: “The Axe Inspector” receives no payment or benefit of any kind from either TheAxeThrower.com or from the venue, for this review. The review is the subjective opinion of one person (albeit as objective as possible) and we encourage throwers to try out the venue to make their own mind up.