There is a small Mexican restaurant near where I live and I've been meaning to stop in and try it out. I did that this evening.
It's not a classy place. It's basically a rustic looking "fast food" style taco place that is licensed. They serve their food in foil lined wicker baskets. You go to the counter and place your order, and you pick your toppings and then take your tray to a table. Like McDonalds, you take your tray to a dumpster and dispose of the trash.
I was so not impressed! I think it was probably the worse Mexican food I've ever had!
I opted for a "Barbacoa Beef" which is essentially a beef burrito made with what looked like pulled beef. She filled it, wrapped it and stuck it on some kind of a press to get brown. Now either the shells were too thin or she over filled it to the point it burst open while she was wrapping it, so it was so incredibly messy that I ended up having to take out the fork I used for my lunch: They don't have cutlery there!! I also had chips and salsa.
The salsa was nothing but chopped up veggies. Whatever "sauce" was pure liquid and only served to make the chip soggy before you even managed to get it to you mouth. The chips were bland and unsalted and tasted stale.
The burrito was incredibly messy because the entire top of it was ripped wide open before it was even grilled. I couldn't even pick it up to eat it. Plus it was pretty flavourless and the beef which was supposed to be tender, was tough and stringy.
The atmosphere was dreary and the music was nothing more than Mexican elevator music that sounded like a radio station with a bad signal: lots of static. It was also way too loud. People were having to shout at each other from across their tables in order to hear each other.
I overheard a couple of people in there saying that it's their favourite place for Mexican food, and the checker at Safeway told me that their food is so good and she has to resist going there too often.
I don't know, maybe I'm so used to 'substandard/bad" Mexican food from Taco Bell or Taco Time, that I can't appreciate "good" Mexican food anymore.
All I know, is give me a super soft burrito from Taco Time anytime over that one I had this evening!!
It's not a classy place. It's basically a rustic looking "fast food" style taco place that is licensed. They serve their food in foil lined wicker baskets. You go to the counter and place your order, and you pick your toppings and then take your tray to a table. Like McDonalds, you take your tray to a dumpster and dispose of the trash.
I was so not impressed! I think it was probably the worse Mexican food I've ever had!
I opted for a "Barbacoa Beef" which is essentially a beef burrito made with what looked like pulled beef. She filled it, wrapped it and stuck it on some kind of a press to get brown. Now either the shells were too thin or she over filled it to the point it burst open while she was wrapping it, so it was so incredibly messy that I ended up having to take out the fork I used for my lunch: They don't have cutlery there!! I also had chips and salsa.
The salsa was nothing but chopped up veggies. Whatever "sauce" was pure liquid and only served to make the chip soggy before you even managed to get it to you mouth. The chips were bland and unsalted and tasted stale.
The burrito was incredibly messy because the entire top of it was ripped wide open before it was even grilled. I couldn't even pick it up to eat it. Plus it was pretty flavourless and the beef which was supposed to be tender, was tough and stringy.
The atmosphere was dreary and the music was nothing more than Mexican elevator music that sounded like a radio station with a bad signal: lots of static. It was also way too loud. People were having to shout at each other from across their tables in order to hear each other.
I overheard a couple of people in there saying that it's their favourite place for Mexican food, and the checker at Safeway told me that their food is so good and she has to resist going there too often.
I don't know, maybe I'm so used to 'substandard/bad" Mexican food from Taco Bell or Taco Time, that I can't appreciate "good" Mexican food anymore.
All I know, is give me a super soft burrito from Taco Time anytime over that one I had this evening!!