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| Mexican Guacamole |
Call me cautiously optimistic. This is a restaurant that has been around for decades. On the visit prior to this one, I had already made up my mind that I was not going to eat there anymore, because of the severe decline in quality. They just weren't even trying anymore, so it seemed.
We have numerous Tex-Mex and other eating establishments in this town, but not many have the space we need for a meeting. We were expecting quite a few people, so this is the place we had to use.
I decided ahead of time to only order things that were "safe." (I hoped so, anyway.)
They brought out the chips. Wow! No dark brown chips at all! They were all fresh. Let's be real here. There are establishments that recycle chips. I know this place did because I saw it with my own eyes one day when I was waiting to pick up an order many years ago.
But you don't need to see it to know that it's happening, because different shades of chips brought to your table is a dead giveaway. It was getting out of hand here though, because the last few times we were there, the chips were almost unpalatable. A few fresh mixed in with a ton of recycled. About
25% fresh/75% ugh, but I'm being kind. It was really more like 10/90.
That wasn't the only issue though. Menu items were below par too. Even the basics, like rice. Overcooked, 1 tick away from the point of mush. You could have made pudding out of it.
The cheese enchiladas were getting "hit & miss" as well. Originally, though they were not as good as the best ones I've ever had, they were good. Many Tex-Mex restaurants use Extra-Melt cheese (usually Land o' Lakes), that's not easily accessible for the rest of us. You can buy it now in bulk online & in some food warehouses, but you'd better have freezer space, or some chums to toss in $$$ to share among households. That is what they normally used here, but they were getting lax about it. If they ran out, they would sub with regular cheese, and it's just not the same. No creamy cheesy goodness to mesh perfectly with the sauce.
I could list more, but this post would get really long. 😆
Back to the story: The chips were fab, and the tea...omg! So good this time! Miles away from the weak offerings we had been getting before. No excuse for that at any restaurant. Consider the cost of tea bags. Restaurants can buy at wholesale prices, so - pennies per pitcher. No reason to make it weak, especially considering the charge per glass, (even with refills).
The complimentary salsas: red sauce was great! Green sauce had an odd aftertaste. I tried it twice & gave up on it.
After viewing improvements, I still decided to err on the safe side & ordered Mexican guacamole, queso with extra jalapeños, and threw in a bean tostada. The bean tostada was okay. It was a "puffy" tostada, so very dramatic visually, but lacking in flavor. That's it in the pic below. It looks like a salad, but there is a tostada under there. 😆
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| Tostada Hide 'n Seek Queso was on point. It's not easy to screw that up, though it is possible. It was a generous serving, so I shared it with tablemates. |
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| Queso! (Large bowl of jalapeños not pictured.) |
After viewing the plates of my tablemates & questioning them, I got a good report overall, so next time I might take a chance and order a full meal. Without rice though, because that didn't pass anyone's "smell test." Still overcooked and mush-mush.
There's really no excuse for mushy rice. It is so easy to make it attractive AND flavorful. Maybe I should give them Mom's recipe. The rice consumption would go WAY up. People would be ordering a plate of rice for dinner & small entrees as a side dish. YES. It is THAT good.
I'm happy to see that this restaurant appears to be going in the right direction now: up instead of down. I hope this trend continues.
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