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| - Billed as a gourmet Mexican restaurant, I think of this place not so much as having Mexican food, as having a Southwest / Mexican oriented menu with food items that appeal to meat-loving Americans.
Where else can you get Fajitas Tres - which consists of chicken and beef marinated fajitas style, but also deep-fried bacon wrapped shrimp? They know their market well - nominally Mexican, but tilting toward suburban Americans. That said, the dish was good - just not "authentically Mexican" in any part of Mexico I've visited.
The carne asada was a disappointment - good tasting marinade, but overly salty - and a really poor cut of beef. Flank steak isn't always prime quality, but you can do better than this. The tortilla chips were thin and bland - but the two salsas were non-standard, one spicy and quite good, the other black-bean oriented and not so good. The flan was tasty if not smooth (almost gritty in texture), but still worth having. The green rice was fine but nothing special, the black beans pretty standard. The service was indifferent, and I didn't appreciate the attempt to up-sell every time the waiter came buy.
Despite the shortcomings, I enjoy this place, and it has a nice atmosphere - but it is not gourmet, it is not authentic Mexican, and it is part of a chain. Think suburban tastes and a pleasant Mexican-themed architecture.
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