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| - I'd been planning to drop in to Comida for about a month before I finally made it there for dinner. Before going, I read the reviews - mixed as they are - and felt like I had a handle on what I would be getting that night. I was wrong, and I'll try to explain where my expectations were off.
Comida is located in the old Penguin building. I describe it as such for two reasons - 1) if you're from Charlotte or have lived here for a few years, you probably dined at the Penguin before. 2) Comida has almost NO signage. The only signage on the outside of the building is white lettering on the glass door - very hard to see.
The interior design is beautiful - lots of glass and chrome. Unfortunately the chairs that are so aesthetically pleasing are really not made for comfort. These wire chairs with leather pads feel like you're sitting on a wire basket - not pleasing.
The menu is not intuitive. There are different categories - snacks, tastes, tacos, small composed plates and plates for 2. It's hard to tell from looking at the menu how much you should order - and the serving staff was not particularly helpful. They suggested that ideally you would be with a large group so that you can order one of everything. Okay, that would be great...but there are only 2 of us. She didn't give us much more direction.
Here's what I learned: the guacamole is made to order and is served with chewy chips (really not great for those who suffer from tmj) and is sufficient for 2. The tacos are very small - think 2-3 bites. I would guess that I would eat 6ish of these if that were my meal. The small composed plates are on the large size of small plates - I would recommend 2 if that's your full meal.
The food itself was beautifully presented. They score major points for how it looks. That being said, I thought the flavors were mostly lacking. The tacos we tried - chicken tinga and carne asada - were both fairly dry. The guacamole was freshly made, but was heavy on the lime and lacking other spice. The tamal was also fairly dry (but very pretty). The standout for the night was the grilled vegetables with mole sauce - holy mole, that sauce was tasty!!
Overall, I didn't love it. I wanted to - they just didn't deliver for me.
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