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| - Pros: Chips, salsas, beans, green chili, BIG tacos, great prices/value.
Cons: Ground beef was mush, rice was meh.
Bottom line: In my longstanding quest to find a go-to Mexican joint in central Phoenix, Rosita's emerges as a leading contender.
The chips are made fresh to order ($1 for a big basket) and go great with the salsas, and even better with a side of beans. About the beans: they're as good as advertised, with a salty/creamy (but not textureless) combo that's bliss. Too bad the rice was so ordinary and bland. But no one has big expectations for Mexican style rice, so only a small knock here.
The green chili burro ($5, additional $3 for beans and rice) is top notch, near Rito's in quality, but with a better construction. Tender and spicy and not too soupy to soak through the tortilla. Generous portion, too.
For kicks I also ordered a crunchy taco with ground beef and potato. On the good side, it was BIG for $2.60, and full of goodies, lots of cheese and a good but not excessive helping of lettuce. Good value. On the downside, the flavor and texture were very disappointing. They blended the beef and potatoes together to make it a pasty mix. Not appetizing at all.
My friend got a chicken taco and enchilada and said the chicken was particularly flavorful and tasted like it was braised, which is uncommon in a town where most Mexican places boil and shred their chicken.
The atmosphere inside is perfectly respectable for this kind of restaurant. The neighborhood isn't great, but it's a well lit parking lot and there's an attendant watching the premises and the parking lot. So there's that.
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