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| - This is a first and hopefully the last single star I'll award! We have dined at Maria Bonita's (MB) numerous times but not in the last few years...to much traffic and to many miles from home. We found ourselves in the neighborhood and visited an old standby for quality Mexican food.
Not on this particular evening....most everything just went wrong! Start with the drink special which was a pitcher of premium margaritas. A liter carafe filled to the brim with ice. So much so that our server spilled the ice on the table, on my Bride, on the floor and in the glass but delivered very little liquid into the glass. We filled our water glasses with the excessive ice to find about three drinks. Nothing premium here.
My bride ordered the chicken fajitas and our first observation, when served, was no sizzle! A generous portion of veggies and par boiled chicken. Clearly the veggies had been fried in the skillet but the chicken was added to late to be much more than barely warm and lacking any caramelization.
I ordered the Conchinita Pilbil, a favorite in the past. A generous portion of pork shoulder, well seasoned and slow roasted in banana leaves. At first look, my dinner appeared very familiar. Unfortunately, the meat was COLD....like just out of the refrigerator. Caught the eye of a Manager and shared my problem. He apologized profusely and promised to fix the problem. He stated "It will take 8-10 minutes because our food is made to order".
My second order was not as generous, barely warm, no tortillas, rice or the pickled onions; the fried plantains were all but absent. Very surprising the Manager allowed a meal, so poorly prepared the first time, to leave his kitchen without putting an eyeball on a redo?
When the bill was presented, I asked our server if the restaurant had changed hands. He responded about a years ago but stated he was a cook and had been pressed into a servers role. "We have two new people in the kitchen!" No surprise here!
My meal was comped but unfortunately after 93 reviews I was compelled to write my first single star review. No excuse for poor quality food, twice, a server with little experience on the front side of the house and a manager that believe comping mistakes solves the problem.
Best of luck MB and diners beware!
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