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| - Happened to be in the area on other business and decided to try this place out. The wife had heard about it and knew of one location in Tempe, I guess? So she was pretty excited to know that Carolinas was just a short drive away from where we happened to be. I have to admit being a little hesitant after seeing the pictures on Yelp (which didn't exactly make it out to be any sort of haute cuisine establishment), but then again if there's anything Juanitas III in Ontario, CA (look up my review of it) has taught me, it's that you should never judge a burrito joint by the cover. So in we went.
The kitchen and counter area were well-enough lit, I guess. Rest of the place was really dark. First thing we saw were flies buzzing around the counter and the staff seeming to not pay attention to them at all. Shitloads of corn chips in bags and a decent selection of Mex fare at acceptably low prices. I got the enchilada trio - beef, chicken and machaca. Wife got a burrito and a taco, and the kid got a mini bean burro.
We found a table amidst a good number of fat, happy Mexican (I assumed) patrons and sat down to wait for our number to be called. It was ready predictably quick and came with a bag of corn chips that I'd give about 70 on the corn chip scale, along with decently hot red and green salsa. I had asked for a side of jalapenos, which I got - but they were fresh, not pickled. I kinda wanted pickled, so my bad for not specifying that.
And then the food was ready. I was starving so I wolfed mine down. It wasn't too bad, but it wasn't a *gigantic* portion and to be perfectly honest it all tasted much the same, with the only differentiating factor being the texture of each protein. More corn chips went down the hatch. The kid liked his meal and finished the entire burro, most of the refried beans (a bean burro served with a side of beans. niiiice.) and most of the rice. I tried some rice and liked it, but it wasn't anything better than Knorr spanish rice that you could make at home. And the wife liked her meal. Not spectacular. Just regular, boring Mexican food that you could get anywhere. Though she DID go back and buy some tortillas, which I expect would taste exactly like store-bought Mission ones.
High points: Nothing particularly standout, really. It was edible, had flavour and several hours later I don't appear to be suffering any sort of Montezuma's revenge so there's a good chance none of my food was on the ground at any point before being served to me, as I often imagine to be the case with most other Mexican restaurants (which is why I eat at them so damn rarely). Good prices, $23 for a decent whack of food. Tomorrow morning I'm expecting to need to shit over a strainer so I can catch any stray intestines that might prolapse out, but I'm good so far this evening.
Low points: Flies. Dark and dingy interior. Being surreptitiously glanced at from time to time because I have a white wife. Or perhaps because we were speaking English. Who knows? And as for the patronage - Pita Jungle this ain't.
Anyway, the quest for a local alternative to Juanita's continues. Probably won't come back here, not because it was a horrible experience but simply because this quality of food is served at every single star-dot-Bertos in the Southwest and I don't need to drive all the way from Scottsdale to get it on the very VERY infrequent occasions I actually want it. In fact, I usually just go to Del Taco in those cases. Because they have fries!
Three stars, but.. yeah. I probably won't return (not their fault).
Edit: Well, it's the next day. And my morning poop didn't turn my balloon knot into a chrysanthemum (phew!), so we'll go ahead and leave this here review at three stars. Review concluded.
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