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| - I was invited here for dinner by C and M. I was pretty excited to try the food seeing as how the chef is Central American and though the restaurant is Mexican, it apparently has Honduran influences.
I have to say the restaurant is gorgeous and the ambiance is wonderful. Especially the decorative doors though out and the large patio. The waiter James was very patient with me and friendly, he certainly put up with my barrage of questions. But that's about all I can say...Here I was prepared to basically have a fabulous meal. I shouldn't have gotten my hopes up.
We all started off with the plantain chips and salsa. The chips were a nice change, but the salsas were far too spicy and I was craving a fresh pico de gallo or mango style salsa. C and I started off with fresh fruit margaritas. They were plain tasteless. All I could taste was tequila. I tried to order a drink that interested me since I'm Central American...a Mole Montage, which is supposed to have a sweet mole flavor. Apparently they no longer carry it. Disappointments #1&2 of the evening.
We ordered the asado de queso as a starter. It was pretty good, not mind blowing, but good. It's a big hunk of queso fresco that is grilled with nopal slices (cactus) and peppers all doused in a chipotle sauce served with homemade tortillas. We were told by the staff that the tortillas were handmade...who do you think you're fooling with your factory made tortillas people? I'm Central American, I know real fresh tortillas!!!
Disappointment #3
I planned to order the scallop ceviche. They were all out. I asked about the shrimp and halibut ceviche. All out too. OK fine. No problem. Just find something else... So I ended up ordering the Callos de acha y pepitas which sounded interesting. It's pumpkin seed crusted scallops with a sweet corn purée (advertised as Mexican grits). I was expecting a crunchy crusted scallop. What I got for the whopping $27 price tag was a measly 4 scallops topped with ground up green pumpkin seeds and some kind of chili seasoning (powder?), each scallop on top of a mushy black mess which I was told is called Huitlacoche (apparently a delicacy that grows on corn...basically a fungus), all around a puree of sweet corn that was nothing like grits, with 4 cherry tomatoes in the middle. The "grits" tasted more like a can of creamed corn blended and poured on my plate. The scallops where alright, at least they were cooked properly, but it was missing something crunchy I could really bite my teeth into, maybe something citrusy, something tangy for a contrast. I would have loved a fresh and crunchy cabbage salad.
Disappointments #4&5 for not having what I wanted.
Disappointment #6 for the cream corn puree.
M in my party ordered the famous filet mignon tacos. The 3 filet mignon tacos came on said tortillas, which were cold, and some chipotle mayo on top...and nothing else. No cabbage or lettuce, no lime, no pico de gallo, no rabanos (radishes) or cucumber slices which are standard fare on Mexican tacos. Sadly plain tacos. Served with a side of black beans and rice. Holy smokes!!! Bad, overcooked black beans and atrocious mushy flavorless rice. In my opinion, if a Mexican restaurant can't get the basics of rice, beans, and tortillas right...that's seriously bad news.
Disappointments #7, 8, & 9
C ordered the Cochinita Pibil which is a pork stew. It came with 3 tostones, cream with green onion or cilantro in it (couldn't really tell by taste), and picked onions. All of which comes with tortillas. Again, the tortillas arrived cold. Other than that, there's nothing bad to say. This was by far the best dish at Taberna Mexicana. It was their one redeeming feature.
We then ordered desserts:
*3 scoops of gelato- vanilla, pistachio, and grilled banana. Not bad, but the banana was pretty tasteless.
*Flan. Too firm for me as far as flans go. Not the light cool desert I'm accustomed to. It was so heavy I only had 2 bites.
*Tres Leches cake. Now this one was horrible. It didn't even taste right. It was basically a dry square of cake with marsh mellow cream on top that's been flambeed. Too sweet and far too heavy. It was a sickeningly sweet brick.
Disappointment #10 of the evening.
I'm giving it a 2 only because the decor was so pretty and the staff so friendly. But overall it was a tremendously disappointing night. Especially the beans and rice...I can make better. Heck the friendly Mexican bus boy could make better. Our bill came in over $150 with tip for a tiny, yet dissatisfying meal.
We were told by the staff that the owner is opening up another restaurant in CA. All I can say is, if you can't even cook some simple rice and beans, much less tell the truth about your "homemade" tortillas, perhaps you have no business opening a second restaurant. Fix the first one before subjecting others to your bad food. If you need cooking lessons, I know plenty of Hispanic women that can show you how it's done!
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