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| - El Claustrophobio!
Upon walking in I knew I was in for a cramped meal - the booths are straight out of Nashville in the '70s: small, claustrophobic and shiny from wear. Eww. The ceilings are '70s-motel-lobby-low as well, with underhung rafters to boot. The rent cannot possibly be that much here, yet the food is not cheap, and at it's current, more-than-you-would-think pricepoint, it's not even close to a good value...
Every item of food on my plate (#11 Lunch Combo: One Tamale & One Burrito with Beans & Rice) had a funky aftertaste, which is unacceptable in this day and age of survival-of-the-tastiest-restaurants. Especially when a $5-looking plate of food costs $10. This place should be $$$, not $$, relative to all of the other Mexican options in town. So, these aftertastes made me think, is the water quality bad in this part of town? Has the grill been cleaned recently? Even both salsas (a Red and a Pico-looking one) were pretty terrible and both had weird aftertastes which made me think, how many days ago was this salsa made? Is there some kind of salsa 'filler' that I've never heard about that I'm tasting, like baby corn and water chestnuts at a crappy Chinese restaurant? It only took ONE chip full of each salsa for me to immediately give up on both. That says A LOT, because I am typically a chip monster and usually ruin my appetite on chips & salsa at Mexican restaurants. Both salsas actually had a *sour* aftertaste which last I checked was Szechwan, not Culiacán...
Not to mention the chips at our 1PM lunch were already stale, and I wish I hadn't peeked back at the servers' prep station where there sat a sad, gray bus-boy tub of stale chips sitting unappetizingly in the window.
Impressed (and surprised) by the seemingly loyal customer following, the place was packed and the energy was good - people laughing and talking. Service was fine.
C'mon Downtown Vegas folks, you can't possibly like this place THAT much! And...
To the PR / puppet account dude who sent me an insulting compliment because of the above review - you just cost El Sombrero another star. Way to go, fucker!
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