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| - The decor at Bandito is stylish modern, open and comfortable. The service is friendly, attentive, quick and responsive. The three rating is based on our server Amanda's performance.
We attended Bandito during a media event and decided to use the opportunity to get a good sampling of foods and drinks. Bandito is a fusion/modern mexican/Latin restaurant in the vein of Border Grill and Mesa Grill.
We started off or I should say we should have started with appetizers but most everything came at once (the soup came five minutes latter). The Queso Bandito was one of the best I've had, quality cheese well prepared, but at most places, traditional and fusion, it would have come with tortillas. The fried octopus was one of the worst dishes I've sampled. The octopus was tough, lukewarm, and bland. The chicken tortilla soup had a strange thick chipotle like broth. The soup like most of dishes we sampled was attractively plated but not satisfying in any way.
The main dishes were not much better, my wife had the habenero shrimp and carne asada and I had the special-barbacoa nachos. The shrimp were well cooked, but the carne asada was tough and chewy. The barbacoa nachos was great looking but very disappointing dish. The chips, cheese, beans, and pico were tasty but barely there. The brisket barbacoa was tough, stringy, and dry and there were mounds of it on the dish. This is the first time I wish a nacho dish came with less meat. The meat reminded me of Cuban ropa vieja, but not nearly as tasty. Barbacoa in quality traditional and fusion restaurants is braised or slow roasted and grilled-using beef cheeks or ribeye cuts. Barbacoa should be succulent, tasty, and fatty in great naughty way. The Bandito barbacoa was not even close. I had high hopes for Bandito based on the ambiance and attentive service but was greatly disappointed. On up side the drinks and the queso were excellent so we may be back for happy hour.
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