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| - The only reason they get two stars is the server we had was great. He was very personable and made us feel welcome.
To take a page from Jason L... Bold statement in 3...2...1.... Chapala's is some of the WORST Mexican food I have ever consumed. I may be a Gringo, but my palette is very well versed in Mexican food of every quality.
It started out like any other night, in decision about what and where to eat. I had brought my wife home her favorite meal of all time, so her input was somewhat tied to how awesome her dinner was. It was all on me.
We left the house a bit like Crocodile Dundee, just on a drive-about to let my steering wheel and stomach lead the way.
Again, I have lived on the East side of Vegas off and on for years and years. I have seen Chapala's more times than I can recall. It seemed packed most evenings and weekends, figured it was time to stop in. Pulling into the parking lot, I wondered if they were still open, as it was empty. Never fear, the 'Open' sign was illuminated, time to eat!
We walked in and were immediately greeted and seated. The tables were all covered in some thick, leather table cloths with trim, paper napkins were folded into little tents and the booths had a similar leather pattern to the table cloth.
Perusing the menu, I admired the width and breadth of their offerings. I had not read reviews, so the only warning I had that their prices were pretty high was the aforementioned leather decor.
Our server came by to take our drink orders and was very friendly. A few moments later a female runner brought out the drinks and seemed very put off by the fact we were there.
Chips and salsa were brought out and we dove in to what is usually a much anticipated part of a meal. As others have mentioned, their salsa is garbage. The "chunky" salsa is spicy for the sake of being spicy without flavor or good consistency. The other salsa was just like cold, lightly seasoned tomato soup. On a positive note, the chips weren't bad, just yearning for some good salsa to dip them in.
Deciding on a three part combination, I ordered and we waited for the food to come out. It didn't seem to take too long for the soup to come out, I let the wife have it and she only had a couple bites. Normally, she is not as picky as me, except when the food isn't that good.
My dinner was delivered. At first glance, it looked amazing, tacos, enchilada and rice almost overflowing onto the table. Then, I looked closer. The taco shells were Taco Bell, from a box, hard shell tacos. Seriously? You ask us to pay this much for premade taco shells? Then I took a bite and was again disappointed and shocked. Yet another Mexican restaurant using canned chicken. No joke, go to the grocery store, next to the tuna, you will see canned chicken. That is what Chapala's uses. Flavorless, dry, a little tough and with that "fresh from a can pink hue" that we all love so much.
Fortunately, there was enough extra enchilada sauce, I was able to use it like taco sauce to add some moisture to the chicken, to make it tolerable. I finished the tacos and went after the enchilada. While it too had the same from a can chicken, the sauce and melted cheese made it tolerable. Their enchilada sauce was quite delicious.
For close to $20, I got sub-par, un-fresh, pseudo-Mexican food. Extremely disappointing. There are so many good Mexican places in town that I don't see as busy as this place gets. I don't get it.
As mentioned before, our server was great, he talked with us some, was very friendly and personable. Also, I ordered an iced tea but didn't need a refill, so he took it off the tab! No reason, just removed it. That was an unexpected surprise when looking at the check.
Also, the enchilada sauce was very good. So I'll bump them a second star for that. However, if not for the server, 1 star may be a bit much, just for some sauce over canned food.
Next time, I will be going just about anywhere but here.
One final note, as we were walking out the door, saw they had a flyer posted on the door asking people to review them on a list of review sites. Well, they're getting what they asked for, maybe they should be a bit more careful about that.
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