"I wanna go to the flower place!!" was the reaction when i asked my cousin and friend where we should have lunch inbetween classes one Arizona afternoon. I couldn't think of what she meant when she said, flower... I instantly thought of Cherryblossom Noodle Cafe but I was quickly corrected when she said that she was referring to the rose in the Garcia's logo.
Now, I have never been to one of the Garcia's Chain resturants, but the Original Garcia's off of 35th ave has been an institution in my family for decades. I was willing to try the AZ mills chain location since it was near by... and I would later regret it.
We entered a very beautiful place, everything was very open and can be seen from the mall's walk ways. It was slightly unnerving to try to enjoy some messy taco while some lil 5 year old in a stoller stares at you. Ummm... no... Timmy... this is MY taco!! Back off!
It was 2 in the afternoon and we were the ONLY customers there... and the mall was PACKED! That should have told me something, but we still sat at a tiled table anyway. The hostess/waitress brought us the SALTIEST bowl of chips ever! it came with salsa and a bean dip that was way too heavy on the onions in both cases. I could barely eat the salsa, but I couldn't hang with the beans at all.
We ordered our food and it came out very quickly. My friend ordered green corn tamales and she liked them but I they were on the rubbery side and my cousing got the taco and tostada combo and thought it was okay, she didn't complain. And I got the minature sampler and was unimpressed. it was just food... nothing great or special or exceptionally awful... just average.
What wasn't average was the bill.... nearly $50 for our meals?! Are you kidding?! And we didn't even have a hard drink on the table! I paid but wasn't happy about it... I thought it was going to be a lil less than that!
To my yelpers: I know the Arizona Mills area is a cesspool of resturants, where chains reign surpreme... and unfortunatly, this place is amongst one of the worst. I say, save your money and skip out on this place because it's nothing significant and the saltyness of their food will only make your bloated as you're shopping afterward and that can't be cute!